The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1876-01-27
The landlord leaning over the bar

The landlord leaning over the bar
asked:
How much 90 -
] told. him what was willing to pay.
" Ill go and get the stage ready" he
said. After all, it was only the higher
price he had been waiting for.
In five minutes the stage was at the
door. 1t was an ordinary box wagon on
good strong springs, having a cotton
cover open in front The horse was a
half-staryed, jaded-looling beast. I took
all this in as / stood on the porch wait
ing for the driver. Getting impatient
at last, / asked
Where is the driver ?"
The landlord, without speaking, point.
ed TO an ill-clad boy standing at the
horses head. ! looked closely at him.
He might be, / thought, fifteen years
old, or he might be not more than ten.
His eyes were clear blue, and he, hearing.
my question, turned them full upon
mine, frank, bOyish smile rebuking the
distrust my words implied, and lighting
up every feature of his delicate face.
His complexion was like that of girl
his mouth small and tender, his hair yell
low, his figure slight and sinuous.
I looked at him, standing there shiver-
ing storm, along the snOw-coVered noun
tain road we were to travel together, and
asked: " Are you not afraid to go 2"
The landlord interrupted:
g It don't matter if he is a afraid. He
belongs to me. He shall 60"
No" / said; he shall not go, if he
is not quite willing"
g am not at all afraid, the boy re-
piled, 'and / am quite willing to go. /
have gone often and often, through worse
storms than this"
There was an earnest, manly grace
even in the way he shook the gathered
| fakes from his tattered cap, and in his
voice there was such a hearty, CHEEKY
ring, that from that moment I trusted
and loved the boy.
I jumped into the stage, took the back
seat, drew my great trieze coat close
about my legs, and we drove off frOua
among the gaping, sOoty crowd of min.
ers into the lonely mountain road into
! the cruelest storm of wind and snow
that / ever saw.
The boy sat on the front seat, waiting
to be spoken to, looking straight ahead.
When we were quite clear of the strag
Cling huts of the miners on the outer
most limits of the town, asked him hi.
name.
They call me Lewis shiveIy," h,
How old are you, Lewis ?" was my
next question.
Z" Fourteen, next April, sir"
=" DO you live at home, with YOU
father and mother ?"
That man yonder is all the father o.
mother l have, and his stable loft is tn,
only home have had since he took ms
from the pOor-house. That was bette
than the stable though, for they though
me something there"
There were no complaining chords II
| the tones in which these bitter word
were said, and while he was speaking h,
was drawing the whip gently across thu
had fallen on it.
Have you been driving on this roaC
long ?" inquired.
Going on three years. II will b.
three years in March,"
Is it cold out there? Colder tnal
here, I mean ?"
think it is" he replied; the wine
and snow cut so but l don't mind, sir
We get used to tough weather up il
these hills"
g wish you would come in here m,
coat will cover us both"
No, I can't" he said. 81 mus
watch the road now. We have to g
pretty close to the precipices, some
times"
How close" 1 asked.
Within a few inches. I can't sc
now five yards ahead, the snow falls $
, heavily"
"Do you think it safe, then, to g
on ?"
'eQu1te safe, sir and 1 don't mind tn
cold" But his teeth chartered as h
said it, and the ruddy glow was all gon
from his cheeks.
l did not talk more then. There were
/ discovered, wide cracks in the bOttoI
of the stage, through which the win
poured mercilessly. / was chile
through to the heart in less than an hou
J after starting. l do not know how ia
f we had gone, or how long we had bee
upon the road, when heard the boy
voice, CHEEKY and bright, asking:
Z" How are you now, sir? Feelin
; pretty comfortable, sir 20
III / nodded my head, and crept closer il
to the corner. But he was wiser than
I. and would not let me have the sleep CO..
) eted.
! -" You are in hurry to get home, /
said, for want of something better to So
) with which to rouse me.
q Yes" I replied. want to be
! home on Christmas eve"
: "The best days / ever knew we
Christmases--a good while ago."
I He said it as if he were ever and ever
! old, and what was saddest of all, as if I
were done with Christmas forever. / to-
: him of the tree I was to get, and no
1 Christmas day was kept in the great CT
les. He was most interested in the tire
: making me tell him again and again abOl
j it. But after awhile, as if he were tire
; of it, he said
+ d" l never saw tree like that. I kno
| about Christmas, though. About Il
' star and the shepherds, and, the Chris
4 child you spoke of-they that laid in Il
I manger."
Then you know all that any one
p the world need ever care to know" sal
/ 1t may have been an hour, or two hour
7 but it seemed but minute after this tn
n the boy shook me roughly by the shoU
4 der.
;, We are to get out here" he said.
3 | was very stiff in my Joints, but / cou
It get up and climb out of the stage, and ]
# more. If / was cold did not know i
d my limbs were numb, but otherwise / W
st comfortable enough. / crawled out al
a. followed the boy to misarable-lookil
L shanty by the roadside, in front
W which we had stopped. There was
rough bar running across the room, the
" was a thick, black-haired, brawny loo