Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1877-07-21
THE BOY HERO.

1t was on Saturday morning, the ff,
teenth of December that little Paul
Lavere sat by 4 low, smouldering fire in
the only apartment Of the cot that had
any furniture in it, He was only thir-
teen years of age, though his face had an
older look There were lines of care
upon his high brow, and the neither lip
had a peculiar compression unusual in
one Of his years. He was small in stat
ure; but with much nerve, and de-
cision Of character that manifested itself
in every look and movement. His eyes
were bent on the embers now, and he was
in deep thought,
Near him, in a great armchair, sat his
mother She was pale and thin, and the
low, deep, holIow-throat, told too plainly
there was need OF physician. She was
not over five and thirty, though, like her
boy, she looked older The lines of care
and sorrow were deep and long.
The furniture of the room consisted of
a small table, two common chairs beside
the one in which the widow sat, and one
small bed The rest of the house was
empty. Nearly all the furniture they
once possessed had been sold by the hus.
band and father before he died, and what
few articles he had left, beside these in
this room, had been sold to pay the rent.
OF ornament there was nome unless we
notice the old musket that hung on two
wooden brackets over the door. That
would have been sold long before, had
not Mrs. Layere chung to it with all
her power of entreaty and PRAYER. 1t
had been her fathers musket, and he
had carried it brayclv and honorably
through the blood stained fields of rren.
ton, Princeton, Brandywine and Ger
mantown; and when diving he gave 1t to
his daughter. The poor woman clung to
that as the last memento of her better
davs.
"Paul," spike the mother, in a weak,
faint tone, 'is there no more wood ?"
4" | can easily get some, mother, when
Won are able to spare me. | have some
gathered M bv the roadside near the
pond"
Then Won NAV 90 now. shall get
along yery well until YOU come back.5
So the bow nut ON his cap, and started
off with the Sled. He was gone nearly
an bour. and when he returned he bore
wood enough to last through the rest OF
the dav and during the morrow. A bet.
fer fire was soon kindled. and then Paul
moved ont the little table and placed a
loaf of bread upon it. He made some
tea, and when that was done he asked his
mother if she would eat.
o,Tbis is ALL" he said. Not another
crumb of food is there in our house. But
LET us eat | can beg more. am used to
il now"
This was bitterly spoken...this last sen.
tence and the widow looked for the mo-
ment as though She would chide her son
for it. But the look quickly passed
away, for she remembered that tor many
weary weary weeks he had supported
her,
1t was toward the middle of the after
noon that the door of the cot was opened.
and two men entered. One of them was
Mr.. Notworth, the owner of the dwell,
inc He was tall slim man, with
sharn angular features thin. grizzly hair,
small red ewes a large mouth, and a mar.
row, contracted brow. He was hard,
crneI man. unfeelinr in the extreme,
and seemed TO know of but one incentive
to action and that incentive was money,
The other man was Nolworth's tool A
stont burlv clown ready to do ANYTHING
his master bade him, so long as his wages
were maid.
"Well Mrs Iayerc the other week
has zone and now | want nv house" "
Tins smoke the landlord, in a harsh, i'm.
nerotivo time.
ooh. good sir" the widow returned,
cIasninc her thin white hands and rails.
inG them toward him. "T am no. able 70
meve now Let me stay here vet A while
innrer0 y
oSCon vou nav me the rent" asked
No+wortb harshIv
(" Not now. but nerbans Paul NAV find
work.
HAnd wbv hasn't be found WORK
oIroadv9n
ara 3 Rccause he could not leave me sir
lava hoon verv sinL and sboulI bovo