The Red Cloud chief., 1880-11-25

Hut the second orator was speaking.
n When he had ended Johns mother
locked eagerly about. Again flowers
were handed from this quarter aud
that to the ushers, and passed TO the
last speaker.
WHO gives the nowers?" asked
Johns mother Of the child. why
didn't that senior get some last year?
Why, the friends Of the students
bring the flowers. ! guess that senior
didn't have any friends, or maybe they
forgot to bring him some. Mamma has
a bouquet there to give to brother VIII.
1t cost four dollars"
A sudden fear seized Johns mother.
| She hadn't brought any flowers for
John. 1t wasn't likely that anybody
else had remembered him. He was
going TO be sighted as that poor senior
had been, and his dear face would burn
with modification!
Il didn't bring any for my boy"
she said, with a quick involuntary
glance toward the exquisite bouquet in
the hands of Wills mother. IL might
have brought some. | have roses
and pinks and lilies. AMI most every
kind
She became silent. The third orator
was speaking. But Johns motaer
could not listen, except -tothe fear and
questioning of her own heart. Would
there be any flowers for John? Had
anybody remembered her boy? Ii he
should not yet any. would he feel very
badly about il? E.sT OH
At the end Of each address, she
looked eagerly about, in dread lest the
! speaker might receive no flowers, al
most hoping that he would no receive
any, so that her John might not be
alone i'm the misery of being neglected
ii he should not be remembered.
At length the last speaker preceding
her John was standing before the au-
dicnce. All the others had been hon
ored with floral tributes; and as this
one ended a eulogy on Thomas Jeiler-
son, Johns mother saw the flowers
fairly pouring toward him. Nineteen
bouquets, according to report, he
received. Alas, she saw how il would
be. John would be the solitary slight
! ed one-alone in his misery; for only
viii was to follow, and Wills mother
had that superb bouquet for him.
But perhaps perhaps il might be!
John might he remembered. One per-
son there might be in all that large au-
| diencc who had thought TO bring for
| him a little bunch of flowers. "But,"
she said, with !. sigh, lit was not likely
| when his own mother had not"
But John was advancing to the front
of the stand. Soon her question would
be answered. She listened with inter-
est so tense that an ache possessed her
whole being. He gave a noble Grafton
for a youth-a clear, terse argument.
But il was not of the kind To please
that part of the audience which does
the cheering. The applause Jagged
and the flowers!
The mother, with unconscious en-
treaty in every feature and motion,
looked right sod Left, backward and all
about. She saw people looking con-
strained, people looking sympathetic.
people looking amused, people whis-
perfng. Observation-Disclosures did she
see thecoveted spot of flower-color ex-
tended.
Alas, alas! there no flowers for
John! She saw his facessssol6ng and
growing red. Perhaps othcrpeople did
not perceive that he cared; but she
who had been studying that face
through nineteen years, she saw that
John was hurt. Tears gathered in the
faded eyes; one spattered on the loose
brown kids clasped in the lap.
|. And Wills mother was turning the
grand bouquet between her pale lilac
gloves, in atriumphing way, as itseemed
to the other.
1t was i'm a %triumphing way. A trt
umph had been won: the beautiful bou-
! quet was lifted; it was held out; it was
reckoning an usher.
20 mammal wildly demonstrated
the child. Twill! You bought it for
VIII! Suppose he shouldn't get any!'
''He won't mind; he's the valedicto-
rian," whispered the sweet-faced lady,
as she gave the bouquet into the usher's
hands. With misty eyes. she saw it
borne along the aisle the noblest Offer
ing of the day-into Johns hands.
A sigh of relief went around the
class; a glow came into every face; all
the audience seem to warm. Johns
mother turned one grateful look to the
beautiful woman whose sympathy had
prompted the noble deed; and then the
brown gloves were neryously placed
Over the wornf face quivering with tears.
and were not removed until the last
words of the last speaker had been
spoken.-Yoath's Companion.