Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-09-24

thought everybody looked pleased, aud
catching the eye Of lady who bent to
ward him, he smiled back a shy, friend
ly smile.
This lady was the first to speak 10
him. She crossed eagerly over and
said, "Mav I sit beside you, dearp
knew little boy once with yellow hair
like yours
Bonny never noticed that she had
tears in her soft eyes now
81 like your hair best, he answered.
half timidly, half frankly. The lady's
hair was very dark, and she wore in IL
a splendid yellow flower.
!" But, please, am so hungry! May
1 have dinnerP'
Before the lady could answer, stout
gentleman came hurrying up.
Well, well, let's see about this he
began, in rollicking tone. "Shake
hands, little stranger. So you came to
my dinner, did yOu?n
Bonny dropped his head. He was
rather afraid of the loud-voiced man;
but the lady whom he was not afraid
Of said, rc-assuringly, "This is the
man who gives the dinner, little one,
this is his house; he'll be very good to
you, never fear"
So Bonny looked up then, and re-
[ piled, simply, Il came; l was hungry,
and / camen
The host cleared bis throat, and said,
/ heartily, while he patted Bonny's curls,
/ 'Well, l didn't expect you, that's 8 a
fact but we'll give you just as good a
/ dinner, for all that. A dinner2-Hu
! warrant you we will: and upon my
word, ladies and gentlemen, I rather
think the Metropolis Hotel is honored
to have the chance"
Never, never had Bonny imagined
/ such dinner as he ate that day. The
| lady who sat by his side cut up the
/ chicken, and helped him choose among
/ the lavish dainties that the host kept
/ insisting on having brought for him to
/ taste.
Hungry? It seemed to Bonny that he
| never in this world could be hungry
/ again.
/ His innocent heart ran over, and he
/ told his new friend, the lady, all she
asked him about his sick father, his
| tired mother, the little tenement that
/ was like the kettle that all boiled away.
and the big family that crammed it so
| full when gathered together. But one
thing neither the lady, nor her husband.
who filed BOnny's pocket with pennies.
| nor the host, could succeed in finding
out from him.
! This was where the little fellow be-
! longed, and how to return him to his
/ home.
Street and number he knew naught
| about What was his name? "Bonny
Laddie." His fathers name? 'Oh,
John" What kind of work did his
father do? "Oh, nothing; father is
sick.n He had no clear ideas associated
with any callinS except with Nickie's,
as they found By questioning.
That Nickie peddled papers. and that
Bonny would when he was bigger, he
was very positive about.
"Well, then" suggested the host,
"we'u try the newsbOys Wen Just
| have Laddie standing by the door
when they 90 past, and maybe he can
pick out this brother Of his from the
| lot"
The company sat for a long time round
| the tables. BOnny kept still, listening
and wondering, though he understood
| little of the speeches and the toasts-
Once all eyes were again turned to-
ward Bonny.
]
and gentlemen, | beg to propose the
health of the first guest of the Metrop-
| oils Hotel, who, though unlimited, has
given the patriarch of this palace the
privilege of entertaining an angel un-
awares.h
But Bonny answered nothing to the
looks bent upon him. With one hand
full of nuts and bonbons, the other in
1, = haov~y- v,1pt-nF and fana $ v,a-fa..E
peace, the little guest of the Metrop-
oils Hotel lay fast asleep in his chair.
He was rOsily awake again by the
time the newsbUys were crying out
their evening papers.
"Come and watch for Mckee"
coaxed the host; and with Bonny's
small, warm hand in his own he
stepped out on the broad granite slab
in front of the hotel.
That isn't Nickie-nor that-nor
that" Bonry kept saying at first.
| "Oh, Nickien' he shouted, suddenly;
and, plunging forth into the street,
tumbled against small boy in big
trousers and an OyergrOwn cap, whose
bundle of papers looked much fatter
than he did.
AstOnished Nickie, who had not been
home since morning, could scarcely be-
lieve his senses at first, as he stared at
his little brother through the dusk, tha
fog, and the rain-drops that now began
to fall. However, he could answer all
the questions that Laddie had been I'M
able to satisfy, and in a very short in
terval a carriage had been summoned,
the host had slowed away in it a eapa-
cous basket hastily filled with choice
remnants from the feast, and Bonny
Laddie was rolling toward his home in
charge of the gentle stranger lady and
her husband.
The stranger lady, promising Bonny
to come again, made haste to 90 away,
but before going she had time to won
der at something she saw. Why did
Bonny's tired but blithe-looking mother
give the lady's husband such sad, al
most fearful, look? Why did he seem
confused, and going over to the sick
man, said, - will reconsider that mat
ter, John. You may rest easy?"
Afterward she understood. When
Johns master had that afternoon curt
ly refused Mrs. Donald's petition, and
let her 90 away disappointed and dis
tressed, her patient waiting and her
earnest pleading having been in vain,
he had considered himself right, from
the standpoint of his own interest.
But then he had known nothing of the
clean, crowded household. and nothing
of this yellow-haired laddie who re-
minded him of another little yellow
haired laddie who had been taken from
him.-EHd H. Baker, in HdrDeF'S YOttllg