The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-07-24


whole family in misery.
Mrs. Brown, my mother said, was an
excellent woman, and was always mend
ing and fixing up her children's cloth
ing; trying, in her careful, anxious way,
to make something of nothing; and often,
too, succeeding surprisingly well.
Robert, she added, had an elder
brother, who had gone to sea; and per-
haps the big boots might be a pair
which he had left at home. The family
had lately lost little girl, Robert
sister, and were in affiiction every way F.;
and she hoped that [ would never show
by word or look that / noticed the
clumsy boots or the threadbare coat.
And now Remembered hearing Robert
say to himself, sobbingly, one day when
the big boys had treated him ill
go little Mamie! little Mamie! am
glad you can not know of it,"
One day, not long after the COM
mencement of the school, two of the
committee called upon some business
with the teacher; and at recess, some of
the boys ma]iciously remarked that they
had observed these officials smiling at
Roberts big boots, as he stood in his
class or shuffied along the floor.
This was not true, but it had its effect.
The idea that grown-up men could re-
gard him with derision for his
patched jacket and his poor, clumsy
boots, seemed to impress, him with a
feeling more forlorn than aught else
had done.
How many leaden thoughts fell on
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a drunkard; his mother, so careful, SO
sorrowful, worn with work, so tender of
himself; his little sister, asleep under
the new mound, where his own and his
mothers hands placed, every week, sad
MOSES and circlets of the pretty creep
ing-jenny-for it was all that they now
could do; and then, in the midst of all,
how inexpressibly dreadful to his mind
seemed the taunts which poverty
brought upon him. The coat upon
which his mother had sewed at night,
hoping that it might answer; the boots
that she had dreaded to ask him TO wear :;
the coarse dinner that the boys had
made fun of at noon, as he took it from
his pail; he thought of all these things
more bitterly than ever; and, suddenly,
at that recess, he was missed from
among his school-fellows.
found him stretched at full length
on the damp ground, out of sight of his
tormentors; and when l knelt by his
side, and put my arm tenderly about
him, his sobs were violent. He cried
long and bitterly-all the more for this
sympathy, so precious, so unexpected.
Presently, number of school-boy
faces peered over the fence that had
hidden us from the common view; but
after moments watching, they skunk
away in shame.
soon perceived that my schoolmates
were talking earnestly among them
selves, and saw also that some of the
faces | had thought SO cruel wore look
of repentance and sorrow.
The teachers bell sounded, and we
all thronged into school-Robert Brown
the last. How sad he looked The
master asked no questions; but he must
previously have observed something of
the condition of things; for when school
was over at night, he put his arm about
Roberts neck, and asked him to re-
main for few moments. Robert held
remain also.
Then, when we three were alone, he
told, at the masters request, the story
of his troubles. How simply and how
frankly he spoke, and what unstudied
pathos there was in his words! The
schoolmaster's eyes were full of tears !;
and, in answering the poor little boy,
his voice became choked, and more
than once he left a sentence unfinished.
AS to myself, 1 could not help weeping
outright.
The next day Robert was absent. He
had taken cold during the few minutes
in which he lay on the wet ground, and
as the weather was now stormy, his
mother had not ventured to send him.
His absence afforded the master an
opportunity of talking to the other pupils
in way which he could hardly have
done had the little boy with the big boots
been present.
My schoolfellows, had, however, al
ready begun to think-begun to put
themselves in Roberts place, and i'm.
agine how they would feel if their moth
ers, who so loved them, were poor and
careworn, and sat up at night, trying to
make old things answer for their deal
boys, hoping that the other boys would
not notice the difference, or at least
would not speak of it; TO consider how
it would be if, when they came to school
all this anxiety and toll and love were
Knocked by unfeeling voices, and all the
dear things of home were insulted
through senseless derision, by those
who had the good fortune to possess
parents who could buy them new coats
new mittens, and new boots. There i,
almost every thing in thinking, and al
last the boys thought.
Master Tanner spoke kindly to then
on the subject. Though he could be
stern at times, there was now not one
atom of severity in his tones.
His heart had no room for anger; but
as he spoke, he became eloquent. 1t was
a soft, winning kind of eloquence; and
the most thoughtless boy in the schoo
was affected to tears.
Whether or not Roberts mother knew
what had TRANSFERRED, can not tell; but
the succeeding day he came again
} wearing the same boots and coat as be.
} fore. But the boys saw them not, OIL
saw them only to feel a heartache, and
newborn sympathy for the poor little
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