The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1881-05-26

an OOO, unnaCurat IlIo LOT q DOY, per-
haps. Boys who fight their own way in
the world frequently do, in fact, live
odd lives. Watching up there in the
unlit tower by night, he conjured many
q strange fancy in his young brain that
the old bell-ringer little dreamed of.
Then he stole home in the first light OF
the morning, to sleep; and next to
busy himself with a passion that for the
time drove all else out of his mind.
Few ever saw him going up or coming
down the dark, rickety stairs Of the old
tenement house; nor did the motley,
gossiping little community it contained
know much about him or the sad, lonely
widow who kept herself aloof in the
small, neat rooms on the top floor.
They had enjoyed more prosperous
days once. Back in the past there had
been pleasant home in quiet village,
that Philips mother liked to think
about; and sometimes in the long even
ings, when she was alone, she cried a
little over her recollections. But Philip,
watching in the tower. did not know it.
keep up good heart. my boy"
she said, occasionally, hiding her own
misery. ''Some day it will all change.
perhaps. shall get stronger and be
able to do more work for the shops, and
then you shall 60 to school. It's all
very wrong now, very wrong, but
"Never mind me, MOTHER" Philip
always answered. interrupting her. 1T
is you who need more than do, and it
is not wrong for me to work the best
can to help YOU"
hn s,1v 70 L
boys eyes fill with tears and his features
become hard and set. Once, too, after
looking at her TREMENDOUSLY a moment,
he put his arms ON the table before him
and gave up to his feelings. "Oh! if
God would only help me to take you
away from here!' he said. Afterward,
shut up alone in his room, he walked
the floor, thinking about her. He knew
that she was growing thinner and paler
every day; that she ought not to sew
from morning until night; and that
much of the time she went without
medicine she needed and other neces-
sites in order to provide him little
delicacies. Was there not something
he could do to earn more money than
he did by watching with the old bell
ringer? he asked himself over and over
again. But there was no one to help
him. He must depend on himself and
wait.
He opened an old trunk in one cor
ner of the room, and drew out from I'M
der some cast-otf clothing a small piece
of sculpture in clay-a partly finished
head and bust of his father, as an old
daguerreotypar represented him. 1t was
what he had been dreaming over and
working on in secret, the one thing out
OF which he got the grea est pleasure
and happiness. And some dav!-yes,
his mother was looking forward to a
future day, and so was ne. "Find out
what you can do best, lad," an old
teacher had said to him once, "and
then. do it with all your might" This
was what he CO lid do. He felt so sure
of it that it never occurred to him to
doubt it.
A month later, one afternoon when
Philip was walking along a great street
of the city and looking into the store
windows. he. happened to stop before
one where two men were at work carv-
ing small portraits, or canoes, in lava,
for the large, Hat bosom-pins that la
dies then wore. Lying in front of them
were pictures, which they were repro.
ducing in the same manner as he had
the bust of his father; but, as they only
cut a profile face, Their work did not
appear nearly so difficult. In fact, why
could not he try this? He watched
them a moment more, then walked
away; then returned, to look again.
Finally he went home, Struggled the
bust out IF his room, and came back.
He would muster sufficient courage. at
all events, to show them what he had
done, and ask for employment. If they
laughed at him! Desperately in mind,
however, of the need his mother and he
had of money, he did not hesitate to
consider; but opened the door and went
in.
A pleasant old gentleman in the rear
of the store proved to be the proprie-
tor; and, after adjusting a large pair
of spectacles. and comparing the bust
with the daguerreotype it represented,
he said. kindly:
"Yes, yes; very well done. indeed.
And you did it all yourself, you say?"
Yes, SIR" Philip answered, catch
ing a CLEAN of hope from the old gen.
tleman's cOuntenance.
Really--indeed! Mr.. joyce, will
you step here?' he said, addressing
one of the men busy at the window.
The man came, and looked curiously
at both Philip and his work. The bust
showed that the boy had great talent,
the real artistic instinct, he thought;
but it was crude. He needed instruc-
ton.
"You ought to study in one of the
evening art schools, lad" he said.
Philip explained that he could not.
He hoped to do so some time, when he
obtained different employment:
The old gentleman examined the
bust again, took off his spectacles and
rubbed them with a colored silk hand
kerchief. then stroked his beard q mo-
ment thoughtfully.
"Come in tomorrow, lad" he said.
II think can help YOU"
It had been long while since Philip
experienced as much pleasure as these
words gave him. He walked home
bright with pleasant anticipations. All
through the night, too, he never let the
old gentleman, his little store, or the
work he hoped to obtain slip out of his
mind. 1t seemed such a long, long
time he had been waiting for some
thing to happen in his favor. Shut up
there in the tower every night, sleeping
days. never having any change-how
could he ever bridge the gulf that lay
between him and the world of bis
dreamsP Its an uncommon year,
though. my lad" Mr.. Trexler had said,
"that doesn't bring its comforts as we'll
as its trials"
A couple OF years afterward, when it
had all passed. and the watching in the
tower, together with a great deal of
hard work for the old gentleman, was
completed and left behind. Philip could
look back and understand that it was
out of these longings, dreams and
struggles with poverty he had got much
of his power. In the school to which
he had been admitted many of his as
sociates could copy from models with
rare skill; but they did not seem to be
enough in earnest. sufficiently Loaf in