The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1882-05-24

NV soIu' gu III tne ulOTnlngI Wnen
he had put the whole stand In nice
order, and all the dolls, and gum.
balls, and boxes of blocks; and tin
wagons were all set in array, / was
put on the shelf just above, and be-
gan to tumble my very best.
We hadn't much company that
morning, and in the afternoon it
rained; but the next day was bright
and clear, and the two,headed vocal.
ist gave matinee just beyond, and,
Of courses all the children and grown
people stopped to look at me. 1t
sounds very vain, doesn't III but it
does me good to think about ali /
helped to do thatsday, and should
not have done 1t if the people had
not stopped to look at me.
II was one of these late hard-times
winters, and my master, finding
trade poor, had a chestnut-roaster as
well a' toy'stand, and the boy who
turned the handle for him was-well,
very poor and in rags, and very sci,
dom with a clean face, but such a
bright pair of eyes-their glance was
like the the sparkle in mud-puddle.
He was greatly tickled with me, you
may believe, and l don't think he
would have attended TO the nuts well
if it hadn't been that they wanted
his bit Of moneysatshome worse that
day than usual. iz&s it was, l think
it was easier for him to work with
me tumbling beside him; frst.class
nonsense does a great deal of good
sometimes,
The matinee,crowd stopped as they
went and as they came home, and
bought a good many little things,
but among the first people who came
after dinner was shabby man with
gray hair and sharp, thin face, who
strayed along the street as if he
hadn't anything to do, and yet want.
ed to do something. ! think if he
passed the stand once he passed it
ten times; then he asked my master
how l worked, and my master told
him "with a spring" but very short.
ly, for l think he did not like the
mans looks. He spoke pleasantly
enough, | thought, and by and by
stationed himself in doorway near
by, and kept looking at me from un-
der his eyebrows and biting his lip.
| think my master had a notion that
this idle man might steal me, and
was relieved presently when he saw
a pleasant'looking lady recognize the
shabby fellow as she came out of the
book store. She shook hands with
him, too: she did, that lady; l remem.
Der seeing that her glove was ripping.
"How are you getting on these days,
Jem?" she said, in a nice bright
voice.
"Not SO very well, Miss Ellen" he
answered.
"Not out of work again, I hope?"
"No, not quite; but only half.work,
and that makes it hard to pay the
rent"
Miss Ellen looked sober. "Half-
work is hard, Jem; no one knows
that better than l just now. People
haven't much money to spend for
pictures, and I don't know that they
ought 10 have; but it is hard on US
who paint them"
Jem listened respectfully, but as il
he only took part of it in, and Miss
Ellen gave little jump, as if she
had been talking to herself. "But
what about the new invention, Jem?"
Jem's face lighted up. "I've work
ed at it good deal, Miss Ellen; I've
more time for it than I Wish hadl-
And | was just wondering now how
it would do to run it by q spring, like
that fellow there's" pointing to me.
II don's know; would the spring
have enough powel?"
"That's what I can't ttefl till | reck-
on it out, tia'am," said Jem; and
when / was on my feet and not on
my head | could see how bright his
face was. "But, you see, if the wheel
=" and then came long discourse
about wheels and pinions and cogs,
which 1 don't believe Miss Ellen un-
derstood, for all she listened so pa
tiently. You know most women