The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1883-02-03
TEDDY.

TEDDY.
Honor Neal was plump, merry little
Irish widow, who worked early and late
as q washerwoman, to support herself
and her son. One day Mrs. Sprout, one
of her employers stopped her at the gate.
Honor, it is high time that that great
boy of yonrs was put to some regular
employment. He cannot spend all his
life carrying baskets of clothes"
"Indade, an that's thrue. An he's
got the foine head on him, Teddy has!
But he seems to be dull in the use of his
hands, men,"
"Lazy. ehG Has ne had any school
i0gr" :.
s'Och, he has that same. Father Ryan,
he saw the foiae head he has on him, an
he took him in the parish school to make
praste of him. But he was dull at the
Latin and he slnr him home
Hes good for nothing, then?"
ssIndade, mem, an it's he has the
great taste for spiders an bugs. He has
big collection"
''Send him here tonight. I'll get my
husband to put him to work in the store.
He ought to be earning something in
stead of spending his time in the fields
gathering bugs.
But Teddy proved as dull at weighing
sugar and measuring molasses as he was
at Latin. He knew every granny and
hiding place in the hills within ten miles,
but he never could find the starch or the
tape-measure in the shop. He could tell
You the color and habits of every bird,
fish or moth in the woods, but he stared
NJ L. Of kho
ter, when they asked for 'sLone Jack, -
or "Nigger head In fortnight he
had an empty corner in the shop filed
with his bottles of snakes, or sheets of
beetles or butterflies. Did an old woman
want balm or balsam apple he was ready
to get it if his employer would les him go.
He was the guide for many of the Der
rYing parties which the young folks
started during the summer. Everybody
in fact, liked the s)ow-spoken, gentle lad
whese big gray eyes stared absently at
them everywhere but in the woods,
But in September Mr.. Sprout discharged
him; as utterly worthless for shop-work.
A week later met his mother.
Is it Teddy? Och an he's fixed for
life, now! Mrs. Sprout she got the boss
av the Fenton coal mine to take him on
thrial. It's foine place, she says, an
he'll make good wages"
When the fall came we used to beg fol
Teddy to be freed from his grimy black
prison for day. to go with us to the
woods; but to no purpose. His mother
said be had ''got down to stiddy work
an was done with runnin' wild like 6
ground squirrel" I met him once al
n.yhtfall, creeping home-thin and
stopped, his eyes looking big and wild in
the black mass of coal-dust that covered
his face and clothes. There had recently
been some accidents in the neighborinQ
mines from the caving in of shaft.
Take care of yourself, Teddy" said
/. II wish you were out of that pit
Teddy's eyes twinkled in the black. 81
kin git out av that pit any minute ]
Place he said, lowering his voice. 81
found crack back of Pressley's hills 9
year ago. It's hole ladin' into the
mine. Nothin' kin happen TO me in
there" The very next day there was an
alarm through the town. There had
been an explosion in Fenton's mine
and thirty men were buried. Whether
they were living or dead nobody
knew. The church bells rang fur
iously. Everybody left their dinners
it was about ! o'clock-and ran to the
street. The crowd empried itself from
the court house, and judge, lawyers and
jury left the prisoner and constable ir
the dock, and joined the throng rushing
down the river road. Honor was sitting
on the bank; not crying like tho others
Her round red face looked pinched ant
drawn. A basket of newly -ironeC
clothes stood beside her, for she hao
been on her way home with them when
the dull report of the explosion wa.
heard. Mrs. Sprout was near her
sobbing and talking loudly.
"Teddy's in there" she cried, as
came. "I sent him there. I wish I hac
left him at home. It's always my lucl
when do the best can to help people.
At that moment there was shout
from the men at work at the mouth OIL
the mine, and some 90 of the miners
emerged from the mouth of the pit
stunned and terrified by the explosion
but otherwise unhurt. Teddy was moi
among them.
"Where are the other men?' demanded
Father Ryan, as soon as he could make
himself heard.
r'Where's Teddy Neal?" cried Mrs
Sprout, catching the foreman by The
shoulder and pushing his sobbing wife
aside.
'They were in back passage behinf
the heap of slate made by the explosion
We were this side of it, he answered
':'red was with us, an'-an' He looked
uneasily at Honor, who had come up te
him and was staring into his face will
her lips open. They moved back tc
ask question, but she could not make
q sound.
where is the boy?" asked Mrs
Sprout, impatiently.
"He turned back to go to them.
could not help itr' he exclaimed. III,
would have it that he knew q way on
of the back of the mine; and that if
were open, he could guide the mel
through it. There was crack at tn
top of the heap of slate, and he's such
lean little chap he wriggled through
with our pushing him behind.
You pushed him to his deathP Mrs
Sprout screamed. And then suddel
silence foil on the crowd.
Every man and woman there under
stood that the boy had not five chance