The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1883-12-27
TWO UNEXPECTED NEW YEARS
CALLS,

spears to me if [ had some of 'em,
pears to me I'd git well right away"
said Tony in a fretful voice Don't
you member 'em, Sabie?"
Yes, member EN- good" replied
Sable, tanning the sick boy with an old
straw fan she had picked up some
where. And then she went on to say
the same thing she had said a hundred
times or more before when asked the
same question.
''They wuz a-growin' 'longside that
place they called wood, though it
didn't look much like wood to me-oh,
SIGH lots of 'em-red as your flaming
shirt, Tony, an a-kinder a-hidin' under
their greens. An the man wot wuz
a-cuttin' tree says: Eat away, young
'uns, they's free An us eat away an
away, an oh, they WIZ puffickly Ii
cious. An there WIZ jes' as many wen
us stopped a-eatin' as wen us beginned
They wuzn't bit like the strawberries
they gives me to the markit sometimes
wen they can't sell EN- Them S
smashed an But wot you a-cryin'
for, Tony?"
Pears to me-" sobbed Tony, '.if
had some from that VERY place I'd git
well right away. They yAlz so 'freshin',
tSabier'
Poor little fellow, with nobody to
look after him but Sable and an old
grandmother! And the old grand
mother, who had been growing feebler
and feebler year by year for many
years, could now do nothing but sit in
Der big rocking-chair and knit coarse
stockings and mittens, singing the
while, in a sweet, quivering voice, the
old-fashioned hymns she had learned in
her girlhood.
Sable sold these stockings and nit
tens during the cold months from door
to door in poor neighborhoods, and on
what money was earned in this way the
three just managed to live. But in
warm weather, had it not been for the
kindness of 4 Jolly fat man who kept an
eating-saloon near by, they would have
often gone hungry. He saved for them
the best OF the food left by his custom
ers (some of whom, thinking them
selves hungrier than they really were,
ordered more than they could eat, and
often when business had been unusually
brisk he al led two or three rolls, a
handful of crackers, or a yesterdays
pie.
\ very good girl was Sable Not
pretty, though she might have been if
her face had not been so pale and thin,
for she had soft gray eyes with long
lashes, and curly brown hair; and not
clever, for she did not even know her
letters. She was nearly ten, three
years older than Tony, and yet she had
never been 10 school day in her life
Her mother diving, after long illness.
when she was but six years old. the
care of her little brother fell almost
entirely upon her, Granny then being
able to 20 ont with the mittens and
stockings herself. But now that Granny
had forgotten her way about the streets,
and could only see enough to knit.
Sable had To do the selling. the market
ing and the housc-wOrk, all three. She
was shy child. and made no acquaint-
anccs either in the tall tenement house,
in the reimbursement of which they
lived. or abroad, and so. you see, her
world was Il very small one. containing
only Tony and Granny and two or
three of the market people.
Tony had been delicate and almost
helpless from his birth. but Sable loved
him none the less for that. In fact, |
think she loved him more because he
was so deppndent on her. That's a
way girls and women have, rs perhaps
YOU know. And when, Just after Christ
mas. he began to cough so badly that
he grew so tired he could no longer sit
up. her heart ached for him. and all
the time she could spare from her work
she spent at his bedside trying to amuse
and cheer him.
Now the summer before the winter
of which write these two children and
their grandmother had been taken by
the cook of the eating-saloon to spend
the day in the country. where some
friends Of hers lived. Sable and Tony
had never been in the country before
and at first, awed by the silence broken
only by the rustling of the leaves, the
hum of the insects and the song of the
birds, they spoke in whispers; but soon
after arriving at the very small cottage
of their friends friends they left
GRANNY and the other older folks to
chat aad drink tea and wandered off
hand in hand together. mocking the
birds as they went. They kept straight
on through the wood in which the
small cottage stood, turning neither to
the right nor the left lest they should
get lost, until they reached the extreme
edge, and there they found a patch a
long patch-Of wild Strawberries.
Strawberries a-growin'. strawber-
ries a-growin' = they shouted, and down
went Sable on her knees before them,
an example which Tony soon followed.
''They's hitler than market straw
berries" said she, but they's cum
min er an tasting one -''Sugarer.
wonder if us kin take some"
kin Us, man?" called Tony to
man who was cutting down dead tree
on the other side of the road.
.sCan you what?" asked the man. u
Take some OF them Strawberries"
answered Tony.
take away; they're Free" was the
reply.
And they did take away. They
picked and ate until their faces and
hands were stained strawberry red,
and only stopped when their friend
came to look for them and tell them it
was almost time to go home.
That day was like rainbow set in
their dreary life, and though the good
natured cook to whom they o~ed it had