The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-07-24

1 n61o a nov 1OAI2 lOl ttIC IONC hC h1o
so often harshly repulsed. He will over
come this sulkiness of his: he will begin
this very evening; as soon as he gets
| home he will tell his mother that he is
sorry, that he does love her really, only
that when these fits come on him he
| hardly knows what he says or does.
And she will forgive him. only too
gladly. and his mind will be quite at
ease again, No, not quite; there is still
something he must do before that. He
has vague recollection of a long
standing GOODNESS between himself and
his younger brother Lionel. They never
hare got on very well together; Lionel
is so diferent-much cleverer, even
already. for one thing; better looking,
too, and better tempered. Whatever
they quarreled about, Wilfred is very
sure he is the offender; Lionel never
will put himself in the right at once
and ask Lionel to make friends again;
he will consent readily enough-he
always does.
And then he has bright idea; he
will take his brother some little present
to prove that he really wishes to behave
decently in the future. What shall he
buy?
lie finds himself near a large toy
shop at the time, and in the window
are displayed several regiments Of
brightly colored tin warriors-the very
thing! Lionel is still young enough to
delight in them.
Feeling in his pockets Rolleston dis
covers more loose silver than he had
thought he possessed, and so he goes
into the shop and asks for one of the
boxes of soldiers. He is served by one
of two neatly-dressed female assistants,
who stare and giggle at one another at
his first words, finding it odd, perhaps,
that fellow of his age should buy toys
as if, he thinks Indignantly, they
couldn't see that it was not for himself
he wanted the things.
But he goes on. feeling happier after
his purchase. They will see now that
he is not so bad after all; it is long
since he has felt such craving to be
thought well of by somebody.
A little further on he comes to a row
of people, mostly women and trades
mems boys, standing on the curbstone
Il HAL w ilO ID SCdlCu III 81 llDOlC
wooden box on wheels drawn up close
to the pavement. He is paralytic and
blind, with pinched, white face framed
in an old-fashioned fur cap with big
ear-lappels; he seems to be preaching
or reading, and Rolleston stops idly
enough to listen for a few moments,
the women making room for him with
alacrity and the boys staring curiously
around at the new arrival with a grin.
He hardly pays much attention to
this; he is listening to the poem which
the man in the box is reciting with
nasal and metallic shuttle in his voice.
There's a harp and crown,
For you and for me,
Hanging on the bOughs
OF that Christmas treeH'
He hears, and then hurries on again,
repeating the stanZa mechanically to
himself, without seeing anything par
ticularly ludicrous about it. The words
have reminded him of that Christmas
party at the Gordons, next door. Did
not Ethel Gordon ask him particularly
to come, and did he notrefuse her sui
lenly? What brute he was to treat
her like that! If she were to ask him
again. he thinks he would not say no,
though he does hate parties.
Ethel is dear girl, and never seems
to think him good for nothing as most
people do. Perhaps it is all sham,
though--no, he can't think that when
he remembers how patiently and kindly
she has borne with his senseless fits of
temper and tried to drive away his
gloom.
Not every girl as pretty as Ethel is
would care to notice him and persist in
it in spite of everything; yet he has
sulked with her of late. Was it because
she had been kind to Lionel? He is
ashamed to think that this may have
been the reason.
Never mind, that is all over now; he
will start clear with everybody. He will
ask Ethel, too, to forgive him Is there
nothing he can do to plesse her? Yes;
some time ago she asked him to draw
something for her. He detests drawing
lessons, but he has rather taste for
drawing things out of his own head
He had told her, not too civilly, that he
had work enough without doing draw
ings for girls. He will paint her
something tonight as surprise; he
will begin as soon as tea is cleared
away; it will be more sociable than
reading book.
And then already he sees a vision of
the warm little paneled room, and him.
self getting out his color box and sit
ting down to paint by lamp-light-for
any light does for his kind of coloring
while his mother sits opposite and
Lionel watches the picture growing un-
der his hand.
What shall he draw? He gets quite
absorbed in thinking over this; his own
tastes run in a CORY direction, but per-
haps Ethel, being a girl, may not care
for battles or desperate duels. A COM
promise strikes him; he will draw a
pirate ship; that will be first-rate, with
the black flag flying on the mainmast,
and the pirate Captain on the poop
securing the ocean with big glass in
search of merchantmen; all about the
deck and rigging he can put the crew,
with red caps and belts stuck full of
pistols and daggers.
And on the right there shall be bit
of the pirate island, with mast and
another black fiag-he knows he will
enjoy picking out the skull and cross
bones in thick Chinese white and then,
if there is room, he will add cannon,
and perhaps palm tree. A pirate
island always has palm trees.
He is 50 full of this projected picture
OF his that he is quite surprised TO find
that he is very near the square where he
lives; but here, just in front of him, at
the end OF the narrow lane, is the pub
lie house with the coach and four en-
graved on the ground glass OF the lower
part of the window, and the bottles full