The Brookhaven leader., 1885-12-24

\
meanor. He looked at his white face and re-
membered that IL had been round and glow
= ing a short time before and understood that
he suffered He was too old AMI imbecile tC
have the cause of il all straight in his mind !;
but sorrow has its own language more elo-
Quent than words and this he undcrs ood.
"foor Dayyi Poor Davyr he mn terei.
as he patel the bov'- head Thsn his
svmpath eS overwhelmed hun h. bent and
kissel the shiny facs os Davy5 doll, leaving
its painted cheek a.ned with the tears that
rolled from his wlthcre1 ones.
| They al gathered around Davy-surprised
and piea>e,l at his silence and Iaten"e. They
we're a strange company Of cOnSo!efs-
crazed, crippled woe begone. clad in moan
/ garments AMI owning nothing lub their i'm
| perishable souls and their battered bodies.
/ Yet all that they -kindness-they gave.
| Each one forgot his own grief, whatever it
vas in the presence of the boys more un-
/ bearable one.
Davy said nothing to all their kind words.
! He only held Lizzie Ann close to his breast,
as though there was comfort in her coinpan-
! iOhship, ant rocked the harder
The next morning he rose with dry eyes
and made n heroic effort to be hopeful. rs
it to-day go homer was his first question.
] uIs Ups IIeiuDfcu "uSu tOiu IuiO IL was lO-
hut he shed no tears. John Keller appeared
early on the scene and removed one OF the
black beans from the string. which nov
ornamental Davys person as a necklace.
| Yet the boy did not seem hopeful He was
only quiet His tears fell no more, but his
silent patjence WAS even sadder than his re-
selliouI lamentations. Not being creature
Of stout will, his spirit was as wretched in
woe as it had been Luoyant in happiness He
seemed to have suffered beyond the point
where ray of hope brings strength. He had
/ changed his wall, Il want to go home, to
I'm going home but he said it without
spirit and apparently without hope; and it
was, if possible, more heartrendinS than his
first wall.
His spirit was broken and so was his phys
ical health. He had grown SO weak he could
not sit up long at a time, and so wouh lie
hours 4 every day on his cot, staring at the
wal. though seeing it not. His eyes ere
| looking into some realm outside of all maze
rial things for they had changed strangely.
Instead of the simple vacant look of his
pleasant days. they had grown deep anil
luminous, with that wonderful beauty which
is seen in the eyes of those who have suffered
great anguish of spirit.
And TIE days went on until all the beans
! were gone from the string but one and the
next day would be Christmas
John Keller had coun.e,l the hours of the
long week with even greater impatience than
Davy. He had grown into the thought that
he would rather set that homesck boy DOWN
on the doorstep Of his old home than to come
in for a princely inheritance. Before he
started to town in his wagon that morning
he had said to Davy when arranging the
bean necklace, Tomorrow you go, my
boy; tomorrow" and Davy had repeated
his usual refrain. "rm going home"
Keller brought letters home with him that
evening, which was nothing unusual; hut
among them was one that took all the life
out of his face when he heard its contents
IL was from Davy's brother and counter
manded tho order to bring bavy into town
on Christmas. They had decided not to have
him come until New Years Unforeseen
circumstances made the delay necessary
To atone for the delay he should stay day
or two when he did come etc.
Some tears were shed over the cruel news
but not by Davy. Hours before the letter
arrived he had been lying in his cot his sad
eyes staring through the walls that impris-
oned him into the land of his dreams. When
they went to tell him they found him asleep,
the now crumpled but comforting doll
clutched in one hand and held close to his
woe-begone face.