Wichita eagle., 1886-12-08

suddenly ne sp1ed by the roadside some
pussy willows with their silvery, fuzzy buds
and cutting off a branch gave it to the boy
saying: "Give that to your ma, and tell heI
she's the best woman in Meigs county"
LAW" said Mrs. banks when the boy burst
in with his branch and message; your pas
getting silly in his old age. l don't want such
truck IL the house" But after the boy had
gone she put it carefully in water and set ii
on the kitchen shelf, and several times she
looked up at it with look on her face which
| Mr banks would scarcely have recognized.
That gentleman's absence made very little
difference with his family, except to Capitola.
| His wife scolded little less, and the boys,
who looked upon him very much as another
| boy-only one who liked to sit in the same
place too long-pursued their works and
! sports as usual
But the Thursday after his leave their out
door fun was cut short by persistent rain.
| How it did pour. Hour after hour, all day
and night Friday morning dawned upon
sweeping rnists Of gray, and an angry, boiling
| food that crept inch by inch up its yellow
| banks, and night closed in on the same pict-
ure Saturday morning the sun shone out
bright and clear, but on what scene Of de-
struction, What had been q river was a
rushing sea, which had blotted out field after
field, and stopped just at their own gate, and
which carried on its heaving surface trees
torn up bodily, great timbers, buildings and
cattle. Toward night large barn came
floating down, and lodging just above the
house, made a breakwater, round which the
waters whirled, bringing into the harbor thus
formed all manner of wreckage The boys
watched eagerly, specializing at the amount
of firewood thus laid at their door.
'Hil That's good one," cried one of
them, as just at dusk something like a log
appeared around the corner of the barn, bal
anced a moment, as though undecided, and
then swept round into the little harbor. But
it was getting too dark to see anything more,
SO they went laughing and scuffling to bed.
All night long mother and children slept
quietly in the little house. lulled by the rush
of swift waters. All night long, in the little
harbor the log swayed and turned, now swept
away from the shore, now drawn toward it,
as though reluctant to 60
In the morning, with the whoop and shout,
the boys burst from the house, but in a
moment were back again with white cheeks
and chattering teeth, and, clinging to their
mother, could utter but one word-"Father."
him. Mr. banks had come home.
They took up the poor body, bruised and
battered, but invested for the first time in the
eyes of those who knew it with dignity, and
as they bore it across the threshold there fell
from the pocket a string Of discolored blue
beads.
a little later they knew al there was to
know of the pitiful story His fellow work
men had gathered on the wharf Saturday
afternoon after work to watch the fresbet
One by one they scattered to their homes, up
and down the river, and neighbor, seeing
Mr. banks, called to him to come; but he
shook his head, saying he was not going home
till his work was finished. So they left him
there, looking down the river toward his
home. One hour later the wharf was swept
away. No one knew what had become of
the solitary 1igure-save One. And as the
poor body, without volition of its own, was
guided through food and darkness to its
home, who can deny that the spirit-too
weak to shape its own course-was borne on
infinite pity into the eternal hone?-Hester
Stuart in Chicago Tribune