The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1886-03-19
dy. "He looked hungry as well as

lady. "He looked hungry as well a
cold"
"Come, come, / fear you are getting
sentimental over this young gamin,
said he, skillfully avoiding the point
"but why over this boy more than any
other?"
Il cannot explain why. 1 could not
express it in words, and yet
Here her reply was interrupted by q
party of friends who just then came up
and Joined them.
The poor lad looked wistfully afte,
them as they left the sidewalk and
passed through theigreat doors of the
theatre.
Il never saw any one look at me as
that lady did," thought the shiverinq
boy, while he retraced his steps to his
old position on the square 81 know
from her face she is good woman
and she spoke so kind and pitying like
How l would like to work for her! !
am sure she would dress me up-well
more than am now anyway.
"But her son ought to be taken down
a peg" he continued, dicussing the
matter in'mind; "and 1 would like to
do it too, he is a regular dude, and a
hatefull one at that; but 1 think he is
about like his father. l shall get square
with him yet, and perhaps some day /
will have as good clothes as he has on,
and then no one will know ever wore
rags.
Il wonder who l am, anyway, that
should live in that den, and if 1 ever
had a father and mother like other
boys" mused he, as he once more rested
against the tall tree.
"If l had, why did they ever give me
to that wicked old woman, to live in
that place and take her abuse?"
perhaps she and her gang stole me
away from them, and they have been
hunting for me all this tlme-ever
since was a baby. Who knows? 1
wonder how long ago that was? 1
think I'm about fourteen, but I'd like
to know exactly: for now never have
a birthday cause don't know when it
u.s." said he, sadly. And the next
thought in his mental problem, and the
one which naturally forced itself upon
him, made his young heart ache with
grief.
Eyes" he admitted sorrowfully TO
himself, "they may he dead--my father
and mother. How l wish l could re-
member them" and if they were rich
or poor" he continued, speculating
upon the subject, which for him had a
strange fascination.
He felt a keen desire to know some
thing about his ancestors-something
about the people who were his own
flesh and blood.
He felt that those with whom his lot
had been cast were no kin of his, for
he was in no sense like them-coarse,
low and repulsive. How he came to be
with them was a mystery that he was
most anxious to solve. The story of
his early life--that part which his
memory could not recall-he longed to
know. He had tried every means at
his command to obtain some light upon
this question.
He had asked the squalid old woman
with whom he had passed all his re-
me,nbered life, to tell him this story.
But all proved to no purpose. He
felt sure there was a deep plot connect
ed with his early life-a mystery sur
rounding it, so thick that it seemed to
him he could in no wise penetrateit.
And this thought gave the subject
additional interest-so much so that he
found himself hour after hour indulg-
ing in the widest speculations upon
the matter, as he knocked about hither
and thither among the rubbish of a
great city.
But he was more than dreamer,
more than speculator upon the past,
though with him there were the strong
est reasons for sucha tendency. New
ertheless, he had an eye to the future;
for he possessed strong ambition, and
a degree of intelligence rarely seen in
a boy of his age.
His education, such as it was. had
been picked up in the busy streets of
New York. He was older than his age
so long had he been in contact with the
world. He had grown up literally be-
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