Little Falls transcript., 1886-04-09


OF the servants began toquestion him;
one took him by the arm and shook
him roughly; but he neither moved
nor answered.
He only stood by his mothers side
(his mother, who in her anguish never
!; spoke to him, clinging to her gown,
and grasping it tight in both his
hands. !. @...g. .~....
"Oh, wish was dead! wonder If
/ shall be able to die!' s.s
The poor young heart in it's misery
was passionately crying to itself.
1t was almost half an hour before q
doctor could be got, and when he
came they carried Elsie out of Nor.
mans sight.
An hour later, the little blue-eyed
yellow haired child lay quiet on her
bed, asleep, with her mothers hand in
| hers
And her mother, sitting at the bed
side, was looking at her with look
as il her heart would break "Oh, my
Elsie, whose little feet will never make
music on the floor again." she was
murmuring over her through her bitter
tears.
For Elsie was not dead and did not
debut she was lamed for life. The
shot had gone into her right leg q lit
tie below the thigh, shattering it to
pieces, and the surgeon had had to
cut it of.
''It might have killed her; let US
think how much more unhappy we
might have been," Mr.. Foster said,
as he held his wife in his arms, and
| tried to comfort her. "If she lives we
can bear all the rest. Thank God!
Thank God!"
The father and mother were alone
together in. Elsie's room; they had
neither Of them yet spoken to or even
seen Norman.
"Whereis is he?" Mr.. Foster asked aft
er long while, and the poor mother
almost shuddered as she answered:
81 don't know! I know nothing
about him. she hurredly said.
''Can YOU tell ME where Norman is?"
he went out presently, and asked one
OF the servants.
II think he is in the garden sir" the
woman answered. and then Mr.. Fos-
ter went into the garden and called
him. He knew that it was his duty to
see the lad and talk to him. Nor
man, he called loudly, but it was
only after he had repeated his name
twice that the unhappy boy came.
He came not daring to look into his
fathers face, and the father in silence
put his hand upon his shoulder, and
led him back into the house.
He took him into his study and
closed the door. 81 must punish him,
but how can punish him?' he was
thinking to himself. II must speak
to aim, but what can ! say" It
seemed so useless, almost like mock
cry, to use words Of ordinary rebuke
to him--to treat him as ii the feeling
towards him in his heart was one Of
common anger.
For few moments he stood silent
with his hand still on Norman's
shoulder; then he tried to begin to
speak, but a. knot came into his
throat, and the words would not
come. There only came instead OF
them the sound of great rising sob.
The boy looked suddenly up in great
terror and anguish; he had never in
his life before seen his father weep.
He looked up almost wildly into the
white aud quivering face, his own all
quiyering too; and then something all
at once swept away from each of them
all anger and fear, and in their COM
mon anguish they clasped each other
in their arms, and on his fathers
breast the lad wept his heart away.
We learn by experience indeed; but
how much the happiest are they who
gather wisdom without her sharp and
bitter teaching!
From the day on which he shot his
little sister. Norman Foster was never
an entirely light t-hearted boy again.
How could he be wholly happy any
more when his reckless play had taken
the light and g'adness out OF that 9TH
er little joyous life?
The look of Elsie's shrunken face in
her little bed seemed half to break his
heart when he saw it first, the sight of
the two little crutches she was to use,-
we'll, that took them all down, think.
All of them at least, except Elsie her.
self.
She looked at them with big, round
eyes, and laughed, and said it would be
SO funny to walk about on those two
sticks. ''You walk with them now,
Norman, and let me see" she called,
eagerly, from her bed, where she was
propped up with pillows. But Nor
man did not do what she asked him.
He could not, but ran out of the room
with a.great sob.
She had become, even by that time,
the dearest thing in all the world to
him, and she remained dearer to. him
than all other people as long as he
continued to live. This great sweet.
ness and blessing came out of the in
jury that he had done her, that to
make up to her for what he had rob-
bed her of, he gaveher the devotion of
his whole life. +s- i
He had been rough and willful and
reckless until now, but the thing that
he had done to her ii changed him,
through the suffering and remorse it
brought with it. into another Great.
ure. He became perfect knight to
this fragile little sister-patient and
gentle, wise and tender. :i= =.
She never grew very strong; the
shock shehad borne had been too great
for her even to rally wholly from it,
and in her weakness he used to care
for her and wait upon her with love
that never tired.
He had almost taken her life away,
and 80 he gave his own life up to her,
and they grew to love each other
with a love that was passionate in
It's greatness. .:z s55, IS 5,.
When many years had passed, and
they We're left alone, they neither of
them were married, but lived togeth-
er till they grew almost old. She was
q little delicate thing, and he was tall
and strong. He used, even when she