The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1886-01-05

IN kCoS fUucSotWos &AO BoSOSVs@
fellow ut heart" he added. honestly
'fbut like the rest Of rs. he's got
worsted IN this here mortal struggle.
an comes out o little the worse for
wear. Your temper will spoil in time.
you know"
There's the good and the bad inside
o. Shepleigh," said Smithson; lone or
t'other's goin' TO win some day. He's
fierce as q tiger sometimes; then again
you'd think he was on the point O.
prayin'. Halloa, whats upi"
bang, succeeded by . moment of 81
lence; then q sound pierced the sudden
stiffness which brought every man to
his feet as by an electric thrill. 1t was
the cry of little child. Argos opened
the inside door and disclosed the form
of Shepleigh, dripping from head to
foot, but holding tenderly in bis arms
q little baby girl of about three years
old.
Boys said Shepleigh, solemnly,
''there's q man in . buggy outside
just alive; some of you see to him, will
you, and I'll attend to this little
hlIty.
He set his little golden-haired bur-
den on the table and began taking of
her drenched garments, while three or
4 Or of the other men hastily left the
room.
Mr.. Will Thatcher had always been
an unfortunate, so he said: never had
any too much strength to begin with,
but battled up from boyhoOd to man.
hood, and finally married young wife
only TO lose her two years before, when
their baby was year old. Then the
gold fever had possessed him after two
years more, and although his friends
relatives he had none-warned him il
would be useless making the attempt.
yet he was determined to see what
roughing it would do for him. ''It's
been the making of many Q man." he
said, "why not of me?"
But before reaching his journeys
end he halted, without knowing where.
and only lived long enough to know
that his child was sheltered some
where, then died before morning.
When asked where they should send
the child, he answered YEARLY, ''Oh,
l don't know. Nobody wanted her. or
I'd q left the little thing behind" and
so he started alone, as we all must at
last, ON that longer, more mysterious
journey. and indeed left the little
thing behind.
Mr.. Thatcher was decently buried;
then the interest Of every man at
Champion District seemed to center in
the little child so Unexpectedly thrust
upon their care, and upon their care
entirely, as there was not woman in
the district and it was not long before
the influence her presence inspired
made itself felt in many ways. All
unconsciously the rough speech be-
came more refined. the manners soften
ed visibly; many the coarse or profsne
passed the lips for fear it might be
noticed and repeated by this cunning
bit Of feminine humanity.
By right of discovery Shepleigh
claimed her as his special property,
and no one questioned his claim, while
all loved and petted her fondly.
"What you going to call her, Shep?"
asked Argos the next day.
''Well, I've been thinking of that"
said Shepleigh seriously, "and / think
that, seeing as she was a Christmas
present. I'll call her Chrissy."
And Chrissy she became forthwith.
When she was put into the softest bed
the camp afforded the night of her 80
late arrival, the child was nearly asleep
already, but the second night at bed
time she was wide-awake, and with the
blessed adaptiveness of childhood, hsv-
ing become somewhat accustomed to
her surroundings, was happy and
frolicsome. When Shepleigh was
about to lift her into bed she shook
her little fossy head with decision,
saying repeatedly: ''Get down, get
down"
She was put on to the door; then she
wanted Shepleigh to sit down, which
he finally did. With . little flop she
was Immediately kneeling at his knees,
and folding her little dimpled hands
said with q slow, deliberate accent:
''Now now L" then she punched
his knee vigorously, and, peeping open
one eye, said: Tell me payer, tell
me payer
Worston giggled.
''Shut up, said Smithson, angrily.
Then they waited. Shepleigh's face
had crimsoned when the little creature
knelt down, and now, although he hes
itated, he could no more have raised
her without helping out on the little
prayer than he could have given her q
blow. At length, sinking his voice to
a low, reverent tone, he repeated the
sweet, familiar petition of childhood
line by line, the little kneeling Chrissy
saying it after him until it was finished.
Then he kissed the child and went out
Day by day the little new inmate of
the broad, low room called the s'house"
endeared herself. as q little child al.
ways will. TO sill who saw her. Even
the men from Floxson's place, a mile
distant, frequently dropped in to see
how ''little Sissy" was getting along,
and many the gift from the EAST" and
kho iynnrouiead tou ~ 4hsch che xroe