The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-11-03

KEEP iignt on cryin', jest the same. Holy
Smoke but how tia. baby cid cry.
Now re- koucd that the colon, would
DO gettin almighty had II this thing KEEP
up much longer a man may raise levon
children as easy as roliin of n a log. nd
yet the twelfth one. that isn't his at ell
may break him There Is ginerally las.
straw, even when /, comes to the matter
NV children
30 when tue colonel riz feet foremost
for the third time outcrn his bunk that
nigbt-or. should say. nornin. for 1,
was migniy near mornin' now--we looked
for bail Columby.
look here, my GOOD woman, SEE lie
to the young woman with the baby. "as
wuz tellin' you afore, you must do some
Pin TO keep that child quiet. It'll never
do TO keep all these folks awake like this.
They I've paid for good nights sleep, nd
L my duty as director Nv tho Han'bul
nd st. 10 TO pcrtest agin this disturbance
I've raised a rarnmy o. leven children nd
| know, os well as know anytnink, that
that child is hungry No child ever cries
like that when It isn't hungry. 50 insist
on your nursin' it nd giNn' Us peace nd
quiet.
Then the young woman begun TO snifhe.
Law me. sir, says the young woman,
II amt the baby's mother-l'm only just
tendin' it,
The colonel got pretty mad then; his
face got rcd nd his voice kind Nv trcmbled
he wuz 50 mad.
Where is its mother" SCI the colonel.
why isn't she hero takin' care NV this
hungry nd cryn' child like she ought 10
be-"
She's in the front car. sir, SCI the
young woman, ci:Okin up. "She : in the
front car-in box, dead; were takin the
body nd the baby back home
Now what would you or me have done
what would any man have done then
nd therel Jest what the colonel done.
The colonel didn't wait for no second
thought, he Jest reached out his big bony
/ hands nd he sez, Young woman. ri mC
that baby it SO quiet nd so gentle
like that seemed like it wuz the baby
mother that wuz a-speakin'.
The colonel took the baby and-now
may be you won't believe me-thc colonel
held that baby nd rocked it in his arms
nd talked to it like 1t had been his OWL
child. And the baby seemed to know that
it lay agin a lovin' heart, for, when il
heerd the OF man's kind voice nd saw his
smilin face nd felt the soothin' rockin
NV his arms, the baby stopped its grieyin
/ nd erwin nd cuddled up close TO the
colonel's breast nd begun to coo nd latf
The colonel called the niger. Jim,
seq he, you 20 ahead nd tell the con
ductor TO stop the train at the first farm
house. We've got TO have some milk fol
| this child--somc warm milk with sugar
into It; han't raised family NV lever
children for nothin'."
The baby didn't cry no more that night
leastwisc we didn't hear it if il did cry
And what if we had heard il? Blessed u
don't think every last one Of Us woulI
have got up to help tend that lonesome
/ little thing.
That wuz morc'n twenty years ago. but
/ kin remember the last words heerd The
colonel say: "No matter if it does cry,
seq he. 1T don't make no more nois'
than cricket. nohow. nd | reckon thai
| being n director nv the road Kin stol
the train nd let off anybody that don
like. the way the HANDFUL nd St. 10 doc
| business"
Twenty years agol Col Elijah Gate
is alecpin in the Palmyry buryin ground
/ likely rs not the baby has growed up
leastwisc the HANDFUL nd -. 10 has
everything is different now-everythinl
! has changed-cveryth ink except hnmnI
natur. an that e. the same it allus ha.
Eecn. and it allus will be. | reckon
Eugene Field in Chicago News.