Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-12-20

"PoPPY's SICK" SAID THE LITTLE BOY.
Cheer up, man, we'll soon have you well
again." and the miner walked around to
the rear of the wagon.
He'll never be well any more. He's
dead, friends" said the widow in choked
| voice.
Dead? Well, now, that's rough, ma'am.
Blest eff faint" and one of the bystanders
went into the house to carry the news.
''Sho, now, yer don't say?" and Wash
Jackson turned griddle cake over onto
the floor instead of upon the griddle in his
surprise ''an' his widder an de little chill
| len am at de do wild de corpse. Sho, sho,
| now, dat am awful 'scouraging."
''SheJ up, yer black yawp an get 'em
something to eat" said one of the men,
roughly; ''they must be clean tuckered
out"
The rough, toil-worn hands of the
miners helped the widow from the wagon
as reverentially as if she had been prin-
cess, and the children were taken to warm
hearts and tenderly cared for, while the
fathers cold form was prepared for burial
in another shanty-the one which Dan
Voorhees, has so recently scrubbed, little
thinking for whose reception he was max
ing it clean.
Three davs after the funeral the widow
was waited on by deputation from the
camp. I'VE wanted to ask ye, ma'am,
what We was goin' ter do" said the
spokesman, touching his bearskin cap re-
spectfully.
Indeed, sirs, do not know, replied
the widow. She had shed all her tears
and could speak of her trouble with dry
eyes. ''AlI l have is here, and winter is
coming on"
"Thet's what we was a thinkin',
ma'am," said Dan Voorhees,, eagerly, ''an
hopin' you would consent to stay at the
camp. We're rough set o. men, ma'am,
but you can feel jest as safe weth US as eff
yer own mother was a rockin' ye Eff
airy man says word o. sass to We Well
run him out o. camp at the pint of a shot
gun"
But what can I do for support" fal-
tered the widow. She had been tenderly
brought up, and the idea of spending the
winter with these rough men was appall-
ing, deprived of the protecting presence of
her husband.
"We've wrastled it all out for ye," re-
piled Sam Collins. "Ye see, we'd all on
US calkylated pile on hevin' Brad's
woman an kids among US. an we're al
sort o. ratified like at bein' disappointed,
an we're willin' to do the square thing
by ye.
"Brad's claim amt a pannin' out no great,
but it's enough to make ye comfortable, an
We'll all chip in and do our share toward
workin' it and pay over the proceeds to We
jest as regular as if he war here. Dan'll
give up his shanty. an we want ter make
ye jest ez happy an comfortable as we
can. for we sot heap o. store by Brad"
The widows lip quivered; the kindness
Of these strangers touched her deeply, and
she replied in trembling voice: "And
what am going to do to repay you gentle
men for all this unexpected kindnessl"
She used the word advisably, for in her
estimation they were gentlemen of the
truest sort
That's all right Don't you worrit
about payin', ma'am. We're sorter rough
set an we need a woman around to kinder
pare US down, an eff youth sing US song
onct in awhile-Brad said you was a mas
ter hand to sing-an' let US hev the kids ter
love and cuddle little, We'll call it squar.
We've all on US had homes am it comes
rough on US, this kind % life year in an
year out an if you'll live among US an
make home fur US ter kinder look at, as
'twere, we shell feel well paid.''
ing as it did from those who had been
her husbands friends and companions for
the two years past and so it was settled,
and the few things she had brought with
her were NOV ed into Dan Voorhees, shanty.
and with her woman's skill she made
such homelike place of it that Bradley
would have thought it an earthly paradise
could he have lived to see it
The children took to the kindly miners
wonderfully, and Willie and golden-haired
Katie were as contented as kittens when
Sam Collins or Dick Gowdy entertained
them with stories or yarns as they
called them, Of their earlier days, or whit
tied out the curious wooden toys which
they were experts in fashioning.
Baby Nelps preference was Tor Black
Wash, and it was no uncommon sight to
see her little pink hood peeping up over
his battered old hat, as she perched on
his shoulder, her chubby arms clinging
close around his neck as he went to the