Wichita eagle., 1889-02-12

printed N rude, sprawhng letteTs over the
door, had grown dim and almost ilegible.
Only a few Of the gray haired inhabitants
could remember the day when Bart Hicks
came to the new settlement on the ridge
and opened the little store at the cross
roads. As for the younger generations,
they had always heard and known OF Bart
Hicks and his store.
Hicks, Like his store, showed the ravages
of time. He had grown old and gray, and
his once proud, erect form was bent
under the weight Of years and the troubles
and sorrows they brought hm.
Away back, twenty years before tins
story opens, son was born to Bart hicks
"a laughing, cooing, blue-eyed boy, and
they called him Sammy. The father was
proud Of the boy, and loved him after
fashion; not as father should love an only
child, but as wei as his grasping nature
would permit
Sammy developed into fine, bright lad,
as unlike his father as child could be. He
possessed disposition like that OF his
mother-pleasant, placid and generous. In
addition, he was ambitious and had longings
to know something of the great world out
side OF Burr Oak Ridge, and sometimes he
felt strong desire to live different sort
Of hfe from that which he had always
known. He had seen and read enough of
the world to convince him that, however
important Hicks store and Burr Oak Ridge
were to the Ridge people, they were In re-
ality very small part of the world. Sammy
longed for an education, but his father re-
fused to aid aim in obtaining it, so he was
compelled to content himself with the little
knowledge he could gather from the few
L nlxI <~~ IL
here and there, and with the feeble assist
ance his mother could render him.
One day the patient and long suffering
wife and mother took down sick, and as the
days passed she grew rapidly worse, and
one evening she sent for Hicks at the store.
As the customers had all gone away and it
was closing time. Hicks put up the warped
shutters and bolted them in place, and
70 the house.
''W hat ls it, Llndys" he asked, coming
and bending over her.
~ wanted to talk to you, BARTLETT" she
said. in voice that startled him by its
strangeness and weakness. 81 am goin'
soon, fer feel the end is nigh, and l want
ed you TO be close wien it comes"
''Lindy! Lindyr' Hicks said. and his voice
talk that way. You must not think Of
goin' Think o. gittin well, Lindy, am
you'll git over it. You mustn't die now; it's
too sudden
"'Tain't no use," Lindy replied. ''The
end is a comm, and l know it. I've felt it
all along, and it's most here now. But
have something to ask of you, Bartlett, be-
fore go. l want you to be good to Sammy.
That's all ask. Be good to my boy"
81 WILL" Hicks said, bowling his head, and,
for the time, no doubt, feeling the force Of
his neglect of his son.
A little later Melinda Hicks died. and the
father and son were left to mourn her alb
sence. The one mourned her death be-
cause he valued her and missed her aid and
assistance in the grosser duties of life.
The other mourned her death because he
loved her and missed her gentle presence
and kindly acts. The husband and the son,
each in his way, and each for his oEn
mourned the loss of the wife and
mother.
A few months passed away and Hicks
married again. The new wife was lacking
IN all the qualities that make women lovely.
She was unkind and unsympathetic, and
without cause formed strong dislike to
Sammy. She wrought on Hicks mind till he
forgot his promise to Samny's mother, and
soon the boy found his lot cruel one, and