Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-10-01

FOR the SISlb VI thO VI iPPACN Ntet'~
awakened memories in the heart and
mind of Bill the Lineman that were
more bitter than sweet, and always
very sad.
Ten years before, when Bill was
strapping young fellow In Western
Massachusetts,, he had married one OF
the prettiest girls in the village. Biz
was proud of his girl wife and loved
her very dearly. He was happy
fellow indeed when there came to his
home baby girl and his love for the
tiny thing was second only to his az
lection for tho baby's mother. Soon
after the little one came Bill moved
to the city. where he had obtained
employ mcnt, and then all his bad luck
came to him.
His wife, who had been so neat "a
housewife, gradually changed into a
slatternly gadabout She read cheap
story papers and went to the matinees
at the third-rate theaters, while her
home and her child, as well as poor
Bill, were altogether neglected. Bill
was be, ide himself with grief and had
IT not been for the baby. which hs
watched, tended and played with all
through his leisure hours, possibly he
might have done something reckless.
One day while Bill was at work the
careless wife and mother, engrossed
in Il dime novel. dropped the baby
from her lap. and the little one was
hopelessly crippled by the fall. When
Bill came home and learned the truth
he cried like child with grief He
fretted all the night, and in the morn
ing remained away from his work
that he might hold the baby. laid upon
a pillow, In his arms. Often the tears
would roll down his cheeks, but he
never once scolded or reproached his
wife.
At last, overcome with remorse and
unable to endure the sight OF her hus-
bands grief and her child's pain, the
girl (she was but twenty put on her
hat and went out, to return no more
to her home.
For six years the poor fellow tender
ly cared for his baby, but when the
little girl was seven years old she
died and Bill was left without any
comfort at all.
The lineman had been alone for
three years when he beheld the face
of the little child at the crooked win
dow--a face that opened old sears. but
which none the less swelled Biz 8
tender heart with kindly sentiments
toward the little cripple.
Before he went down he nodded
cheeriiy to the girl, and it sent a
thrill of pleasure through the big fell
! low when the wan face answered his
greeting by faint smile. For many
days Bill nodded from the cross-arms
! to his little neighbour and he felt al
though they were really getting quite
well acquainted.
| Soon the spring time came, and one
warm, sunny day the lower sash oil
| tho crooked window was thrown up,
while the child leaned forward as il
to inhale and enjoy to the full the
sweet balmy air of the May morning.
Then the acquaintance OF Bill and the
small, pale-faced cripple was begun in
earnest
That's good" said the lineman
after nodding as usual. "You wan
some of this fresh air to bring back
the roses to those lily-white cheeks.
How does my little neighbor feel to
dayp'
At first the child only smiled, as shy
children will, in response to hel
strange friends remarks and inquir
les but before very long this bashful
moss wore away and then the girl chat
ted freely to the big man on the loft,
pole
Down in the street the people ant
the teams hurried to and fro, bu
forty feet above them Bill the Line
man and the tiny child conversed to
gothcr with rs much privacy a
though they had been in the quiet an
secluded parlor of country house
From the child Bill learned that he
name was Milie, and that her aunt
her good aunt, she always called her
was obliged to leave her alone a
through the day because she worke
In u big factory, where they mad
mon 5 neck ties and such things. Tn
child seemed to know nothing abou
father or mother; rs long as she coul
remember she had been with he
"good aunt, who was with her ever
evening and all thro ugh the long Sur
days.
Bill, rs may be imagined, possesse
some fine feelings, though he was bu
IA lineman Nothing could have 4
duced him TO intrude ON the privac
of this good woman, who was evident
~ poor, yet who, in her poverty
apparently, not her own. So Bill IA
ways timed his ascent of pole No Il
in the fore noon, about ten or eleve
o'clock, when it was tolerably certai
that the woman would be at the fa,
= tory. and on Sunday he never went u
at all except for moment quite earl
} in the day
The child from time to time aske
Bill n hundred questions about h
work and the telegraph, and she W,
particularly interested in the music
while knot of idlers and passers-t
gathered about him.
BILL the Lineman-taken tumb
: at last" exclaimed the groceryms
from the corner, while Bills frien
: the policeman, telephoued fer the no
| nil a. am hnlanrn