The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1889-10-25

white face with its large. sad eyes.
something fell from his brown and
roughened cheek to the sidewalk be-
low, where it made wet spot about
as big as a twenty-ive-cent piece
For the sight of the crippled child
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 8
strapping young fellow in Western
Massachusetts. he had married one of
the prettiest girls in the village Bill
was proud Of his girl wife and loved
her very dearly. He was happy
fellow indeed when there came to his
home a baby girl and his love for the
tiny thing was second only to his af-
fection for tho baby's mother. Soon
after the little one came Bill moved
to the city. where he had obtained
employment, and then all his bad luck
came TO him
His wife, who had been so neat 8
housewife, gradually changed into =
slatternly gadabout- She read cheap
story papers and went TO the matinees
at the third-rate theaters, while her
homo and her child, as well as poor
Bill, were altogether neglected Bill
was beside himself with grief, and had
II not been for the baby, which he
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 a 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
q pillow, in his arms Often the tears
would roll down his checks, 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 moro
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 ineman had been alone for
three years when he beheld the face
little child at the crooked win
"a face that opened old scars, but
which none the less swelled Bills
lrSn1l.-
toward the little cripple
Before he went down he nodded
cheeriiy to the girl, and it sent .
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 neighbor, and he felt as
though they were really getting quite
well acquainted
Soon the spring time came, and one
warm. sunny day the lower sash of
the crooked window was thrown up,
while the child leaned forward rs IL
10 inhale and enjoy to the full ths
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 Iineman,
after nodding as usual. You want
some of this fresh air to bring back
the roses TO those liIy-white cheeks
How does my little neighbor feel to-
day?"
At first the child only smiled, as shy
children will, in response to her
strange friends remarks and inquir-
les, but before very long this bashful-
ness wore away and then the girl chat
ted freely TO the big man on the lofty
pole.
Down in the street the people and
the teams hurried to and fro, but
forty feet above them Bill the Line
man and the tiny child conversed to-
gethcr with as much privacy as
though they had been in the quiet and
secluded parlor of country house
From the child Bill learned that her
name was Millie. and that her aunt
her good aunt, she always called her
was obliged to leave her alone all
through the day because she worked
in n big factory, where they made
mems neck-ties and such things. The
child seemed to know nothing about
father or mother; as long as she could
remember she had been with her
''good aunt," who was with her every
evening and ali thro ugh the long Sun
days =
Bill, as may be imagined, possessed
some fine feelings, though he was but
a lineman- Nothing could have in
duced him to intrude on the privacy
OF this good woman, who was evident
ly poor, yet who, in her poverty,
cared so well for the child that was,
apparently, not her own So Bill al
ways timed his ascent of pole No. IA
in the fore noon, about ten or eleven
o'clock, when it was tolerably certain
that the woman would be at the fac
tory, and on Sunday he never went up
at all except for moment quite early
in the day. a;'-.S. sd
The child from time to time asked
Bill hundred questions about his
work and the telegraph. and she was
particularly interested in the music Of
the wires, which murmured so sweet
ly all the time, like an eolian harp.
And Bill, who was a splendid story
teller-having amused his own little
girl in days gone by with his original
tales-tOld her that the good fairies
made the music on the wires. He ex-
planned, too, how messages are sent
by telegraph and, for her amuse-
ment, would frequently place his ear
to an insulator and relate n pretty
story, which he made believe was
passing over the wires
Yes, indeed, they were great friends,
were Bill the Lineman and little
Millie, and after they had been ac-
quainted few months it is hard to
saw which would have missed the