Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1889-04-13
THE LETTL 3 NEWS MAN.

their work aud stared. 1t was nj
wonder that one or twoaofT then
laughed for a moment. Itlooked 81
strange and somehow out of place
None of US had ever seen or heard
anything like it before.
IG was in the yard of the larges,
marble works in the city of Chicago
Ever so many monuments, delicate
Fly carved and finished, stood there
complete to show how well work
could be done, and then there was
work in all stages of finish, some
pieces of marble just began to bt
chiseled; little and great. simple
and elegant, Then there was brok
en- amarbletelying there apparently
useless, and some otherwise, but
broken in process Of chiseling.
Not one of these escaped the
quick eye of the little street vagrant
(as any one of lis would call him,
who head entered the yard few mo
ments before with such business
air, and walked from one to the 9th
er and scanned them closely. We
had paid little attention to him, for
we thought that for want of some
thing worse to do, probably he had
just wandered in. 1t was his first
question that startled us. The
smiles died away from the faces OF
all as we listened to him. He step.
ped nearer to the one he took to be
boss among us, and said:
81 say, master, how much does this
costW He pointed to plain mar
BILE slab that looked simple enough
in the midst of some finer ones.
can't tell you how this question
sounded, for you can't hear his voice.
1t had something In it that brought
tears instead of smiles
The boss named the price, dis.
appointed look crept over the face of
the little ragged newsboy, and with
forced smile that was sadder than
tears he look up with: Rg
~ "Why, that's more than j thought;
! amt able to pay that"
He went on through the smaller
ones inquiring the price of each, and
each time looking his dIsappoint-
ment that all were too costly for his
small means. Finally he stopped in
front OF a broken shaft of marble.
One of the remains of an accident in
the yard the day before. lie took
off his ragged hat, and gazed at the
broken stone for few moments,
then he stammered out, through
tears:
81 say, mister, that looks like her
somehow. How much may I have
lt Tor Y 5Ftsg- xwke.E
He asked if he would want it let
tered, and when it was explained to
him what that meant, and that it
would cost something to have it
done, he said: .-I...,.
'.No; can't afford that but p'raps
l can manage that myself" and
again that sad, forced smile
aye see," he went on, smother and
| were all there were left of US, least
ways as far as we knew, for we
haven't heard from father for so
long. We kept house together. 1
earned what | could, ane mother she
worked as long as she was able. She
wasn't very old but she was always
crying; only when she cheered up
to make her little son happy-that's
what she called me; but she couldn't
cheer up for long. She grew sicker
and sicker, and-well-I did all that
/ could for her; but she died last
week." The little fellow was sob.
bling now as he leaned ON the broken
shaft that reminded him of his moth
er. #
His tears were not the only ones,
/ can tell you. We nodded to the
boss, and be named a price so small
that the manly little fellow looked up
with amazement that at last he had
found something within his means.
He quickly closed the bargain and
counted out the nickles and pennies
for his prize. He walked about for
a few moments among the stones
spelling out as best he could the in
scfiptions, asked several questions
about how it was done, and how long
it took; then hastily went out like a
man of business, saying: ra qs4
"I'll be after it tomorrow"
He came toward the middle of the
day when the morning papers were
all sold. He had a little four-wheel-
ed wagon on which he asked us to
load the stone; and never a pur.
chaser had left that yard with a
sweeter, sadder satisfaction than our
little hero. He took the streets to-
ward the cemetery-we knew, for
we watched him-and a more Gu
rious and interested set of men you
never saw than were our wOrkmen
to know what had become of our lit
tie man for he didn't seem like a
boy to us. Elsa at5
We bad expected that he would
turn mp some day to learn more
about the lettering or something,