Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1890-04-26
W lilies Patch.

1T was lonely out there III that far
Western home, and when little Willie
came it was great Joy t his mother
now she would have something living
to talk to, while papa was out in the
distant fields and woods, for they had
taken mp large track of land and their
nearest ncighbor was ten miles away.
And, though they were prospecting, it
was terribly lonesome. Sometimes
Willie's mother would shut her ewes
rs she sat in the wintry silence, and
fancy that she heard the creaking of
TIE wood sled on the hard snow OF tie
lane that led to her fathers farmhouse
in distant Massachusetts. She heard
the snap of the whip, and her father
stamping the snow off his boots in the
back porch; then there would be rush
OF feet and chorus of voices from the
warm sitting room, and Ponto and
Carlo would Join in tho mad welcome
and then she would sit up and open
her eyes aud perhaps shed few tears,
poor little woman. But that was be-
fore Willie came with the warm spring
sunshine. Willie was little com
forter. He chuckled, and sucked his
fat fists, and twirled his feet, in their
odd little wooden boots. vigorously by
Christmas; and was quite ready for the
trunkful Of dainty dresses and aprons
that grandma sent at that season. And
when spring came again he could tod
die along by the chairs or fence, and
shout defiance at the chickens and the
cat.
SO he grew and grew, as the fairy
tales say, and he was as good as gold.
Para used to tell him about all the
other little childrcn-this was when
he had got to be three wears old who
lived in various parts of the world
for at first this baby thought that
there was only one boy i'll the world,
and that boy was himself
He was quite a lively fellow. He
would ran ont to the barn to meet his
father and ride, perhaps, to one of the
near fields on one of the horses backs
but he generally stayed with his
mother. She used to work in her gar
den a good deal, planting seeds, after
the ground had been made ready for
her. And Willie loved to do Just as
she did.
Mamma" he said one day, Il want
to Plant some torn for the POOR little
boys in the big city, SOS they can have
'nough to eat, too
We'll ask papa, Willie darling, 10
give you sunny place for a corn
patch" said his mother.
When papa came home to dinner he
dug Il patch a few yards square in q
~
and here Willie planted some seed
corn, and watcrcd and tended it till ii
was twice as tall as he was himself.
But, alas, when it was full in the ear,
little Willie said one day to his mother
Mamma, my throat all sore. Tan't
swallow"
She did all she could for him, while
his father rode off for the doctor. and
all night the three watched and work ed
over him; but in the morning, when
the red sun rose into the amber SKY,
and the soft breeze tossed the tassels
of the corn back and forth, little Willie
lay white and still.
They buried the poor baby in a cor
ncr of the garden, for there was no
graveyard near; and then they thought
how they could do what he asked,
"Send my torn to the poor little boys,
papa" 1t was almost his last thought.
How could they do it?
At last his father thought of a plan.
He measured the corn and put tho
money for tit was very little into
Willies little money-boX; and then he
tool. the corn, carefully dried it for
seed and PIT it away, labeled,
"Willies corn" The next season he
planted it, put the price OF its produce
away also, and planted that for seed
next season; and so he did each year,
until "Willie's Patch, as the called It,
was field of q hundred and eighty
acres. the produce Of which supported
a home for poor little boys in one Of
our crowded cities. And the home was
called "Willie's Patch" too. rain AZ.
Norris, IN Yankee Blade.