Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1890-02-08

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and Jerry spoke no more.
And SO the good days went on until
SAILS boy was born. She used to look at
the baby by the hour, and hereyes hada
mysterious yearning in them; her
cold face grew soft in its plainness,
and she acquired look of quiet pride
very different from her old dim neu-
trality The youngster grew nicely,
and he was a source of much somber
glee to Jerry The man used to light
up his pipe and smoke in the gloomy
front room, while his son sprawled
desperately round on the floor, and he
! thought it was rum that he never knew
how pretty a child was before. If he
strolled on to the pavement with the
baby in his arms, the costers and the
match girls used to chaf him as they
passed. "Wait till you ayes my lot;
you won't be SO fond O handlin' Of
EN-" Amt old Jerry pleased with
hisself?" and SO on. Sal liked all this
notice, and she liked to see her man
nursing her baby-she had a position
in the world. She never kissed Jerry,
but she would slap him on the back
and say, you're a proper old bloke.
/ rubbed your two shirts through
while you was a-holdin' the kid
Come, then2" and then she would nuz-
zle her hard face to the baby's neck
youth tried to walk, he took the Or
thodox two steps and came down.
After this he looked round for plau-
dts, and Jerry always gave a grunt
of laughter, while Sal smiled and
looked proud. The more the baby
tumbled, the more fresh and entranc-
ing Jerry found the performance.
allow he do flop, to be surel" he OBJ
served again and again, and at length,
with a look of triumph-the look Of
the successful authorize said: HE
can have his proper name, but I'm
goin' to call him Flop. See9' "All
right" said Sal, and she humored the
mans within. AS for Jerry, he made
the lives of his ehums burdensome by
explaining how this humorous con
ception first occurred to him, because
even six times was not quite enough
for him to tell the anecdote to one au-
ditor. There are other parental bores
besides Jerry.
But the good days had to 60 Jerry
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notice at the time, and carried on the
usual dull round, till he was bothered
by q queer swelling ON the hip, with
slight pain, which was just enough to
prevent him from quite enjoying his
usual games with Flop. The trouble in
creased, until he took a day off and
hmped to the hospital. The case was
remarkable, and it was at last settled
that Jerry should undergo an opera
ton, which happened to be of terri
BILE character. Sal could not exactly
understand what had taken place, but
she trembled when she saw her mans
pale, yellowish face on the pillow in
that grim ward, and she covered her
eyes with her apron when Flop order
ed his father to come and have game.
Jerry's life was saved, but he was not
good for much in the way of work
when he came out, and during his
second stay in hospital he died, and
Sal saw him put away. She sighed a
little when the man said: Come,
ma'am, for she felt as if she should
stop there; and then she went along
carrying Flop, who tried to draw her
into talk. Sal stifed her means SO as
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put him down when they got clear of
the vans. She moaned then; for Jer-
ry had been kind, and never hit her,
and she was going to the room where
his pipe and his clothes lay. ALI the
evening Sal never spoke but once,
and that was when the neighbors
tried to comfort her; then she made
answer, 'It amt no good talkin', poor
old Jerry's gone, and he was a good
chap, and got to work for the kid to-
morrer" She woke often in the
night, and when she did she patted.
Flop's soft legs and whispered to her
self, ellis fathers gone, and got to
go to work to-morrer. y
Sal grew fonder of Flop now, and
she used to take him with her to the
shed where she worked.
There was not much money to be
made at the yard, but Sal never missed
one hour of overtime that could be
got, SO she made up the rent, and man
aged to give Flop plenty Of bread and
treacle, and sometimes half pint OF
milk. He was sharp little fellow,
and he learned to sort the sawn pieces
of wood, and pitched them into the
baskets with great glee. He thought
1t the best of all his mothers games.
Then he learned to chatter; every new
combination of words which he ac-
quired was an amazing romance to
Sal, and | think she must have laugh
ed inwardly, for she used to repeat
the amazing stories to the girls in the
shed, and seemed surprised if they
were not amused. The suit which Sal
got friendly tailoress to compound
for Flop was striking in the extreme;
but poor Sal had several times seen
pretty little children of the upper
class, and she wanted Flop to be up to
the mark. Like a bloomin' rain
bow" said Pinky; and indeed Flop
was very splendid. Sal thought the
blue serge knickerbockers and green
tunic quite match for scarlet belt,
and she reckoned the whole arrange
ment truly ravishing in general eff
feet. The woman's heart hungered
after her little one; she was silent, but
her quick gestures and the snaky dash
of her head as she kissed him were
quite significant She could not bear
him out of her sight, and she implored
the foreman so piteously to let him go
in the tally cabin by the stove on cold
days, that the rough fellow agreed.
1t was probably the unclean creek
where the barges came with the tim
Der; that may be so. AT any rate, Flop
began to look strange, and the humor-
GUS Pinky used to remark; you're
pisonin' that kid with sugar, Sal"
hate prolonged descriptions Of chill
dren's trouble, so / shall only say that
Flop pined greatly, and his mother
used to stare at him when he slept,
and wish for something that her mind
could not define These inarticulate
folk are sorely put to it when they
want to pray. One of our fisher
women in my own village was once
watching her man and her two lads
trying to beat in against hard nor
westerly gale; she wanted, no doubt,
to ask for aid, but she swore in tones