Evening journal., 1891-07-08

What a pleasure IL was, when they were
in az last, and he could so and get the
sleepy little creature and carry her to his
room at the boarding house. She reused
up and ate supper with him, and was
quite merry when bedtime came. Bob
had just undressed her. his big, awkward
fingers making slow work OF It., and had
tucked her under the cover, but when he
was about to follow her example, she sud
denly struggled up.
Bob, she cried imperiously, tome say
your p'ayersM
II don't know any prayers, Baby said
Bob, after a moments astonished silence.
Den tome here, and teach you one"
she commanded.
Bob slowly and with very red face,
came around on the other side She made
him kneel, and saw that his hands were
properly clasped and his eyes shut. She
had almost left of her baby lisp, but this
prayer had been learned so long ago that
she said it now just as she had learned to
say it first.
"Now Pm zay me downer s'eep,n dictated
the little teacher, perched up on the side of
the bed.
"Now lay me down to sleep, " murmured
the brown and bearded giant kneeling be-
fore her.
All, Engineer Bob, how many years since
you said that last2 And where is the lit
tie mother that bent over you while you
said itg
When the lesson was finished and Bob
had tucked the baby in again he went
back to his place with a curious moisture
in his eyes, and was half impatient with
himself about it.
And then began strange era in Bob's
life; a time when this child was always
in his thoughts and seldom away from
his side. She grew to be the train
baby, and every man was her obedient
slave. Bob was still debating with him
self what he would do with her, and in the
meantime he did nothing but keep her
with him. It was such strange thing to
feel the tiny hand clasping one of his
brown fingers, when, on his day off, he
walked about with Baby. 1t was such a
wonderful affair altogether to be com
PEELED to kneel down every night and say
the prayers dictated by this small tyrantl
When an entire week had passed, and
the prayer still had to be dictated, Baby
expressed her sentiments with all the can
dor Of candid babyhood
bob, you is awful duh, ? she said: "you
ought to be ashamed Of yourself"
Torn by conflicting feelings, knowing
that he was daily in danger Of discharge.
Bob was leading miserable life enough;
and yet the light that never was on sea or
land was shining upon his life and trans
forming it.
One morning she sat beside him in the
cab when one of the 'main guys passed.
Bob's heart gave one or two triphammer
blows and then stood still. Now would
come his discharge. No railroad superin-
tendent that ever lived would stand thisi
But the awful dignitary, after a compre-
hensive glance in Bob's direction, turned
his head and looked the other way with
such evident intention not to see anything
that Bob understood and was over
whelmed with gratitude. For did not all
Of the gong know all about Bob's in
fatuatiOnf And had not the Hmain guy"
heardg
AS for Bob, his life was changed, and the
haunts that once knew him now knew him
no more. When he walked about town
could he go into saloons or gambling dens
with that little figure beside hims Like the
angels Of the old stories, she hovered about
him and kept him from harm. Bob the
most profane Of railroad men, could utter
no oaths now, because the Baby would
hear; and the one or two that made use of
language more forcible than elegant in the
presence Of the Baby found themselves in
serious trouble. The little white soul had
been given over to Bob's keeping, and it
made an atmosphere Of purity around it,
Engineer Bob began to wish that he were
a different man.
A very few weeks had passed when Bob,
going to the mail car one night after Baby,
found her feverish and little inclined to
wander in what she said Like one dis
tracted, he rushed to his room with her and
sent for q doctor. Wild with anguish he
sat beside her all night and gave medicines,
but the next morning she was no better.
Somebody else took out Bob's train; he
neither knew nor cared who. Wholly for
| getting all the rest of the world, wholly alb
sorbed in the child that was more TO him
than life itself, he sat there and watched
| her while her own faint little life slowly
ebbed away The railroad men came. one
after another, and bent over Baby and
pressed Bobs hand, telling him to cheer
up, and went away wiping their eyes. The
/ superintendent came and sat down by the
bed, smoothing the pretty, tangled hair
and chatting her little hands as tenderly as
a woman. These things were hard TO bear,
he said, and he was not good at consola-
/ ton.
But suddenly at last, Baby clasped her
tiny hands and began to murmur:
Now, I'm zay me downer s'eep'- Tome
say your payers, Bob"
"Oh, yes, Baby, I'm here cried Bob,
falling on his knees beside the bed.
Il payer Ford my soul to teep;
II s'ould die before / waite
''Is you sayin' your prayer, Bob?
Tp'ayer zord my soul-to-tate"--
"Oh, take mine, too, Lord; take mine
| too.p WAS the helpless cry wrung from the
strong heart of Engineer Bob
And then, as night had come, and the
evening prayer was said, the Baby went tc
sleep.
A little withered old woman stepped
down from the ears a month later and into
the arms Of a strong grave man.
'Oh, Bob, " she cried trembingly with
her arms about his neck, 'just TO see you
once again, after eighteen years. And you
really sent for your poor old mother, after
ALP"
Mother" said Engineer Bob, with q
quavering voice, 1--WE got a home ready fol
you, an'--if you can forgive what's past
III mSke you good son yet"
And out under the shadows of lonely
trees in the cemetery the little one slept
with the marble shaft above her bearing
no other name than "The Baby" and the
simple inscription below. "a Little Child
Shall Lead Them. Julia Fruit Bishop il
Philadelphia Times.