The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1891-01-31

and having little attraction except
ing the low rent demanded for them.
They are far from town, and there
is no public conveyance to shorten
the distance, so that only those who
are compelled by poverty to choose
a cheap residence reside there.
But each house has little garden
attached to it, with hedges between,
and some of these wee domains
were bright with flowers. One day
two children sat under one of the
hedges, busy in building house of
chips. Close enough to touch them,
but separated by the hedge, man
crouched listening to the baby pratt
tie as eagerly as ifit held important
information.
IF we touch any of old Bates
posies he'll eat us. Hannah says
so p' said the younger of the chill
dren, a bright boy, three years old.
The other one, a grave-looking
little maiden of five, answered Sc
riously:
"Men don't eat boys and girls.
Mamma says we must say MIR.
Bates not 'old Bates And she
says perhaps he's not cross, but sick
or sorry. He looks cross!'
Mamma says not to touch his
posies, cause it's stealing %
"We've got some !" said the little
girl 'but mammals so busy, she
can't have posies."
And, indeed, there was strong
contrast between the few poor plants
in Mrs. Grey's garden and those
that met the eye in the next one.
The old man who lived there alone,
ragged and forlorn, seemed to have
but one pleasure, and that was
working in the tiny garden, making
every foot of it beautiful with the
most choice flowers. That he al
ways listened intently to every voice
from his neighbor's cottage, draw
ing as close as the hedge permitted
to the open windows, none knew
but himself.
He had been three months in the
poor house, and listened eagerly to
any scrap of gossip about Mrs.
Grey. He heard the servants pity
ing her "come down" when her hus-
bands failure in business was fol-
lowed by his death. He had heard
Hannah, the one servant, telling
another from across the street, OF
the luxury her mistress had enjoyed
only one year before, and bewailing
the poverty that made her walk to
town, day after day, to give music
lessons to support her children
Ever shrinking from notice, Mr.
Bates was as watchful of his neigh
Dor as detective. He was a tall
man, bent over as if crippled by age
or pain, and his face, deeply lined
and very stern, was shaded by gray
hair, soft and abundant. Greer
spectacles concealed pair of large
dark eyes that softened strangely
as he listened to the children.
Many times he had seemed tc
speak to them, starting forward, but
always drawing back with a NUT
tered "better not better not p
But on this day he went from
bush to bush Of his rarest flowers
until he had his hands filled, wher
he tossed the whole fragrant mass
over the hedge into the laps of ths
astonished children. When they
looked up, a face over the hedgt
amazed them still more, for the ole
man was smiling.
This was the beginning of theil
friendship, and every day saw i
grow stronger. Evening found Mrs
Grey at home, and at bedtime there
was always some new story of baby
prattle, telling how Mr.. Bates hae
let the children wander about in hi
house and garden in perfect free
dom. But he avoided her, givins
her no opportunity to thank him
She would have been glad, out o
her own scanty means, to offer som'
neighborly help to his greater pov
elty, but there was something repell
ent in his face and voice that helt
her back. She wondered even tina
the children were not afraid of him
1t was in September that for tn
first time she, too, crossed the boun
dary of his garden, timidly, for sh'
was a shy, gentle little woman
Only twenty-five years old, sh'
looked, in spite of her heavy mourn
ing and pale. sorrowful face, ever
Younger. Widowed and an orphan
her life was centered in her chill
dren. and she could not be migrate
full for kindness shown to them. =
when they told her their eccentrl
t friend had "hurted his foot dreadful
: bad" she conqueredlhe her shy timid
ity, and went to offer assistance.
"It was nothing" he told ne
,, grufay, as she entered the bare
! mean sitting-room, where he Ia.
upon a sofa, but he let her brln
him some dinner and wait upo1
him, owning that the pain Of ba'
sprain had prevented his cookin
for himself. The children trotte
I-1:-lA1l ~ mott nnn