Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-29
[ Continued from yesterday. ]

and some spoke OF wise woman, VINO, II
you crossed her hand with silver, could re-
lieve you of any evil if she would But
amidst the multitude of counseIlors, Lizina
only grew thinner and thinner, paler and
paler, all her youth SEEMING slowly to wane
and die out OF her
Her little sick heart was set obstinately
on what her father had told her was impos-
sible.
None of Cecco's own people thought OF
going to the place where he died. He was
dead and there was an end of it; even his
mother, although she wept for him, did not
dream of throwing away good money in q
silly and useless journey to the place where
be had been put in the ground. The child
wasted and sickened visibly day by day.
Her father looked to see the lemon tree
waste and sicken also; but it flourished still,
green, fresh, happy thing, though grow
ing in place so poor. A superstitious.
silly notion took possession of him. begot-
ten by his nervous terrors for his child and
by the mental weakness which came of
physical want. He fancied the lemon tree
hurt the child, and drew nourishment and
strength away from her. Perhaps in the
night, in some mysterious way, who knew
how?
He grew stupid and feverish, working so
hard all day on hardly more than a crust,
and not sleeping at night through his fears
for Lizina Everything seemed to him
cruel, wicked. unintelligibe. Why had
the State taken away the boy who vas so
contented and useful where he was born?
Why had the strange, confined, wearisome
lite among the marsh lands killed him?
Why was he himself without even means
TO get decent food? Why. after working
hard all his years, could he have no peace?
Must he even lose the one little creature he
had? The harshness and injustice of it all
disturbed his brain and weighed upon his
soul. He sank into a sullen silence; he
was In the mood when good men turn bad
and burn, pillage, slsy-not because they
are wicked or unkind by nature, but be-
canse they are mad from misery.
The neighbors were good-natured, and
brought now an egg, now a fruit, now a
Loaf for Lizina, but they could not bring
her appetite, and were offended and chilled
BY her lassitude, her apparent ignorance of
their good intentions, aud her Indifference
to their gifts.
Only the little girl who had laughed at
him and houted him as they sat on the wall
bv the river did think of it constantly,
tenaciously, silently. 1t seemed to her hor-
rible to have him all alone in some unfa-
miliar, desolate place where no step was
ever heard of anyone whom he had ever
known, she said of it; for she saw that even
her father did not understand. But she
brooded over the thought of it constantly
turning to and fro in her mind the little
that she had ever known or heard of the
manner or means by which people trans
ported themselves from place to place.
There were many, of course, in the village
who could have told her how others trav-
eled, but she was too shy to speak of the
matter, even to the old man OF the ferry,
in whose boat, when it was moored to a
pouls driven in the sand, she had spent
many an hour of playtime. She had always
been a babbling, communicative, merry
child, chattering like startling or swift
until now. Now she spoke rarely, and
never of the thing of which her heart was
full
One day her father looked from her
pinched, wan face to the bright green
leaves of the hourishing lemon tree, and
muttered an oath.
! "Day and night for as many years as YOU
are old, have taken care of that tree, and
sheltered it and fed it; and now it alone is
fair to see and strong, while you-verily,
OH verify, Lizina I could find it in nv
heart to take billhook and hew it down
for its cruelty in being glad and full of
vigor, while you pinch and fade, day by
day. before my sight"
LlZlild sLOOk ueF u6du, anu looked at the
tree which had been the companion of her
fifteen years of life.
Its a good tree, Babbo,' she said,
gently. "Think how much it has given us;
how many things you bought me with the |
lemon money. oh, it is very good; do not
ever say word against it; but-but-if YOU
are in anger with it, there is thing which
you might DO. You have always kept the
money which it brought for me-
L.
yours, he answered, where her thoughts
were tending.
Then, then, said Lizina, timidly, 'if it
be as mine really, and you see it no more
with pleasure in its place there, will you
sell 1t, and with the price of it take me
where Cecco Iies?"
Her eyes were intensely wistful, her
cheeks momentarily red in her eagerness;
she put both hands to her chest and tried to
stop the cough which began to choke her
words. Her father stared, incredulous that
he could hear Alright
Sell the tree?" he asked, stupidity. Not
i'll his Uttermost needs had the idea of sell
ing 1t come to him. He held it in q supers-
titious awe.
Since you say it is mine" said the child.
1T wodld sell we'll 1t is strong and beauti-
fui and bears gooG fruit. You could take me
down where the sun sets and the sea is
where Cecco lies in the grass
Good Lordr' said FringuelIo. with n
moan. 1t seemed to him that sorrow for
her lost sweetheart had turned the chIld's
brain.
do, father. do!'' she urged, her thin
brown limbs trembling with anxiety and
with the sense of her own powerlessness to
move unless he would consent
Sell it to-day-quick! quickP' she said
feverishly. She knew that she was cruel
ana ungrateful but she persisted in her
cruelty and ingratitude.
Her father, in despair, yielded.
1t seemed to him as if he were cutting
the throat Of friend when he approached !
the tree to carry it away. He had called in
one OF his fellow-carters to help move if.
for 1t was too heavy for one man. With |
difficulty it was forced through the narrow,
low door and down the steep stair, its |
leaves brushing the walls with a signing |
sound, and its earthen jar grinding on the |!
stone OF the steps. Lizina watched it 60 |
without sign, without a tear. Her ewes |
were dry and shining; her little body was
qulverlng; her face was red and pale in |
quick uneven changes
1t goes where it will be better than with |
us, q" said Fringuello, in a vague apology to |
1t, as he lifted it out of the entrance of the
house.
He had sold it to gardener in a villa
near at hand.
''Oh, yes, it will be better off" he said.
feverishly, in the doubtful vet aggressive |
tone of one who argues that which he |
knows is not true. with rich people in
stead of poor; out in a ine garden half the
wear. and in beautiful airy wooden house
all winter. Oh, yes, il will be much better !
oft Now 1t has grown SO big il was choked /