Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1895-02-14

friend and to protect and love you through
all the year, and this is the promise Fred
' to me, which l accepted very will
lngly, Tor l had known him a long time.
Indeed, l think l was one of his very first
friends when he was a wee ball of a baby.
and a very good baby he was, too, crow
Ing and playing with his fat little fingers
Gil day long. never crying except when he
was made to wait too long for his dinner.
Then l knew him afterward, when he
was Z years old and had his first pair Of
trousers and started to school, and
thought he was very much of a man to
be only Z, as l watched him walk down
the street with his hands in his pockets.
His cheeks were so red and his eyes as
bright as buttons, but never so bright as
when he came home and found cranberry
pie for dinner; then there would be a
great shout of "Hurrah for mother, hur-
rah for cranberry pie!" For of all good
things to eat l think he liked cranberry
pie best, 80 the mother put her wits to
work and thought of all the things that
could make a cranberry pie better, and
nobody In the world, he thought, could
make such pies as she did.
But it was four years ago when I came
to know him best when on the saddest of
all 81. Valentines days he pledged his
faith to be my brave and true valentine
all his life and sealed the promise with q
kiss. A great sorrow had como at this
time into his home, and the good kind
father was taken away by a fearful &C.
cident, leaving my little valentine and
his mother very sad and troubled and
without protection or support in the
large city.
do not cry, mother DEAR" he said,
putting his arms tenderly about her and
choking back his W sobs. II love you
and I will work hard for you az father
did And although he was not yet 10
years old he accepted the care Of his
mother a. q solemn and tender charge.
and his faithfulness ever since has proven
to me what q noble, manly heart q very
small boy can have.
A friend of his fathers took him into
his store A. errand boy, and, besides, ev-
cry evening you could see his shining face
on the street corners and hear his CHEEKY
voice crying evening papers-"Times,
Star ana Post"-but though he worked
hard, and always cheerfully. his earnings
were not enough for them both, and the
mother had to work hard, too, and the
days were often long and sad for her, only
when Fred came home at nights with his
gay: Hello! little mother" and a warm
hug, her face would brighten into a
smile and she would forget how sad and
tired she a Delightful long evenings
they had together around the fire, when
the tea things had been cleared away and
the books brought out, for the lessons
were kept up at home now that he could
no longer go to school, on account Of his
work at the store, and he used to declare
that they were the best part Of the whole
day, and his mother the very incest teach
er in the world.
When the cold weather same the little
mother was very anxious about her boy,
but he was as brave as ever, never ac-
knowledging how, half-frozen, he had
been trudging through the snow with his
papers. until one colder day than usual
he came home %shivering, his face as white
% the snow. with q bright red spot burn