Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1895-03-07

answered, thoughtfully; "they oil
need it."
"Oh, send it to jack" cried Kitty
Green. "He boards with us, and he
needs it-bad enough. If ever boy
was full of his pranks, Jack is, and if
ever boy tormented girls life out,
Jack does mine.
A color clear and bright as hame
glowed on Nelly Hunts cheeks Had
she had dark-eyed Jack in her mind
all the while? She only answered,
very quietly:
81 don't mind. I would Just as lief
send it to Jack. That is, I'll send it
to him if you'll promise, on your sa-
cred honor, never in any way to let
him know who wrote it,"
! ooh, 1 will--true as I live and
breathe I'll never tell him, and never
let him guess, if 1 can help it,"
"And all you girls?" Nelly asked,
with tho pretty pink glow deepen
ing in her cheeks. "Wlll you all
promiseP"
And they all promised. for there
was q sort of honest earnestness in
Nelly's nature to which they found it
natural to yield.
So the valentine was directed in
Nelly's most neat and proper manner
to "Mr. Jack Green, and was dropped
into tho postof1ice with the rest Of
the valentines the girls had written
that day.
On the fifteenth the six girls were
all together at school, comparing
notes and exchanging condolences.
But Kitty Green drow Nelly aside,
and said, while they walked up and
down the hail together, their arms
around each other as girls will.
81 saw Jack get it, Nelly"
Nelly's pretty checks glowed aud
her eyes shone like the stars, but she
asked no questions Indeed they were
scarcely necessary, for Kitty was eager
enough to tell her story.
''He got it, don't you think, along
with half dozen others, and he read
them all before he came to this one. I
knew this, you know, by the shape Of
the envelope. When he came to it l
saw him read it all through, and then
l saw him go back and read it again.
l heard him say to himself:
" That's an honest letter from some
little saint
"Ihen he came up to me and held
it toward me, while pretended to be
very busy with my valentines. Then
he spoke:
DO you know that handwriting,
KitY.
81 felt like an awful little liar, but
L had promised you. stretched out
my hand for it, and said, carelessly:
"'Why, amt it Sue's?"
"Sue is his sister, you know. So he
thought I did not know who it came
from, and he changed his mind and
put it into his pocket. and went off.
When teesed him afterward to let me
see it, he said:
No; there are some things O fell
low would be q cad to show
$50 I saw it hit home. and we'll it
might. 1t was tremendous letter,
Nelly"
And Kitty ended with q hug and o
kiss, and look of that loyal admlra.
tion which girl can give another girl
now and then.
When the spring came Jack Green
went away from Chester, and did not
come back there any more. No doubt
Nelly Hunt would have forgotten his
very existence but for the valentine,
which she could not forget. She used
to blush, as she grew older, 80 think
how "bumptious" 1t was, as she used
to call 1t to herself. What was she,
that she should have undertaken to
preach a sermon to that boy2. What
II he remembered it only to think
how presuming it was, and TO laugh
at it2 But, luckily, he did not know
from whom 1t came; and with that
thought she cooled her bushes.
Nelly was twenty when Jack Green
came back to Chester again. And
now he came rs q physician, Just
through his studies, and anxious to
build up practice. Soon his fame
grew. His patients were among the
poor at first, and he cured them and
then richer people heard of 1t, and
sent for him. But, while he took all
patients that came, he never gave up
his practice among those who most
needed him. His praise was in all
their mouths. There had never been
any doctor like this one
Nelly was Miss Hunt now-for
Bertha had gone away from her into
the next country-and Nelly's grief
had made her gentle heart yet more
gentle, and her helpful spirit yet more
helpful.
Toward night, one summer day, she
had gone to sec an old woman who
had been her nurse once, and had
found her very ill-quite too i'll to be
left alono, and certainly in need of a
physician. So Nelly tore leaf from
her memorandum book, and wrote on
it q few lines, begging DR.. Green to
come at once, and then called to the
first passer-by and entreated him tc
take it to the doctor.
1t was scarcely half an hour before
DR.. Green came in quietly and gravely
He tended to his patient with that
careful consideration which made nj