Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-07-08
LIVING A POEM.
BY Sarah Bonham.

Mrs. Bertrance, in her walking dress.
! put her head in at the door and said
hastily:
Look at the bread in a few minutes.
Bee, and stir the apple-sauce. and don't
let 1t stick to the bottom of the kettle.
and see that the fire doesn't get 90 low,
and look after Alice, and listen for the
baby every once in a while" and the
mother was quite out of the house be-
fore Bee had time to answer.
Living POEM" indeed. it was a
wonder she had the audacity to think
OF poetry, and really she ought to be
( thankful she had ever even heard of
such thing in the aggressive prose of
her life. IL was anything but poetical
shifting heavy loaves, lifting the big
Kettle from one point to another. fol-
lowing Alice's erratic movements. and
being in constant fear Of the waking CO
an unamUsable teething baby.
Looking on of the window. in one of
the brief intervals between the per
formances Of these duties. her atten-
tion was directed to a passing squad of
boys.
Hello, hat, where are you taking
that boy?"
Il say, Bub. you've picked your trou-
Sers too soon were the first sentences
that reached her ear.
Bee had q fellOw-feeling Immediate
ly for the little, chubby chap in the
shabby clothes, who was evidently the
object of these witticisms.
Unnecessary remarks about honey
and illusions to "bees in your bonnet"
and untimely recitations of
How doth the little busy bee"
had given her experience in this mode
of warfare.
The little fellow crowded back the
tears with his grimy knuckleS. and sur
reptitiously hitched at the trousers
which were convicted Of improper
shortness; TO be sure, they were lots
longer than Jack Browns. but then
Jack had long, warm, red stockings
drawn up over his knees to supplement-
the little breeches.
Bee raised her window and tapped
/ authoritatively on the sill."Little bow"
she said, with as dignifed an assump-
ton of her mothers manners as was
| possible 10 attain, what have YOU in
your baSket?"
Her kind, cheerful face treasured the
boy, who had just been ready TO take
himself at the valuation of the other
children and shrink back home with
his basket still full and his pockets
| Just as empty as when he started. all
his little plans frustrated, and his small
heart pierced with scorn. He held up
his basket. the bail mended with string
and piece of cloth seWed in the bot
ON TO give it the firmness the lack of
rushes denied.
"Chestnuts he answered family.
with the sturdy business air with which
he had started Off from home pretty
well tagged out of him.
And how much do you ask for
them?' politely inquired Bee, her
glowing cheeks and light blue bows
| forming a pretty contrast in the open
window. impressing ali with a sense OF
! respect for the little stranger whom she
was pauonizing. and even raising a
sort of envy toward him in the breasts
of the older boys.
Ten cents q quart" he answered.
timidiy. but if that's too much m to
take eight"
The boys laughed, but good-natured-
| ly now. and even Bee. DESTROYS as she
was of being quite grown up in her
manners, could not entirely repress a
smile
She had brought a pan from the
! kitchen, and when the small merchant
had filled his measure to OVERLOOKING
and deposited the satin smooth nuts
in the shining tin, she slipped into his
! hand not only the tiny silver coin, but
a big puffy brown doughnut as we'll
Theboy shyly smiled his thanks and
! passed on up the street, escorted by an
admiring and sympathetic crowd, some
of whom even carried their friendship
so far as to offer to go shares in the
| dOughnut: and Bees hint was not lest
nor forgotten. The little boy met with
no more Encouragement and before
night had disposed of his stock in trace
and gone home with a light heart.
There was sugar in the ragged basket
now, and q morsel Of meat, a-few cent?
worth of tea, and as much as a double
handful of fragrant coffee grains, and
although Bee never knew it, d drop of
comfort was added to a desolate home,
| and manly little soul was forever en-
couraged to place himself between des-
Derate want and a sick, neglected WO-
man.
The bread was done by this time, thI
| apple sauce needed stirring again, and
! Alice was rescued from the coal box,
! aud with the aid Of soap and water and,
! much patience restored TO faint re-
| samblance of white child; and the
! baby aw0ke with a vail and refused to
! find comfort in anybody except the
! mother. who wasn't TO D9 had. Bee put
away her book permanently, carried
J the heavy 0aby. hunted for Alice's
mitten. stirred The sauce again aud got
hot and tired, and was surer than ever
that her life was all prose.
Ahl what is that ! see?
Is it a wasp or a BUNDLE bee?'
| cried a sharp voice behind her which
Jared her aching head and rasped her
worn-out nerves. A boy was peeping
i'm at tho door with an immense affecta-
tion of alarm, and with an eXasperating
/ grin on his cOuntenance.
81 wish. boys" she commenced tart
~. but did not go on to say had never
been invented" for somehow it seemed
| an uniting remark from young per
son who had just had inspirations to-
ward not only writing but hying po-
! etry.
She amended the sentence. pleasantly
innuiriDg rs school out already?
aYou bet" was the laconic and eX-
pressive reply. Where are the pump
kin pies?"
Down cellar
A shriu whistle. "Looll at my boots.
IL would never do for me to muddy