Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-05-16
BATTLES OF \ BOY.

The house stood Oh the side of & hill
and the front steps made an abrupt
descent down the incline. toward tie
distant river, while the back door
opened into cellar dug out of the
solid earth.
The only occupants of this cheerless
place. which one would be 10th to call
home, were widow and her son.
The icy hand of death had already be-
gun to caresS the mother. The sharp,
dry cough that racked her shadoWy
form told too plainly the story of her
suffering.
The sunset light was still illuminat-
ing the western sky and shedding it's
brilliant reflection on the waters of the
Missouri as John Miller walked slowly
across the prairie toward the bluff
where his mothers house chung to the
dark soil like gray lichen to a rock.
The sight that met his eyes was one
that would have discouraged Il strong
man. The fall wind had blown the
dried leaves from the cottonwood trees
hither and tither, the tumbleWeedS
rolled over and over, chasing each
other in endless Journeys back and
forth across the lonesome stretch of
land. A few half-fedged chickens had
already gone to rOOSt on the WOOdpile
near the door. On a line stretched
between two posts hung a few patched
garments Tapping in the wind. Every
feature Of the place suggested discOm-
fort and misery.
John was sixteen years old. Since
he could remember everything had
looked as it looked now. He could not
recall a time when his mother had not
cOughed or when the house had not
looked as if a family had just moved
out. His father had gone west with
his wife and baby when John was less
than a year old, and the house that
stood on the side hill now was the
one that hardy Jacob Miller had built
with his own tands-built, hoping and
expecting that before five years were
over he would own a thriving, we'll
equipped farm. A half-broken colt
that he was riding to the village
plunged, reared and threw him to the
ground, then bounded riderless across
the trackless prairie
When they found Jacob Miller he
was dead and the frail woman who
had come to share her husbands lot in
this distant land had no choice but to
remain Their original claim was
rented to neighbors, and the little in
q
child from absolute starvation.
Since Johns eighth birthday he had
attended the village schools, and now
as he was walking slowly home he
was thinking over and over the words
that had just been said to him by the
head of an engineering party that was
surveying a railroad through the coun-
try. and whose work he had stopped
to watch. The opportunity he had
lOnged for had come. He need not
spend his life in that miserable dugOut.
There was a broader field opening be-
fore him. He could have work with
the surveyors. Four Of their men
were down with chills and they needed
help. He could leave this cherries
scene. He could be part Of the great
human pulse which he felt beating
against the arteries Of the world and
which he now thought himself to be
separated from.
Why did he walk so slowly: Why
was his head bent on his breast, his
step like the step of one oppressed by
the weight Of years. 1t was the vision
before his mind Of a thin, wan face, Of
an emaciated body, of two large brown
eyes dulled by suffering, of bent
shoulders and a languid step. Could
he leave her? Leave her alone in that
desolate place while he went out alone
to earn money to buy her luxuries that
would make her life more comfortable!
Was that why he wished to accept the
engineers offer and leave this scene