The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-08-29

with a little choke in his voice.
Mrs. Willis put her arm around him
impulsively. "You poor boy" she
said, pitifully. Then she remembered
that boys didn't like to be petted,
and took her arm away.
"And you have no relatives living
at alli" she asked him.
II don't know of any"
The days passed with surprising
quickness. aud at length the end of
Dicks visit was only day and a night
away. Mr.. and Mrs. Willis wanted
to go to another town to do some
shopping. and asked Dick if he would
be afraid to stay alone for an hour or
two in the afternoon.
Dick gave one of his rare smiles.
No, he would not be afraid, he said.
Secretly he was quite proud of being
left in charge.
"It looks a little like rain," said
Mr.. Willis as they drove out of the
yard, early in the afternoon.
"All signs fail in dry time" said
Mrs. Willis. "It hasn't rained, ex
cepting for a light shower or two in
the night, for over a month"
"Well," said Mr.. Willis, after
long pause, 1--WE are going to lose our
boy tomorrow"
eyes," said Mrs. Willis, and I
shall miss him. l wouldn't have be-
lieved 1 could have become 30 at
tached to him. If it wasn't for that
nice Mr.. Farnham he says so much
about, l should feel dreadfully to
have him go back there to that
wretched tenement"
He's an uncommonly nice boy, if
he did come from the slums," said
Mr.. Willis. "I've an idea his mother
was an intelligent woman in spite of
her surroundings"
"He has seemed unusually sober
the past week." said Mrs. Willis. 81
fancy he is little homesick."
"Pm sorry" said Mr.. Willis; sd
like to keep him longer. 1t is going
to rain," he added, a moment later.
Come, Bucephalus- more loiter-
ing"
At the farm it had already begun,
and Dick was shutting windows and
doors to keep it out, even climbing
up to the top of thehighest haymow,
and crawling over the hay, to shut the
little square window in the peak of the
barn. By the time he was safe on
the floor again, the rain was falling
fast, and the thunder was growing
louder.
Dick had been standing at the
barn window for several minutes
watching the lightning, when sud-
denly he remembered the COWS.
Surely they ought not to get wet.
Why hadn't he thought of them be-
fore?
He set open the little door, and
fastened down the lane to the pas
ture. It took him some time to find
the COWS, for they were all lying
down in the shelter of an immense
oak-tree, calmly gazing at the rain
that was now coming down in tor
rents. Dick tried to make them get
up, but they looked at him gravely
with their great eyes, slowly chewing
their cuds meanwhile, and seemed to
think they were doing very we'll
where they were.
Then Dick remembered that one
red COW, named Bess, was the leader,
and concentrated all his efforts on
making her rise. After much push
ing and slapping he succeeded, and
started her toward home, whereupon
the others reluctantly got upon their
feet and followed her.
They had not gone very far when
there came such binding flash of
lightning as Dick had never in his
life seen before; there was no pause
between it and the crashing peal of
thunder-they came together. Dick
fell to the ground with fright, and for
moment did not know where he
was, but lay half stunned. Then,
finding he was still alive, he scram-
bled up and ran after the COWS. They
seemed to think it all a huge joke,
and were capering and shaking their
horns at each other in the friskiest
manner possible.
Dick hurried them on, up the lane,
and into the barn. He was very
much afraid they would catch cold,
and he found an old grain sack and
and wiped them all over with it very
carefully. They seemed to like that
SO we'll that he followed it up with a
thorough brushing and carding.
There was no more heavy thunder
after that one terrible neal. and be-