The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-12-25
NUMBER NINE.

soon rs inc company hlrou him. Of
sourse we didn't have much timc for
foolin, cause them were busy times Just
around election, and it kept us mossen.
ger boys hoppin. can tell you, but him
and had orr dinner hour together.
OF course, You know, the company is
awful particular about the way us fellers
look. Always have to have our toys and
shoes brushed and our fins and faces
clean, etc. But he was tonier than the
rest, and while Us fellers wore outin
shirts, he always wore billed one and
collar and cuffs. So that's how it hap.
pencd we gave him tho nickname of tho
dude, and we called him that all the
timo.
He didn't seem to mind it, and he
took all our jokes pretty we'll. He was
always ready to trade off "runs" with
us if we got any we didn't like, and,
first thing we knowcd, we was all pref
ty soft on the little Teller. Even the boss
seemed TO like him better than the rest
of Us, but mono of us were jealous, for
he's n good boss, and, while he treats
the rest of us square, we amt got no
kick comm. See?
He never told MS nothin about his
folks, tho dude didn't, and we never
bothered anything about it, Most of us
lived up town, and he lived down near
tho river, and that's all we knowod
about him.
But after he'd been with tho company
about six weeks l noticed he wasn't as
lively as usual, and one day, when he
thought mono of us fellers was lookin, [
saw him wipe his eyes just like he'd
been cryin.
1t went on for day or two, and then
1 mado up my mind | would ask him
what the trouble was OF course didn' t
like my job much; but, thinks [, maybe
some of the fellers has been tcasin him,
and. if they has, they wants to look out
for me, that's all.
SO ups and says, while we was catin
our dinner: Say, dude, what ails YOU
the last two or threo days? You look
like You was goin to your own funeral. :"
With that lie has all he can do to keep
from cryiii, and he says: I'm worried
about my mother. She's sick" And he
went on and told me ii lot about how
hard she worked and how she had made
him go 10 school till no was -, though
you'd never take him for more than II, ,
when she had to let him stop school and
go 10 work, for she couldn't stand it to
sew any longer.
Why, amt you got no old man?'
says l, and L wish you'd saw him then.
His eyes just famed, and his face wen
white all Of a suddint
Il don't know" says he, "but if l
have he wants TO look out if ever run
across him. hope I'll never meet him,
for promised mother I'd not do any
thing to him, but I'm afraid | can t
keep my word.''
1t I'D almost mako anybody laugh to
hear the youngster talk so big, but 1
didn't, and ho went ON and said how his
old man (only no called him father
had run Off when he--tho dude-was n
few months Old and left his mother, Il
stranger i'll this country, with hardly
any friends, and they had never heard
nothin from lin since His mother had
staid Ill tic country place only "a little
while, then moved to this city, but she
lctt word with The postmaster in case
her husband camc back.
When l asked him what made his old
man run Off, he said he had been out
OF work for long time, and when he
heard about place as telegraph opera
tor about % miles away he started for
there. 'Mothor is sure somethin hap
pened to him. Sho never got the papers
out there, and she wrote to the telegraph
station, but got no word
Two other fcllers come out to eat
their dinner just then, and we stopped
talkin.
Well, about aweek after that day the
dude WASH t i'll his place in tho mornin,
and the boss asked if any of Us knowcd
what allied him, so ups and says, 81
guess his mothers sick (" Then he asked
If any of us knowcd where he lived, but
wo didn't. He seemed bothered about
1t. and about 10 o'clock, when was Off
duty, he says, mo. Z, you and No. 0
arc pretty intimate, aren't your"
Eyes, sir" says l.
Then says he; 81 don't know WHY his
absence bothers mo so much. I've grown
quite interested i'll tho little chap. "
Then kinder to hissclf, he says, IF l
knew where he lived, almost think I'd
send aud inquire about him"
Then don't know what made me
do 1t; tho boss says it was "Providence"
Il starts III and begins to tell him what
tho dude told me about his old man.
Bat before I'd got very far got fright
ened at the lool! or his face, and the