The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1896-05-20


in the cars one way, and so she had
just five cents with her. With the
five cents she bought n puffy mince
turnover and q shiny bun, and when
she had asked the storekeeper to let
the boy sit beside the radiator while
he ate these delicaoies, she went on
her way rejoicing.
The little boy gazed after her, his
cheeks distended with pastry, and q
grin of perfect content on his dirty
little face.
The storekeeper, too, who had been
scolding his chore-boy in frightful
manner when Winnie opened the
door, now looked as mild as any
lamb, quite benevolent, in fact, and
the chore-boy was whistling softly to
himself as he wiped the dust from q
shelf.
Winnie walked briskly along, for
it was getting near school time. A
good many of the people she met
glanced at her as they passed, and the
glance seemed somehow TO have n
cheering effect upon them, for their
eyes frightened, and they stepped
more quickly and held their heads a
little higher.
When quite near the schoolhouse,
Winnie overlook one of her class
mates. There was acloud on his face,
but the instant she spoke to him it
disappeared, and he actually smiled
as he turned toward her, though the
tone of his voice was still somewhat
lugubrious.
"Have you done those two problems
in algebra?" he asked.
"No," laughed Winnie, ''have
youP"
81 sat up half the night trying, and
don't believe they can be done, Z"
said the boy, bitterly.
"Oh, yes" answered Winnie. "Will
Bailey told me last night that he had
done one of them, and l mean to go
at them in good EARNEST Us soon as 1
get the history lesson of my mind. 1
think we can do them"
"Perhaps we can," said the boy,
more hopefully; and by the time they
reached the schoolhouse steps he was
not only convinced that he could, but
resolved that he would do them, and
was quite cheerful in consequence.
Winnie and the boy were two Sec
onds late, and Miss Miller frowned as
she heard their footsteps in the hall,
but when she saw Winnie her frown
faded out. Moreover, as Winnie
walked to her seat nearly every pair of
shoulders in tho room went down a
trihe, as though her coming had, in
some mysterious way, tempered the
prevailing frigidity.
Nothing of particular moment hap
pened during the forenoon, unless it
was the falling out of Nellie Paterson
and Julia Davis at recess. Their eyes
were flashing, and they were making
the most i'll natured remarks to each
other, when Winnie chanced their
way. don't know whether she said
anything, or only looked in their eyes
till they couldn't help laughing, but 1
do know that two minutes later Nellie
and Julia were pacing the hall, arm in
arm, and on best of terms.
There were seven scholars who lived
so far away that they always brought
their dinners, excepting when they
forgot it, as did Annie aud Frank Car.
roll on this particular day. Winnie
spied them standing apart from the
others, staring disconsolately out of a
window, and Immediately OWNED the
trouble. Almost before you could say
"Jack Robinson" she had gone to
them, and before you could count
fifty the three were seated, with Win
nie's lunch basket in their midst, max
ing merry over the shortness of their
commons. Then the other four Joined
the group and divided their lunch
also; and as the mothers of some of
them had been particularly bountiful
in the matter of food that day, the
whole seven Jared very we'll, and
dare say ate all that was good for
them.
On the way home from school at
night Winnie saw two boys, on the
sidewalk ahead of her, slyly upset u
fruit stand, behind which sat an old
Irish woman. A policeman who had
come up unperceived seized one of the
boys, the other took to his heels, and
the old woman gesticulated and
stormed with rage and righteous in
dignation.
Winnie hastened her steps, and lay
ing her hand on the policeman's
sleeve, asked him very earnestly if he
wouldn't please let the boy go, just
long enough to help pick up the fruit,
which was rolling about the sidewalk
and out into the street.
In an incredibly short time, if you
had been there, you would have seen
the policeman walking serenely down
the street, a strange gentleman right
ing the fruit stand, Winnie and the
two boys picking up apples, bananas
and peanuts, as if for wager, while
the old woman was laughing to see so
many working for her while she sat
still, and saying, leniently, that "b'ys"
would be "b'ys," she supposed, as long
as the "wurruld" held together.
When Winnie came within three
doors of her own door, she saw the
telegraph messenger leave a message
with Mrs. Alden. Mrs. Alden stood
in the doorway after reading it, with
a perplexed and troubled expression,
and glanced at Winnie as if she had
half a mind to say something TO her.
"Is it bad news, Mrs. Alden?" ven
tured Winnie, sympathetically.
Then Mrs. Alden spoke quickly
enough. ''Yes," she said, 'my sister
is ill, and ought to go to her on the