The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1897-03-17
AMONG THE HILLS

Rosa Giovanni sat at tine door OF u
ash nuns hogcl and looked at the fataWa.
hills.
Rosa loved tho hills as she loved Geo,
and thought Of them US she did Of heaNea.
tho had heard tLat God WAS great Cbd
strong aud sheltering; so, she knew, vera
the hllls. And hcayenf That was iar,
very far, away, and it was hard to zach;
hur, Oh, IL was 50 beautiful. And the nero
RE dreansCd o. little Iaore she caino 10 be-
liese tlab heaven was somewhere among
those hiss
Rosa VS. tho ash mans daughter. She
lived ~ n the ash man and his WIG >
Il cir n.t. W%eazened. brown children u
the basement of . gray house on II tray
street in tho gray cay Of san Francisco
The poor littlo ICON in the %bnsenient ln1a
nothing bright in it. 1t, too, was doh and
grny, like tho house and the street, and
VIXEN the cold log rolled into the crowded
room, as IL always did in tho evening, II
sottled about tie faces and FORMS of tine
children ard nude them look Ialo and
wraithlile.
"Eyerm,rei Eyermorel" Rosa bud
heard tie word at Sunday school, and it
haunted her. She asked the good sister
what i5 meant, aud she had smiled kindly
and said it meant always, oternally. J"
Rosa looked at the sister thougltfuliy,
with her big, solemn eyes. 1--WE have over
moro babies Mt our house,, " she said.
And SO it was. Whom Rosa, the little
elder sister, had taught the last thin, brown
baby IA little patuis and encouraged 1t to
take n fow steps, another wailing stranger
would demand those offices. Rosa loved
the brood of little ones, but she tired some
times of their weak cries, and her thin
arms and marrow shoulders ached from the
burden of carrying them to soothe their
cries, and her head aoied woefnlly.
Rosa was u dwarfike girl with a well
developed head, pale, olive skin and big
brown eyes that would not permit you to
forget her. There was a haunting earnest
ness, n wistfnl questioning In them, that
you recalled sometimes in gay crowds
where the hungry orbs were out OF place.
They followed and troubled you as does the
gaze of IA dog that had lost Its owner. There
was an animals pain In them and a hu-
man unrest. They reminded you OF the
eyes of IA woman whom you cnn never for
get, one who bud looked upon the woes
and mockeries Of lifo until she prayed to
die. 1t WAS with such IL prayer In her eyes
that l.osn Giovanni locked mt tho faraway
hills. Tho two smallest brown hnbies were
asleep. Tho others were playing In apoth-
81 room with children wboworo old enough
10 care for them So the small, brown
hands we're idle for once They lay crossed
In the lap Of the dreamer.
The great, green hillsl How fresh and
beautiful they look! Had not Nina, the
neighbour, told Ter IL WAS there the flowers
grew, the dCwy, delicate W which she
had seen a country man OF hers selling ut
tho place where innny streets crossedY She
had ontght tho breath of some OF those
flowers once, and 1t was sweet-as sweet
as heaven, and tho hills All, to have
son of them in her lap Mt this momenti
10 Lress ler hot forehead against their cool
s~aituess and so forget that 1t ached so ter
rihiy Tho half closed eyes opened wide.
they stirred in n wild way at the hills. A
resolve was being born, "A resolve That
sprung from her Ignorance and pain. She
would go to the hills. They were not very
far. Some one had said they were far
away, but they had come closer to her.
They seemed To be opening their soft,
green arms to her. Sha would go. She
would come back again tn the brown
babies, but she must seok that GOODNESS and
rest and tho flow ers.
phc run VI INV DiTTbW htretb uuu uInbHp
u e cars and Wagons mt the crowded cross
ing. Nobody noticed the ragged little fig.
ire, for the haunting eyes did not sock
the lr faces aid challenge their curiosity.
those strange eyes looked past the hurry
Ing people to the strip of yelyety green be-
yond the roofs. She sped along the street,
stopping not for questions. She could not
no lost. Did sho not know where she was
afptYv o1,A xrnp AZ s,,f IN tkn hilla tghtnh
her eyes never left for n momentS She
shiyered, but not from fear. The fog had
wrapped her about In its stealthy embrace,
but she thought: THE hills will take care
Of mo. They are warm and Kind"
Her breath came Shorter. She was tired,
but not as wben she left the cellar of the
gray house, for was she not coming nearer
to that wayy line OF green ut every stepS
Once she fell, but she drew herself up
again and walked on more slowly this
time. But the feverish light In her eyes
hnd become n fierce flame. Her cheeks
burned. The hills were coming closer.
She could not walk much farther. They
knew 1t, and they were coming to her.
~ found her lying across the curb. She
was stretching ont her arms ON tho side
walk and saying something like: 'Ah.
good kind hillsi I've found you She
must have been there nm hour or two, for
she was cold as the stones of the side
walk
The big policeman put tho stuntcd form
Into tho II ATOMS arms.
Poor litlle lambl' she said. She was
used tn sad sights, but tears filed her eyes
as she lnuked TT the drawn, dark features
and wurped body,
After they had laid her In the snowy bed
she opened her wandering eyes upon rows
Of dean tots, WHEREOF size saw the faces Of
childre II. IKE looked ut tie mntherly face