The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-12-27
AMONG THE HILLS.

Rosa Giovanni sat at the door of the ash
mans howell and locked at the PARKWAY
hills.
Rosa loved the hills as she loved God
and thought of them as she did of heaven.
She had heard that God was great and
strong and shelterins. So, she knew, were
the hills. And heaven? That was far,
very far away, and it was hard to reach.
But, OH it was SO beautiful. And the
more she dreamed of it the more she came
to believe that heaven was somewhere
among those hills
Rosa was the ash mans daughter. She
lived with the ash man and his wife and
their many weazoned, brown children in
the basement Of q gray house Of San Fran.
cisco. The poor little room in the base.
ment had nothing right in it. It, too,
was dull and gray, like the house and the
street, and when the cold fog rolled into
the crowded room, as it always did in the
evening" IL settled about tho faces and
forms Of the children and made them look
pale and wraithlike.
''Evemore! Eyermore!" Rosa had
heard tho word at Sunday school and it
haunted her. She asked the good sister
whit IL meant, and she had smiled kindly
and said it meant "always cternally."
Rosa looked at the sister thoughtfully,
with her big, solemn eyes. "We have eyer.
more babies at our house." she said.
And so it was. When Rosa, the little
elder sister, had taught the last thin,
brown bnby II little patois and encouraged
it to tnke a few steps, another wailing
stranger would demand these Offices. Rosa
loved the brood Of little ones hut she tired
sometimes of their weak cries, and her
thin arms and narrow shoulders ached
from the burden Of carrying them to soothe
their cries, ana her head ached Tocfully.
Rosa was Il ,iwarliike girl with we'll
developed head, palc olive skin and big
brown eyes Tat would not permit you TO
forget her. There was % haunting earnest
ness, a wistful Questioning in them, that
you recalled sometimes in gay crowds
where the hungry orhs were out Of place.
They followed and troubled you is dora
tho gaze Of Il do, that has lost its owner,
There was an ANIMALS pain in item and
human unrest. They rcHi;'.isl you Of
the eyes Of woman Nhlciryou can never
forget, ono who had looked npon tho WOES
and mockCriaS Of life until she prayed to
die. 1t was with such II PRAYER IL her eyes
that Rosa Giovanni looked mt the fgrawny
hills. The two smallest brown babies were
asleep. The others were playing in al.
other room with children who were old
enough to care for them. So tho small,
brown hands were idle for once They lay
crossed in the lap Of the dreamer.
The great, green hills! How fresh and
beautiful they look! Had not Nina, the
Il = Al Al,
grew, the dewy, delicate flowers which
she had seen countryman of hers selling
at the place where many streets crossedi
She had caught the breath Of some of those
flowers once, and it was swcet--as sweet
as heaven and the hills All, to have
some of them in her lap at this moment!
To press her hot forehead against their
cool soitness and so forget that it ached 20
terribly. The half closed eyes opened
wide. They stared in wild way at the
hills. A resolve was heiEg born--a re.
solve that sprang from her ignorance and
pnin. She would 80 to the hills. They
wc:e 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 rims to her. Che would go.
Sho would come back again to the brown
babies, but she must seek thai CoolECss
and rest and tho flowers.
She ran up the narrow street and AMONG
tho cars and wagons at the crowded cross.
ing. Nobody noticed tho ragged little fig.
ure, for the haunting eyes did not seek
their faces and challenge their curiosity.
Those strange eyes looked past the hurry
ing people to the strip of yclvety green be.
yond tho roofs. She sped along the street,
stopping not Tor questions. She could not
he lost. Did she not know where shc was
going, and was it not to the hills, which
her eyes never LEFT for mumcnt2 the
shivured, but not from fear. The fog had
wrapped hcr about In its steulthy embrace,
but she thought: 'Tho hills will take care
of me. They are warm and kind"
Her breath came shorter. She was
tired but not Us when she left the cellar
Of the gray house, for WIS shU not coming
nearer to TINT Tayy line Of green at every
stepS Once she fell but she drew herself
up again and walked on more slowly this
time. But the ieverlsh light in Acr eyes
had become fierce flame. Her cheeks
burned The hills were coming closer.
s'ha could not walk much farther. They
knew it, and they wero coming to her.
81 found hcr lying across the curb. She
was stretching out her ullIs on the side.
walk and giving something like, All,
good, kind hills, I'vo found youn Shc
must have heon there IN hour or two, for
she was cold us the stones Of the sidewalk.
Tho big POLICEMAN put the stunted form
into the matrun's arms.