Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1897-02-19
AMONG THE HI LIS.

Rosa loved the hills as she loved God
and thought of them as she did 0
heaven She had learned that God wa
great and strong and shelterlng; so, sh,
knew, were the hills. And heaven
That was far very far, away, and it wai
hard to reach; but, oh, 1t was so beauti
full. And the more she dreamed of Il
the more she came TO believe thai
heaven was somewhere among the hills
Rosa was the ash mans daughter. She
lived with the ash man and his wife and
their many weakened, brown children In
the basement of gray house on gray
street In the gray city of San Francisco.
The poor little room In the basement
had nothing bright In 1t. 1t too, was
dull and gray, like the house and the
street, and when the cold fog rolled into
the crowded room as 1t always did In the
evening. 1t settled about the faces and
forms of the children and made them
look pale and wraithlike.
"Evermore Evermore" Rosa had
heard the word at Sunday school and 1t
haunted her. She asked the good sister
what 1t meant, and she had smiled kindly
and said 1t meant "always, eternally."
Rosa looked at the sister thoughtfully,
with her big, solemn eyes. 1--WE have
evermore babies at our house." she said.
And so 1t was. When Rosa, the little
elder sister. had taught the last thin,
brown baby little patois and encour-
aged 1t to take few steps. another wall
Ing stranger would demand those offices.
Rosa loved the brood of little ones, but
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, and her head
ached woefully.
Rosa was a dwarfllke girl with a we'll
developed head, pale, olive skin and big
brown eyes that would aot permit you to
forget her There was haunting earn
estness, wistful 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 dog that has
lost its owner. There was an animals |
pain in them and human unrest. They |
reminded you of the eyes of a woman
whom you can never forge, one who |
had looked upon the woes and mocker-
lee of life until she prayed to die 1t
was with such prayer in her eyes that |
Rosa Giovanni looked at the faraway |
hills The two smallest brown babies |
we're asleep. The others were playing |
n another room with children who were |
Did enough to care for them. So the |
small brown hands were idle for once |
they lay crossed in the lap of the |
lreamer.
The great, green hills How fresh
md beautiful they look Had not Nina,
he neighbor, told her it was there the
lowers grew, the dewy, delicate flowers
which she had seen a countryman of
lers selling at the place where many
treets crossed She had caught the
reath of some of those flowers once,
nd 1t was sweet-as sweet as heaven
nd the hills. All, to have some of
hem in her lap at this momentl To
ress her hot forehead against their cool
oftness and so forget that 1t ached so
erribly. The half-closed eyes opened
tide. They stared In wild way at the
Ills. II resolve was being born, a re- !
olive that sprung from her ignorance
nd pain. She would go to the hills.
hey were not very far. Some one had
aid they were far away, but they had
ome closer to her. They seemed to be
pening their soft green arms to her t
he would go. She would come back l
gain to the brown babies, but she must a
Eek that GOODNESS and rest and the flow q
IS. q
She ran up the narrow street and Il
nong the cars and wagons at the
DIVIDED crossing. Nobody noticed the
gged little figure, for the haunting -
res did not seek their faces and chal- ;;
nge their curiosity. Those strange -
res looked past the hurrying people to ?,
e strip of velvety green beyond the -,
offs She sped along the street, stop 4
ng not for questions She could not J.,
lost Did she not know where she .
Rs going aud was it not to the hills
nich her ewes never left for a moment?
lie shivernd but not from fear The
g had wrapped her about In its stealthy r
ibracC, but she thought: "The hills
70 take care of me. They are kind and n.
lrm" -
4, in
-, ,...-.- m