Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1898-05-23
A COUNTRY BOY.

spun gold, big brown eyes and a red mouth like wax dolls. She stood in the little arbor as James came up the road, and he thought be had never seen anything so beautiful He noticed that she was little and slender, too; that her clothes were dainty and her hands white. As he came nearer she stepped out from the arbor and asked, with little curl of her lip:
 "Are you my cousin, James Creeley9
 He was only country boy and 90 stood and stared in amazement. Then be ejaou- lated:
 "MeP Yes. Your oousinf Nol'
 "But you must be, I" persisted the girl. "They said I would see you, and, !" she added, with a glance which took in every detail of James costume from the bare feet to the hickory shirt they said you were handsome lad. :" And with that she stuffed q disdainfnl little sniff and walked stiffly toward the house. ] Jim stood looking after her, q flush mantling the freekled cheeks and the i white forehead under the red hair. He saw the white dress vanish as she turned the corner of the house and he walked on He reached the barn just as Mary had fin l 1SDou ID1tkluR bu6 OONS. loJ yOu know there's company she asked as she swung the milk pail around te see the bubbles dance And they Ire going to stay i for week, and you ought to be dressed. "
 A week Jim's heart would have sunk into his boots had be worn any. As it was, it seemed to go up into his throat and stick there in big lump. He went around the yard shutting the chickens into the henhouse, putting the farm tools away. Then he went to the house. His mother met him at the door and gave him 6 list of directions which made his head spin. The result was he came down to supper looking like q city boy. But the freekles and red hair were still there. His 1 aunt-whom he had not seen since he was 0 baby-quite overwhelmed him with her 1 kind manner and her sweet voice, but he would have given it all for ono glance, even disdainful one, from the little girl who sat near him, her proud little head turned away.
 As the days went by the color came into the white checks of the little golden haired girl, and when her mother had to go back to the city she decided to leave her to stay another week or so Jim felt that the cows were ugly now the horses were slow, the fields of wheat and timothy and the wild roses that grew in the hedges Were all dull and drab. He could only find sum- shine when little Nell was with him. She hated a boy with dirty hands, who couldn't dance and who was awkward and stupid. One morning she started out for a long walk. Jim saw her as she went out the gate. She had long piece of white thread in her hand and carried three pins in her mouth. "Fishin, said Jim.
 GI1o bad b,ord hon 17y,oio caU that fbara were plenty of fish in the Dee brook if peo- pie were not too lazy to catch them. She would catch some Then Jim would see that q city girl could do more than coun- try boy Her proud little nose turned up at the very mention of the name. l Tho brook was soon reached, and Nellie sat down and threw her line as far out as she could. She watched the hook float moment and then disappear. She listened to the ohirp of tho birds in the trees along the bank. She saw the sunlight glimmer through the leaves, and she became drowsy.
 Suddenly she started up. Her line had slipped from her hand and was floating in the water almost beyond her reach. She leaned over and by a supreme effort caught it, but could not pull it in. One ord was caught fast under stone in the middle of the brook. She thought of tho fish she meant to catch and gave two or three hard tugs There was a jerk, the string broke, her feet slid on the slippery bank, and the next moment the little girl was strug- gling in the water, and the water closed above the golden head, leaving over widen ing circles shinmering on the surface of the brook.
 There was a great rustling among the ,,Is ,,fr rs,I hair appeared for q second, and then both had plunged into the water. Nell felt her hair being pulled very hard She wonder cd afterward why 1t took her breath away and why she was so-so sleepy.
 When Jim made his appearance at the farmyard with his clothes wringing wet his hair standing on end and the little bundle of moans in his arms, Mrs. Farmer all but had mysteries. She said be was a brave boy when he told the story, but knowing how to swim and giving one's life up for another were quite usual for her boys. The next day Nell was to go home She came out to the barn where Jim was watering the COWS and estood lovingly caressing tho velvet nose of the spotted calf
 'I am going away, Jim, {" she said shy ly, "and I came to thank you for saving my life. "
 She looked ut him over the calf's head and smiled sweetly Jim flushed. He stammered something about not having done anything extraordinary.
 But you know I would have died, wouldn't I, if you hadn't comef"
 Mebbe said Jim.
 "Mamma would have been very sorry, :" continued Noll in her soft little voice.
 .So would I, '" Jim managed to say. And no city boy could have done it, !" she continued. still pattiDg the "bossvis"