Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1898-11-17

his late hours, and were quito in
different to his goings and comings;
so he had no trouble in keeping from
them tue fact Of his new employment,
but he found it hard, indeed, being
still weak from his illness, to bolt his
supper and hurry away. to night work
after eight hours of day work; and 1t
was also hard to give up the evening
frolics in which he had been accus-
toned to join with .he boys.
For bank he used the toe OF an old
shoe, which he kept tucked under his
mattress. Every night he lodged
something therein, copper, nickel or
silver, and every night he counted and
recounted the contents. Finally, at
the end of almost three months, the
night came when he was to round ont
the needed sum with the last coin.
Trembling with excitement, he thrust
his hand under the mattress.
For moment his heart beat so
wildly that he could feel the hot blood
surging to his temples; then it seemed
to stop, and he felt cold and sick and
faint, for his exploring fingers failed
to discover the familiar and welcome
roughness of the in-stifened old
shoe. When he had pushed his arm
in to the shoulder, and had even
turned tho bedding up and looked as
well as felt, he realized that further
efforts were vain. The shoe was gone;
the fruit Of three months unremitting
labor stolen.
Barney dared not raise an outcry to
do SO would only mean to share his
secret with the members Of his family,
aud thus thwart at the outset all his
plans. Toward morning, as he lay
tossing on his despoiled mattress, un-
able to close his eyes for grief and
bitterness, he heard his fathers un-
steady footsteps on the stairs. They
came nearer and nearer, until the for
bidding figure, with its dishevelled
hair and rum-laden breath and brutal
lied features, stood beside the bed.
Instinctively the boy slid as far away
as the narrow limits of the cot per-
mitted; but the movement betrayed
the fact that he was awake, and his
father, seizing him by the arm,
dragged him, with an oath, into the
middle Of the room.
'I'll teach ye to steal, you limb O.
satan!' cried the drink -crazed man.
80 father; I didn't steal; don't,,ibeat
mel" protested Barney. "The moneys $
mine, earned very cent Of it working
nights 7 ia honest, father - -
7 med IL, did ye? an hid it away
uom your poor, hara-workin' parents
Sou angratetUl whelp, III teach ye to
DO hyin in aiss an idleness, an layin'
mp money like miser, an kapin' 1t
from yer betters, an me shweatin' me
life away carryiu' the hod up a ladder
all day"
And then, with heavy strip of
board brought home That day for kind
ling-wood, from the building where
he was at work, the half-drunken
father beat the boy until the lads
screams brought Mrs. Rollins to the
point of determined interference.
From the shock of his great disap-
pointment Barney rallied with cheer
full courage and determination. This
time he took his mother into his con
fidence.
Mrs. Rollins, if not in all respects
model mother, WAS at least kind
hearted one, and she showed her good
will by aiding the boy in his endeavor
to keep the secret from the unreason-
able father, and by giving him nickel |
or dino now and then from her wages
as scrub-woman. They decided be-
tween them that the surest way to out
wit the father was to take the money,
as fast as it was earned, to o neighbor-
ing branch of tho Stamp Savings So
ciety, aud to leave the book of deposit
in the society's care.
Iu this way the saving went on
smoothly, and success was again al
most within reach. Barnoy's heart
beat high with happiness and hope.
But on the day when the ten dollars
was once more complete, he came
home at midnight from his work in
the bowling alley, to find the light
burning in the tenement, and his
mother sitting anxiously beside The
cot where his little five-year-old sister
Aggie lay tossing and moaning. For
several days she had not seemed well,
and since Barney had left her at sup
per-time she had grown rapidly worse.
Aggie was the one thing tho boy
loved most of all in the world. There
were other children between himself
and Aggie in age; there were others
younger than she, and Barney was far
from being Indifferent to any of them.
But Aggie was the very apple OF his
eye.
He had tended her in her cradle as
gently as woman, and had managed
always, by hook or by crook, to keep
her in dolls and toys. Where Aggie
was concerned he had never stopped
to count the cost of anything.
The dispensary physician, who was
called in. pronounced the dread name
of typhoid fever. For several days he
came, and doubtless he did for the
child all that skill and faithfulness
o,,ll IA put Pornev and his mother