The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1899-06-16
The PRATT BABY
HLXTHAT's to be done with the
wv Pratt baby?"

w 1Tdtt UdUy
That was the question which was
stirring the small village. Answers
of various kinds were attempted.
mis- Peters says she'd be glad to-
"But she couldn't with her poor
health"
"Mis' Bates might"
'But she won't"
'Mis' Lanes got her hands full
Already"
"Mis' DR.. Miller hssnt thing to
prevent her doin' it,"
"Not chick nor child"
"And plenty of money"
But with all the cleverness displayed
in fitting duties for other people, the
Pratt baby remained hopeless, al
though kindly looked upon as sort Of
village protege.
It's father had been run over and
killed month after it's birth. The
mother took it hard and wilted out of
life, so that by the time the baby was
eight months old It looked out on a
world in which it was absolutely with
out possession, yet with eyes as bright
and blue and cheeks as fair and rosy
as if it had been the child of an en-
press-pcrhaps more so.
For the present the baby was "stay-
ing on" in the family of Mrs. Carney,
in whose house Mrs. Pratt had rented
Il small room. Mrs. Garvey had six
children Of her own, but there was still
room in it for another.
GA blessin' 'twould bring to anybody,
the sweet cratur', wiz it's eyes laughin'
in and dancin' at We the day long. An
it's meself would niver let it out of the
house but for havin' nobody to stay
wild it when I'm out washin'."
During such absences Billy Garvey
was detailed as nurse, an arrangement
which suited the small boy we'll, for
he hated school and loved the baby
1t was his care day and night. Billy
knew no joy greater than lay in the
touch Of its clinging little hands and
it's merry laugh as ne performed for
its amusement every antic known to
boys.
When the first snow came Billy
bundled the baby and took it out on his
sled The baby and Billy both en-
joyed this, though it had it's draw
backs. If Billy rounded a corner
swiftly, the baby rolled off; if he
started up suddenly the baby tipped
over backwards. Consideration of
these difficulties led to a bright
thought on Billy's part. He nailed a
soap box on the sled. This he filled
with hay, and when he drew it out with
his blue-eyed charge no child of an
empress was ever lovelier or more
tenderly smiled on, no charioteer
prouder than Billy.
Up and down the two or three short
streets he trotted one mild afternoon.
1t was market day, and number of
farmers were in from the country.
Billy varied his sport by hitching his
sled to the back of sleighs, mounted
on narrow ledge in front of the
soap box. Quickly he sprang from one
vehicle to another as they came and
went, during which capers only the
tender Providence which guards the
helpless saved the baby's innocent life
from being trampled out.
The short winter afternoon was clos
ing in--toO soon, for neither Billy nor
the baby were tired of the fun. Teams
were scarcer and after a ride behind
ahomeward-bound farmer, Billy quick
~ detached his sled and as quickly fas-
tened it to one going the other way,
with prospect of another spin. But
disappointment waited, for just near
the edge of the village the sleigh
stopped.
The farmer stayed a long time, and
Billy grew tired. Nothing but the
prospect of this latest rush down the
hill. would have kept him. He saw some
boys at play little way back on the
street, and went to see what they were
doing.
And just in the unlucky moment his
attention was fully engaged Farmer
Crofts hurried out of the store and
jumped into his box sleigh. His
horses, with the sleigh, had been
turned diagonally toward the store;
the baby in the soap box was just be-
yond range of his sight as he came.
And in the gathering twilight no one
CHANGED to see the precious morseI
OF craft sailing along after the big
sleigh, as the horses, tired of standing.
sped, not up the hill as Billy had an
ticipated, but down another road
winding out of sight at once.
With one glance Billy had seen the
baby safe; with the next his scared
eyes saw only vacancy before the store
door. With wild cry he dashed to-
ward where he had left his treasure.
MY baby! Where's my baby?
Bring him back!"
But sleigh, soap box and baby had
melted completely into the shadows.
Billy ran first up one road, then down
the other, at last, with heart full of
despairing misery, carrying home his
sorry tale.
he could not tell to whose sleigh he
had tied the baby, could not tell in
which direction it had gone, did not
know how far it might go.
Farmer Crofts' horses stepped brisk
~ along in the early evening. The in
creasing cold and steady motion made
the baby drowsy, and like sensible
baby The was one of the kind who al
ways seemed to do the right thing in
the right place-perhaps that was his
Inheritance in lieu of any other) he
cuddled down into the straw and went
10 sleep. The farmer did not know of
the unusual attachment to his sleigh
until he had put his horses in and was
unloading 1t of things he had bought.