Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-09-22

| lips and following each with gnarled
and workworn forefnger. With Dor
cas-, as with many people whose lives
| are somewhat hard and monotonous,
| the prospect of a suite of rooms in one
| of the many mansions was extremely
| pleasant. Moreover, the Cotteswold
peasant dearly loves any form of spec
tacle, and, although Dorcas could not
pronounce, far less understand, many
of the words she met with, there was
sense of pageant all around her as she
read; while her appreciation of the city
which has mo need of the sun, neither
of the moon to shine in it, was as pure
| ly sensuous as that of any disciple of
! Wagner himself.
| "And now little wind and shy"
scattered the apple blossoms over
the path, and the Sunday silence
was broken by clear child voice.
| To Dorcas such sound was as the
skirI of the pipes to Highlander
in a far country; her heart beat
quick and her cheeks grew redder, and
she rushed out to see who "was a-com-
ing;" for Dorcas had put away four
in the ''cemetrary" on the Peterborough
road, and one had lived to be four years
| old Besides, to let anyone pass the
| Blue House without @givin' of 'em
good dayi'' was thing she had never
! done-'not once in 20 years." So she
| laid her Bible on the chair, covering it
with a clean white handkerchief, and
crossed the few feet of garden which
| lay between her cottage and the towing
path.
/ A sturdy little boy, in REFER coat and
muffin cap, with round, fresh little face,
| and cheeks pink as the petals of the
apple blossom nearest the calyx, danced
with excitement on the bank as he
watched his father gathering some yell
low flags" which grew at the waters
edge. The attendant father-parents
| and such were always a secondary con-
| sideration with Dorcas-was not very
| successful, as the ground was soft and
slippery.
| ''It is wet down there, dad? Can I
come? oh, get that big one just over
| there! Won't muth be pleased? What
dirty boots you'll have! Shall hold
| your stick for you to cling on TOP"
Then he noticed Dorcas. ''Good
morning." said he, with gay courtesy.
isn't it a fine May morning?"
| 1T be that surely, little master!" an
|
1.-The little gentleman dada"-he never
| achieved separate identity in the mind
of Dorcas-scrambled up from the
swamp in which he had been standing.
He too, proved most approachable, and
she learned that the youthful potentate
| in the REFER jacket had never walked
| SO far before, that the ''scroped out old
| quarry just beyond the Blue House
was his destination, and that he would
probably come again next Sunday.
| He came every Sunday morning all
| through that summer, and always with
| his dad. Sometimes they went tapping
for fossils in the disused quarry, some
times they came with butterfly nets and
caught ''tortoiseshells" and wall
browns" and upon one great occasion
a ''fritillary." But whatever they
| sought or whatever they caught, Dor
cas- was always, as who should say,
sin at the death, - and shared the excite
ment and the triumph with them.
The'little gentleman was very friend
ly-a child is quick to recognize an
admifer as any pretty woman-and it
| is possible that the attendant father
| understood and INDUCED the childless
woman's craving for child's affection.
Sometimes Dorcas felt qualm of con-
science, and wondered whether her
adored young gentleman ought not
rather to be in church these sunny
Sunday mornings; though had he been
| in church he certainly could have been
nowhere in the neighborhood of the
Blue House. But she was comforted
when she heard that he went with his
mother to children's service in the
afternoon. Henceforth she gave her
self up to the study of natural history
and the worship of her dear little gen
tleman" with light heart.
Even in winter he sometimes came
''of a fine Sunday and Dorcas would
spend many hours of the following
week vainly trying to determine wheth-
er she admired him most in a sailor suit
or in the breeches and CATERS of which
he was so proud. One never to be
forgotten day the rain came down in
torrents just as her sultan and his
grand vizier reached the Blue house.
They took shelter with Dorcas, and the
sultan was graciously pleased to be
lifted up that he might reach a GER
tain mug from the top shelf of the
dresser-a mug which had belonged to
" I'm as were gone" Dorcas made
gingerbread cats and ducks, and her
artistic efforts went so far as to at
tempt king with crown upon is
cad After regaling himself with
these delicacies her sultan would hold
up rosy face, ornamented by sundry
sticky streaks, to be kissed in fare
well; and when she had watched him
round the bend of the canal her ewes
would grow dim, and she would go back
to the Book of Revelation" murmur-
ing to herself: 1.-The Lard gave and the