The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1900-03-10

he was nevsE chosen She said lis
e5as stretched vide with interest
uhsn ladies came and, hugging some
lonely babe 2their barren breasts,
vent awayt to counterfeit motherhood
She said Roscoe had a nostalgia up6
HIM for a mother, and thai lie prac-
ticed by calling her mother.
1t CHANGED That newspaper Wom-
an visited the asylum, and in writing
about the institution she mentioned
the state Of Roscoe g. Brown and the
accident Of tint that made him faith
erless and ~motherless in spite Of his
attractions. She even went to the
trouble Of having Roscoe's cunning
face reproduced in the paper, where
it beamed upon all the subscribers
with an invitation to come and laugh
with him.
IA man 500 miles away Glanced to
see that copy Of the paper. He was
a porter for the Pullman car on q
certain road running far into the
west. He threw the paper down some
what impatiently as if he was an
noyed by it, and he entertained a
hope that some one would carry it
off and that he would see nothing
more of it. But no one did carry it
off. 1t remained confronting him,
and out Of it looking a laughing baby
face-the face of the dearest little
colored boy that ever grew teeth.
The porter walked into the smoker
and ventured a confidence to two
gentlemen who sat there.
II think that is a mighty cute
little fellah," said he, showing the
picture. The gentlemen agreed with
him heartily.
81 have often wished that | had
little fellah," said the porter, pen.
sively.
'Never had any children, porterF
Ono, sir. I've been married 1!
years, but no child has ever come tx
: our house. My wife and I have go
! into the way of going down to thu
t toy departments Of the store ever,
! Christmas to pick out what we woult
buy for a boy if we had one. At frs
it was fun, but we don't see muchful
in it now. 1t makes us feel lonesomC
And we stop before clothing stor
> windows and choose little suits wit
T fancy vests and cooked hats and al
|. that. But we've never had a boy t
G put in the clothes, so we've Just abou
given up picking out SUITS
: "But why don't you adopt a boy?
IS The porter blushed little.
"Weu," said he, the truth is, we'y
never found a baby that-that Wa
u quite the right color, don't you see
e Now, my skin, if you notice, is CT
rious-a sort Of chocolate tint. 1t
\ the same with my wife. But you don
= see just that color often"
y 'cNo," acquiesced the gentleman
= "But this article says, sir, that Il
y boy in that picture is ch~ocolate-co
= ored, too, so thought
oPortaF." cried the gentlema,
: slapping him on the back, when '
q get to Chicago I will go with you
the asylum and we viii see if yc
= match"
"Thank you, sir, thank you" crit
the porter, and he blushed more tn;
= before.
u "Tn go, too" said the other ge
tleman. "I'm an attorney, and if the
4 are papers to make out III makethe
for you, porter, to help the eau
along"
a "If it comes to professional SCI
Il ice" said the first gentleman "Pn
= physician, and I'll see if the lad G
show a clean bill of health"
n So that was how it came aboutth
three men hurried to the home, whe
Roscoe C. Brown sat in his high cha
looking out Of the window at a e
- tertaining world. The milkman h
n just gone by and waved to Rose
and the muffin man had shaken
II fist at him, and the postman had p
tended that he was going to throw
SNOWFALL. At each Of these demo
strations Roscoe had laughed till
had the hiccoughs, showing all of
IL JIG teeth and believing his lovely e.
with tears Of merriment. But |
world was still more entertain
when three men came up the ste
and when he found that they
tualIy came to see him and shookh
" by the hand he was so amazed that
under jaw fell down SO far he col