El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-02-24

ii Z,
wet through and my clothes froze on
me- 1 went in and she made me hot
coffee herself. She said was too young
for whisky, loaned me some Of your
clothes, by the way, to get home in
| all not knowing 1 wasn't Keeling off a
lie to her"
l. "Well the clothes came back" said
Tommy. 81 heard about it. Mothers
always up to such tricks
| 'fMothers are big thing. They keep
fellow sure there's some good left in
the world. And yours was one of the
motherliest mothers going
/ Tommy blushed with pleasure, but
could think of nothing better than to
, hand the reporter a cigar. And it was
| Just at this softened moment that his
eyes fell on an old woman who had just
entered. She was poorly clad in worn,
limp black skirt made short enough to
show her coarse shoes, and a basque of
| that unchanging model affected by cid.
| erly German women of the humber
| kind. The hair under the old fashioned
bonnet was gray, almost white. She
| walked in with a quick step. like one in
| haste, her dim eyes wandering anxious
~ over the array of boxes on the plat
| form. Then she whispered to the young
| girl at her side. who seemed to be a
servant and was a comedy, fresh colored,
honest looking lass in the cheap travesty
of the fashion that SO soon replaces the
| trusty old blue stuffs in this country
| The girl glanced about her and after a
seconds hesitation whispered to Tom
my, sis dose things on der platform all
| vat dey is sole?'
$50 far, says Tommy, ''yes.
ma am He spoke the last words to
the old woman and smiled reassuring
| ly. She seemed so feeble. so agitated
| and so lost among the crowd of idle
men and junk dealers that he was
minded to comfort her.
She gave him a grateful glance. Her
hands were clasped, one over the ether
They were hands disfgured and rough
ened by toll, with the prominent veins
and distorted knuckles and withered
cleanliness of years over the washtub
Tommy remembered how in his youth
he had resolved that one day his mother
should have white, soft hands, like the
mother of his school friend, Harry Loss
ing, and how he had spent some of his
very first earnings in a weird assert
ment of cosmetics which his mother
faithfully used.
His mothers hands were white nov
and there were rings on them. But
Tommy remembered how they used 5u
look
Lot after lot was disappearing and
being bundled down to the new owners
The old woman, who had slowly K
gained composure, all al once rose sud
denly from her seat and instantly sank
back again, clutching the purse in her
hand. Her face had gone dull gray
the streaks of red We're ebbing sowiy
from her cheek. Tommy heard her thin
elderly pipe. lone dollar. Zone dol
larp' called the girl in louder KEY
''I'm bid one dollar began the auC-
tioneer, ''one-do 1 hear two dollars
Thank you. sir. Two dollars. two dol
lars"
''And five cents, " called the girl, while |
the woman's eyes strained after every
twist of the auctioneer's head. every
swing of his hand.
dollar FIVE. dollar five, yes. sir |
thank you, sir. Three dollars
Here man shouldered his way
through the crowd, a stout, horid man
in checked suit, baggy as to the knees
of the trousers and illuminated as to
shirt front by vivid but sciled red ,
scarf.
This man glanced keenly at the box
and from the box to the woman and
threw a Give dollars carelessly at
the official
'West Side dealer. commented the
newspaper man IN an undertone to
Tommy. He thinks there's something
in it
The old woman raised the bid-as
before by a nickel As before the man
jumped the intervening cents to dol
lar The old woman, her agitation mo-
mently increasing. repeated the same
with the same result on the
part of her opponent. The uneven bid
ding continued until the bids were $27.
bid by the dealer. The old woman
turned desperately to the girl, and the
latter in a second called loudly a raise |
of 10 cents.
"Twenty eight" shouted the man.
The woman sank back into her chair. |
She trembled so violently that for a sec
ond Tommy thought that she might
faint. and he hurried to put a flask to
ner lips, while the newspaper man ran |
Tor water She motioned the flask away |
Her eyes went piteously to the girl.
ashanti L help You OutT' said Tom !
ny. The words rolled back in the roof
If his mouth at the girls expression.
1--WE don't hat got no more money,
'aid she stolidly. 1.-The mother has been
Iaving for this year and | also, and it
vas $27, but we hat also the car fare
We bid all. 1t was not enough. No,
lon't look, don't look!'' she cried in
Ter own tongue. But the old woman
ose and watched the successful bidder |