The Yale expositor., 1901-05-31

lie stood shuilling his bare rect stol-
idly.
"IIl go wild her." he said suddenly,
releasing a hand to indicate Miss Sa-
lomes retreating figure. And without
further warning, he darted down the
platform in close pursuit. AT the
street crossing he caught up.
Il cotched yer" he cried GREATNESS,
I'm goin' long o. youse. Der amt
no room now'eres else. Amt dere
room in your tenement? l can bunk
on de roof all right"
Miss Salome stood still and ran her
keen gray eyes over the lean, patched,
unlovely little creature. Something in
his cheerful confidence in her making
room for him touched her. o, yes
yes, yes-there was room enough.
There were five, six rooms. He would
not need to sleep ION de roof" But
this terrible little unwashed boy-it
was not easy to associate him with one
OF her immaculate beds, as white, ev-
cry one of them, as he was black.
Did you ever take n bath?" she
asked abruptly.
Take a vot, ma'am?"
The lean, brown face expressed ut
ter unacquaintance with the word.
"Ah-why, bath. Did you ever wash
yourself?"
A minutes wrestle with memory and
then a kindling of newborn pride in
the brown face.
Yer bet! | washed me face wen
me pal got t'rowed down an went
ter de hospital ter sec him. l didn't
go wild no dirty face, naw!"
Miss Salome gasped, helpless before
such an experience. 1t was uncon-
sciously the meeting of the two ways,
in her mind, and she took the one that
would lead them home together.
"I'll keep him long enough to wash
him up, once, any way" she thought
grimly.
Miss Salome's ease" was an unusual
che, if she had but known it. The city
! missionaries who rounded up the little
waits for their outing in the country
made strenuous efforts to send them to
their benefactors clean, at least, and
as whole as they could make them. But
this grimy little mortal who had
adopted Miss Salome was an exception.
Taken into the ranks at the last min
ute, there had been no time to make
the best of him.
They walked on together, the boys
bare feet padding unevenly beside
Miss Salome. She stole covert glance
by and by at the alert, unchildish face.
What could he be thinking of?
so you had pal? What is a pal?"
she asked.
"Oh!-well, pals pard, yer know.
Yer goes into trade wild him an shares
de winnin's, see? Yer sticks by him
trough tick an tin; yer don't never
go back on yer pal naw!"
"And your pal is dead?"
The change in the boys face was
wonderful. Miss Salome marvelled at
it. Mingled Joy and tend rness strug-
gled through the CRIME for equal ex-
preston.
Mickey, dead? Yer bet he amt!
He's gettin' well-yer can't kill Mick
ey! He's comm out er dc hospital in
a week, Mickey is"
They were close to Miss Salomes
| great white house, and further CONVEX
sation was interrupted.
Come in," Miss Salome said, at the
lilac bushes that framed a gateway.
And, in silent awe, the city waif pad
died in, his soiled little face lifted to
the great purple tassels overhead.
What's them?" he whispered, after
q moment.
"Lilacs," Miss Salome answered
briefly. 1t was another argument in
the boys favor To think he had new
er seen lilac bush! Miss Salome
called it "laylock.O She felt her
heartstrings freshly tugged.
1t does not take a great while to
wash even a little gamin's face that is
a stranger to the operation. But the
cleansing over, still the boy tarried
Miss Salome did not invite him-he
stayed. He was perfectly happy in a
novel way. He went about the big
front yard on tiptoes, at first, as il he
were afraid of crushing the grass with
his little calloused brown feet. And
when inadvertently he trod on a great
red clover head, Miss Salome saw him
stoop and "set" its broken stalk with
splints of herds grass. He took
plenty of time, and his thin unchildish
face was puckered gravely.
II shall let him stay his time out"
murmured Miss Salome; and that
night-it was the first night-she sat
up 10 mend his clothes. When she
carried them back, little less out
at the elbows and forlorn, the BOY was
fast asleep and the moonlight was ca
ressing his face as it lay in brown re-
lief among the white pillows. It could
not have kissed more tenderly the lit
tie face of a child who was loved,
whose mother bent over him. The
light in Miss Salome's unsteady fin
gers fiared and half reused the waif.
He opened his eyes and regarded her
in stupid terror
"Lemme lionel amt doin' nothin'.'
he muttered, shielding his face as IL