River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1901-07-18

done it. VIII you promise?"
Yep, I'll promise not to tell on
/ you while your ivin' if you'll swear
! your criss cross you'n lie an say
wasn't here if your asst"
That night Jack made up a bundle
of fur robes and blankets, mutterinp
all the while: "She orter freeze: good
nsuT for 'er." Nevertheless, he gladly
welcomed Charlie the next time he
made his new friend a stolen visit, and
with the boy on his knee he asked:
What did your nam say about the
bundle she found at her door this
mcrning?"
Nam? Oh, first her says it's a won
Ger ole Lucky Jack hadn't seen 'em
an stole EN-; an then she begins to
cry an kneels down an says suthin'
bout Him as has 'membered the wild
der an the fatherless.'
why, you amt fatherless-you'ye
got father. amt you?"
Yep. but he CANT come with al.
that dirt o. his'n to dig
And now it fell out that every little
while Mrs. Brier found food, furs and
even money at her door that her m
known benefactor placed there and
then fed before she could get a
glimpse at him.
Say, Lucky" Charley said one day,
them hairin's all gone an liked 'em
awfully."
The herring? Oh, yes; well I'd a
brought YOU some more, but Pm alm1
afraid your mann will watch" And
watch she did, and one night, seeing
Jack (as she believed) in the very act
of stealing a parcel that had been gen
erously left for her, she caught up her
gun. and that she fired without aim
was perhaps the reason she brought
down her man with a bullet in the
breast. The sound Of shooting brought
the men from the saloon and little
Charlie from his bed.
This man was stealing-stealing
things from my tent door" cried Mrs.
Brier wringing her hands in an
agony of excitement
"Oh, NANNY, he wasn't, he WASN'T
Twas him that brought all the things
to us-the blankets an everything"
Charlie was wild with grief, and
bigger licked the white face of the
man whose blood was crimsoning the
snow where he lay; but he turned his
head and whispered: "Oh, Charlie,
you promised not to tell"
Il didn't tell-not while yous
ccl,T,,l 4lo ,I,;IJ ssI,,,t
the bleed oh, Lucky. you's dead
now, sure
NO, no, he isn't dead. He mustn't
die! Men, carry him into my tent,
where | can take care of him.
won't let him die"
And she was as good as her word.
Never had man a more faithful and
devoted nurse. For the first time
since childhood the big, rough fell
low knew the soothing touch of
woman's hand; and her patient sweet
ness and little schemes to amuse and
interest him, when in the days of
convalescence he began to chafe at
his inactivity, were a source of end
less wonder to him. And as he
watched the quick-moying little fig
IRE and studied the brave, bright face
of his quondam foe, he realized that
though his lung had healed and was
rs sound as ever. his heart had got
wound from which it must ache
while he lived. SO he steadfastly re-
fused Mrs. Brier's offer that he should
take half the claim. and insisted that
he would return to Tacoma.
"But YOU are doing well here; why
do you 90 away?" the nurse asked
for the twentieth time.
Driven TO the wall, he replied:
well, because-oh, hang it, I've
used up all my eXcuses-here's the
truth: l love you, Mollie | just
long to work for you, to keep care
and trouble away from you. And !
could do it, if darn Brier, anyway!
Oh, | don't mean that, but, Molie,
want to take You in my arms
Then why don't you, Johnnie?"
she asked. demurely.
Great ST. Benedict What'd Bill
Brier say when he comes?" he gasped.
''Ie won't say anything, poor man"
she was laughing and crying both
together cause he'll never come.
He died when he came back after us:
but Yves all packed up 10 come. and
he said we could hold his claim; so,
after he was buried we come on--an'
an / thought you'd be scared to
stay on the claim if you thought my
man was comm Why there-you
great. big silly man-don't' Charliell
see you"
And when Charlie did put in an APP
pearance Jack privately inquired;
"What'd you say your pap was Dig
gin for, youngster?"
"'Cause, if he were comm, as mann
my said, he had ter dig dirt an lot
o. il: l seed i'm, an is box is buried
under nawful heap o it,
Jack -comprchensively OH" then
tenderly, did you know your mother
was goin' TO have me MOVE"
yep. | heerd you fiXin' it up
/ Radford Review.
An Essay on Habit.
A story is told of an English school