Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1901-12-28
He Who Listened.
BY MARY KING EMORY.


He sat by the roadside, his elbows
on his knees, his face in his hands,
gazing at the sunlit hills before him.
The afternoon was hot, and he was
tired and hungry. He had walked
many miles since morning, and the
dirty face beneath the torn hat-brim
was streaked and smeared with perspi-
ration. 1t was a careworn, hopeless
face; face upon which want and pri-
walton had left their marks, a face
which childish pleasures had hurried
by; but in the eyes there was an ex-
preston of defiance. mingled with un-
certainty.
Before him the sandy road stretched
southwark; behind him rose the rug
ged hills, with their scanty covering
of stunted oak and pine trees and a
meagre sprinkling of scattered houses.
Moving uneasily, he glanced anx-
iously over his shoulder at the clay
daubed house in the clearing, half
way up the hill behind him; then his
eyes wandered back to the hills again.
81 dunno what ter do" he muttered.
at last. 1T were bad afore Nanny
went away, but cts worse since Liza
Snow an tn new baby come. Yesti-
day her knocked me over, an tn day
chance I'm a-goin'.'
His hand clinched and the shrill.
childish voice had defiant ring. The
sun was sinking in the west. flooding
the hills with gold, while from some
where out of the pines came the tinkie
Of COW bell. The boy shuddered.
Il dun tn best 1 khowed fur youns.
Nanny" he whispered; but fur lit
tie Tidy Ann
His voice ended in a sob, and tears
trickled UNDECIDED down the dirty lit
tie face. The hills, the houses and
the trees faded away. He saw again
the room in the house on the hill be-
hind him, with its few battered cook
ing utensils, its plint-bottomed
chairs and worn deal table. Lying on
bed in the corner was a woman, her
| eyes bright with a feverish light, her
wasted face turned toward the window.
| through which she watched the setting
| sun.
"Joe," she said at last, YEARLY
| turning her head. I'm a-goin' Home
| ternight, an 1 wants yer TO promise
;-fore I go tibet yer'H take care O. lit
| tie Tidy Ann. 1 dun the best I could
| fur ye,'' she continued, brokenly,
though, Cord knows 'twan't much.
| Yer dad won't care when I'm gone,
and more'n like he'll take ter beatin'
We, when he amt got me- She looked
| yearningly at the child beside her. so
1 wants yer ter promise tibet yer'n al
| lus stan atween him an Tidy; then
I ken rest easy
And, kneeling there in the gathering
| darkness, he gave his promise to the
Cying woman. That night all was
over, and the clay-daubed house
perched on the rocky hillside was
! filled with the silence which comes
only when life has flown. Early the
4 next day he had helped his father and
some of the neighbors bury her, in
t. grove beneath the hill, where the
pines chanted requiem and the with
cred oak leaves moaned through the
long winter nights. For two years he
had been faithful to his trust; for two
81 dunno what ter do he sobbed !;
ct dunno what ter dol" He had lost
sight of the ugly clay-daubed house
and the familiar hills that morning for
the first time in his life. Long before
sunrise he had crept from the house
and followed the road it wound
around the hills like some great snake
In the purple morning light toward the
distant town. He walked until the
rugged mountains rising above his
home grew hazy and .ndistinct; until
strange scenes and new faces met him
at every turn Once or twice he had
been given a lift by some friendly
mountaineer, to whom he boldly
flowed he were a-goin' ter tn cir
GUS" But when he reached the town
with its unaccustomed sights and
sounds, he felt alarmed and uncertain
, as to what to do Hesitatingly he fol
lowed the hurrying crowd toward the
circus tent; but as he neared it the
, strangeness of the scene, the music
and the noise frightened him. Push
ing his way through the crowd he
looked anxiously about for some
means of escape, when suddenly he
= determined to run around to the bach
of the tent, for there all seemed quiet
T. Unnoticed and alone he crouched il
the grass until. gaining courage will