The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-11-16


"a grunting, whooping and
laughing, with an occasional
- - variation produced by rapid
" scrauing a board along picket
fence. all these uproarious noises being
.. necessary and pleasing adjunct to
any game. especially that of "eross
tag" which at that hour they happened
10 be enjoying.
At the moment of the greatest noise
the fat figure of Mr.. Aurelius Hamm
appeared at his suddenly-opened door,
and at the sight of his inflamed. angry
and threatening face all OF the boys
stood still and a silence that was Op-
pressive covered the street as with
down quilt. Mr. Hamm roared:
Get out of this at once! Clear out
instantly or I'll call a policeman" de
brandished a thick cane as ne shouted,
a cane whose tOughness had occa-
sionallv been demonstrated on the
backs of several of these lads. who
knew Mr.. Hamm only wanted chance
10 use it again. With some derisive
"Yahs" and scOrnful tWiddles Of many
fingers and thumbs the boys slowly
Withdrew, while MI Hamm, after glar-
ing up and down the darkening street
for a full minute, majestically retired
and slammed his front door.
He mounteS the stairs and went to
his sitting room, an apartment which
was half parlor. half Office and wholly
gloomy and repellent. he sat down
and snorted Indignantly
The little internal impsl The very
same ones, too, that had the impudence
10 ask me to allow them to play IN my
Hs-N
one good poke at them all in Duncn!
I'd make ii hot for them
Suddenly he caught sight Of his an
CRY. red face in a mirror on the wan
and he started back in alarm, for he
didn't recognize the visage that con-
frOnted him. He drew his chair back
so that he could not see the swollen,
heated face, and then his eye fell upon
a small. faded picture Of a little boy IN
knickerbOckers that hung in the cor
ner in the gloomiest part of the room.
it was a photograph Of himself at the
age of II, and yet no one could have
recognized that the picture-boy was
this cranky. sour old man. The sight
Of the merry face made Mr.. Hamm
nervous and ddgety. He turned ms
eyes away, but always the picture-boy
compelled him to return to him. Finally
he sprang up as if to escape from
troublesome thoughts and went down
stairs. roaming through the musty par
lors. the cheerless dining room and
then up again to mis- bedroom, after
which he rambled all through the house
like a. lost cat. He eventually reached
the garrett and lighted a single gas jet
that scarcely illuminated a quarter OF
the space. while all around deep sha-
dOws in solid masses hung beneath the
rough beams of the roof. dimly disclOs-
ing iong-fOrgOtten trunks and boxes
and broken furniture, put away there
by his long-dead wife thirty years be
fore. A candle brown with age, lay on
an old sideboard, and, mechanically
lighting il. he moved further into the
gloom. Obeying an impulse, OF winch
he was quite unconscious, which led
him directly to a shabby, disfigured
He Finds the Old Whistle.
"Ahi" said ne. the very desk my
mother gave me when / was 10 years
old I'd forgotten all about it. I'll
have it taken down into my room. -
He raised the liz with some difficulty.
ss'Tain't been opened for forty years.
said he. Il remember the time ] left
six white rats in it and Aunt Amelia
lifted the lid. She died from the ef-
feet of the scare thirty-nine years
afterWard." He laughed a sort OF
cranky. rafting laugh. Then he poked
among the things in the desk. A litter
of broken pencils, string, a tortoise
shell. some tops, a slate. two door
knobs and a dozen other objects equally
worthless came to light. and then his
fat fingers closed upon a little lead
whistle black with disuse. A genuine
smile sOftened the era bbed face as he
took 1t 10.
My whistle, my dear old dog whis-
tie! An. how Wen I remember you!
How old Tatters used to rush to me
with merry frisk and waggle whe7s~h he
heard me blow you. Poor old Tatters.
Even his dust is scattered to the winds
by now. yet I can see the loving CLEAN
of his brown eyes this very minute"
He raised the whistle again and then
blew weakly into il. A tiny cloud OF
dust hung in the air before him, but
no sound came Then he blew with an
effort. and the shrill. clear blast that
echoed through the whole house told
that the old lead toy was still service
able. The sound was followed closely
by a ripple of faint laughter thai
caused the old man to jump and peer
into the shadows in alarm and ther
10 leap to the door and fly down stairs
three steps at a time, something ht