The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-05-27
LAST HOPES MADONNA
BY IZOLA FORESTER.

and doughnuts. The fiddle hung on a nail
in her back room.
Never hear you tunin' up, Mis- Mooney"
said Chick day when he'd been to the
shanty to fix her stovepipe for her so it would
not smoke.
Bob plays pretty well.' she answered.
And we talked the matter over that night
down at Bib Ned's.
Like as not she's tied UP to some devil
of man that's pounded her and i'll treated
her Until she's cut stick and run away
said Chick. And Last Hope accepted the
theory, and there was a shade more of re-
spectful consideration in its manner toward
Sarah
The strike came in 1896 Chick Benson's
horse stumbled down, washout on Cariboo
run, and when Chick dug him out he picked
up a, nugget that turned Last Hope topsy
turyy.
AS soon as the crowd of gold hunters be.
gan to pour in from the river and over the
pass Sarah didn't take any more mortgages.
Dougnnuts brought a dollar apiece along
! there, and she wouldn't touch pie unless
she saw five dollars worth of dust weighed
out. Just as side issue she bought out
lin DaiIey,s snare in the Buckeye for .
thousand Inside Of four months the Buck
eye brought ssoo,oo from syndicate, and
Sarah rolled down her sleeves and reckoned
she'd take a rest form spell.
Then thinks began to hum.
Chick Benson started it. He asked her
offhand one day how about it, and she said
10, on account Of Bob. That's what We all
got.
But Last Hope said Sarah was all right
and watched for the coming of Bob. One
day Sarah put on a new dress and comeed
her hair different, all fluffy and wavy. And
she asked Chick II the fiddle was good still:
SO that settled it. We knew he was coming
When the first smudge of smoke from the
steamer puffed up as it rounded the river
! bend, she cried for the first time since Last
Hope had known her, and we felt rather IN
| terested.
eff he should happen to be mean to her,
| said Chick softly, laying his hand on his
| Eelt, che won't leave town by boat Won
der II he'll kiss her right before everybody.
t We felt for him. After Bob he had first
| right Back In the shanty bakery days
! he'd looked out for her stove and the heavy
lifting around the place, and Sarah had ia
| vcred him. She made him a mince pie Christ
mas It was the only one in Last Hope.
But to-day she didn't see any OF US at all.
She stood down near the gang plank. watch
ing the people come off. and her eyes were
alive with something. Whether 1t was love
or fear we could not tell, but when she gave
| a quick half choked cry and sprang forward
Chick turned his back and looked OF
| to where the Yukon vanished into the arms
Of the everlasting hills.
'Did he kiss her?'' he asked. No one
| answered Last Hope had witnessed tho
meeting and was struck dumb.
When Sarah faced us again, she came up
from the landing, her head held high and
her arm around him. It was then that We
made the acquaintance OF Bob. He WASH t
any bigger'n pint of cider; just a. poor,
little crooked chap about fourteen, with big
eyes, like Sarah's. And she? As she
smiled on us Chick took off his hat. 1t was
Nthe smile of the Madonna, and Last Hope
worshpped from afar.
That night Chick put on a clean collar
and went to the side door OF MONEYS bakery,
and there was resolution in his eye. When he
came back to Big Ned's, we were waiting
for him. .
Boys. he said softly, "sarah's a widow.
i and-and I've got her. That poor little tad
was all she had left, and it wanted money tc
make him straight, so Sarah just packet
up, put him in school and made tracks TO,
the place where money grows in the ground
She's got a pretty good crop, and she needs
3 manager; also Bob needs a father; that
, ALL You're cordially invited to appear this
day week. and there'I be a banquet He
/, Estopped Last Hope cheered wildly. Ghici
raised his hand for a final word. And, boys
r Sarah says she'll make the doughnuts her
t self Just please add an echo to that las
81 yell for Bob