Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1902-05-03

what was purest and best in their past
"And to see the mother and her baby
handle the miners-oh, it was all beau
tiful beyond words! shall never for.
get the shock l got one night when
found Old Ricketts, nursing the baby
A drunken old beast he was, but there
he was, sitting, sober enough, making
extraordinary faces at the baby, who
was grabbing at his nose and whiskers
and cooling in blissful delight. Poor
Old Ricketts, looked as if he had been
caught stealing and, muttering some
thing about having to go, gazed wildly
round for some place in which to lay
The baby, when in came the mother
saying in her own sweet, frank way:
ooh, Mr.. Ricketts'-she didn't find out
till afterward his name was Shaw
would you mind keeping her just a lit
tie longer? l shall be back in a few
minutes And Old Ricketts, guessed
he could wait.
"But in six months mother and baby
between them transformed Old Rick
etts into Mr.. Shaw, fire boss of the
mines, and then, in the evenings, when
she would be singing her baby to
sleep, the little shop would be full Of
miners, listening in dead silence to the
baby songs and the English songs and
the Scotch songs she poured forth
without stint, for she sang more for
them than for her baby. No wonder
they adored her. She was so bright,
so gay, that she brought light with her
when she went into the camp, into the
pits, for she went down to see the men
work, or into a sick miners shack,
and many a man, lonely and sick for
home or wife or baby or mother, found
in that back room cheer and comfort
and courage, and to many a poor
broken wretch that room became, as
one miner put it, the anteroom TO
heaven"
Mr.. Craig paused, and 1 waited.
Then he went on slowly:
"For a year and a half that was the
happiest home in all the world till one
day.
He put his face in his hands and
shuddered.
II don't think I can ever forget the
awful horror of that bright fall after
noon when Old Ricketts, came breath
less to me and gasped, Come, for the
dear Lords saker and 1 rushed after
him. At the mouth Of the shaft lay
three men dead. One was Lewis Ma
vor. He had gone down to supermtend
the running Of a new drift. The two
men, half drunk with Slavin's whisky,
set off shot prematurely, to their
own and MAYORS destruction. They
were badly burned, but his face was
untouched. A miner was spo1ging off
the bloody froth oozing from his lips.
The others were standing about wait
ing for me to speak, but I could find
no word for my heart was sick, think
ing, as they were, Of the young moth
er and her baby waiting at home. So
/ stood, looking stupidity from one to
the other, trying to find some reason,
coward that was, why another should
bear the news rather than I, and while
we stood there, looking at one another
in fear, there broke upon US the sound
Of voice mounting high above the
birch tops, singing:
Twin ye no. come back again?
Will we no come back again?
Better lo'ed We Gamma be.
Will We mo- come back again?
"A strange terror seized US. Instinc-
lively the men closed up in front of the |
body and stood in silence. Nearer and
nearer came the clear, sweet voice, |
ringing like silver bell up the steep:
"'Sweet the lav'rock's note and lang,
Liltin' wildly up the glen,
But ay tae me he sings ae sang, |
Will We no come back again?
"Before the verse was finished Old |
Ricketts, had dropped on his knees,
sobbing out brokenly, % God, o God,
nave pity, have pity, have pityv and
every man took off his hat. And still |
he voice came nearer, singing 50
brightly the refrain:
Win ye no come back again?
ut became unbearable. Old Ricketts,
;prang suddenly to his feet and, grip
ping me by the arm, said piteously:
"'Oh, go to her! For heavens sake,
20 to her!
II next remember standing in her
oath and seeing her holding out her
lands full of red lilies crying out:
Are they not lovely? Lewis is so
ond Of them!
with the promise Of much finer ones
turned her down a path toward the
liver, talking l know not what folly
i'll her great eyes grew grave, then
Lnxious, and my tongue stammered
md became silent. Then, laying her
land upon my arm, she said, with gen.
lie sweetness:
Tell me your trouble, Mr.. Craig
nd knew my agony had come, and l
'urst out:
"'Oh, if it were only miner
"She turned quite white, and, with
er deep eyes--you'Ve noticed her eyes
drawing the truth out of mine, she
aid:
" Is it mine, Mr.. Craig, and my ba-
US?