The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-01-07

oNSS
apartment. He glanced out into the
silent hallway and saw again the same
familiar darkness that he had seen
when he entered his room. Confused.
startled, he drew his hand thoughtful
~ across his brow, then closed the
door carefully and locked it. A mo-
ment later he seated himself in the
chair by the open easement and stared
out through the nocturnal shadows.
1t was quite cold, and a few patches
of snow were cleaning brightly or
many of the housetops, but the pessi-
mist vas unconscious of the cold.
"Why do l live?" he asked himself.
And the echo Of his own voice came
back to his ears from beyond the hall
way.
"There is an object in every life"
the voice said to him. 1--WE all have a
mission to fulfill"
EYES," he answered the voice, with
something of a sepulchral tone in his
own, land the object Of mine is to
ascertain the limit Of mans endurance,
the capacity of human beings for pain.
Some day l will reach the limit. Some
day my capacity will be exceeded"
While he was speaking there came to
his ears the sound Of a human voice in
the alley below his window. 1t seemed
like a low groan. ending in a sharp,
mournful cry, as of an infant. In
stantly his gloomy meditations were
dispelled, and he leaned forward
through the window in the hope of
again hearing the strange sound.
Again the long groan was borne to
him from out of the darkness, but
when he looked down in the direction
from which it came he could see only
a deep wall of darkness and midnight
shadows. Suddenly:
"God, please help me"
1t was the voice of a child lying at
the base Of the building among the
half dozen ash barrels in the alleyway.
He arose and went down upon the
street. A moment later he passed down
the alley along the row Of ash barrels.
Lying beside n Of these he discover
ed the cuddling body Of a child, a baby
boy, scarcely more than six years of
age. 1t vas half frozen, and, Judging
from the pinched face, it had not
tasted food for many hours or days. 1t
was clad only in a dirty cloth Of tat
tiers, and the childish lips were parted
in a repeated Cry, GOD, please help
me" He lifted the child boy in his
long, bony arms and bore it into the
house and up the long fight Of stairs
to his chamber. There he undressed it
and revived it. He procured food and
s~ustenance and placed it tenderly in
his own soft bed. Then he took from
his pocket a roll Of greenbacks and
placed it carefully in the ragged pocket
Of the child's clothes. Why he did So
he was not able to say. butt was an
impulse which he could not resist. He
said to himself:
'"This is another Of earth's poor crea-
lures who has been depending on the
Lord Christ"
And he resumed his seat by the win
dow.
Thrice as he sat there he heard the
mysterious knock at the door; thrice
he arose and looked out into the hall
way and thrice returned again to his
seat, bewildered and mystifed; thrice
had the midnight air entered in a cold
gust through the chamber door. and
thrice he had answered the low tap
ping to discover. only the midnight
darkness. But at last his head fell for
ward on his breast, and he slept soft
ly; then, when his breathing had be-
come heavier and harder. the door,
which he had securely locked, opened
slowly, and the white visage of a grin
ming skull looked in upon him. A mo-
ment later the cleaning. phosphores-
cent skeleton entered the dark cham
Der and moved nimbly to his side. 1t
placed its bony hand over the Sleep
ing mans lips and held it there until
the heavy breathing became inaudible.
When the last short breath had escap-
ed the ~slumberer's lips, it sprang back
ward with a silent bound and passed
out through the open door.
The cold hand of death. had complet-
ed it's work.
In the morning the child awoke and
found the dead body of it's benefactor
sitting rigidly in the leather chair by
the open window. In its ragged pock-
cts the child discovered the money
which the dead man had placed there
as it lay asleep in the big. soft bed,
and when the crowd surged into the
deathroom the child told them in it's
W way how the dead man had saved
its young life. Then the arab of the
street passed out of the building into
the great, pulsing metropolis and lost
itself in the busy crowd.
And in after years that child arose
to fame and honor and high position.
He became one of the worlds great
men, n of the wise workers of earth
whose life proved beneficial to the
worlds progress. But the pessimist |
couldn't forsee these things. and per-
haps 1t was better.-Cleveland Plain
Dealer. |