The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1902-11-18

dence of poverty, l would feel the
pinching, the grinding, the bitterness
hemming her in, and | would reply
with deceit On my tongue. l would en-
courage her to keep fast hold of her IL
Iusiens to drive any menacing doubt
away. She believed in me and was the
happier for it. and it was also worth
the sin to receive the grateful looks Of
the poor old woman whose span of life
vas almost closed. When l had re-
stored her courage, the Princess would
tell me of her plans when she should
come into her own. There was never
plan that did not include the better
ment of humanity. There would be no
enemies to punish, no laws to Cypress,
no charity to hurt the sensitive. The
multimillionaire who would carry out
that girls plans would be admired by
all men and blessed by thousands.
Our friendship lasted a year and its
end was both sudden and tragical. AS
she attempted to cross the street one
day the Princess was knocked dow
and run over by a heavy vehicle. A
dozen people rushed to pick her up, but
each and every one of them realized at
first glance that her end had come.
She was broken and crushed, but not
unconscious. They wondered that she
did not scream out in her pain, and
! when the ambulance surgeon spoke in
admiration of her pluck she quietly re-
piled:
''Sir, shall be a princess some day,
and a princess never cries in public"
They took her to the hospital, and
the doctors did not need two minutes
to satisfy themselves that she had only
few hours to live. They expressed
coincidence because she was a child,
but words Of sympathy brought no
tears to her eyes nor groans to her
lips.
rs it badY' she quietly asked of the
nurse after the doctors had withdrawn.
Every bad" was the reply as a soft
hand was laid upon her forehead
Tiff it's too bad. then l won't new
er get to be princess, will II"
Poor childv'
Its years and years" said the girl
as her lips trembled at last. me and
granny have been cold and hungry and
ragged, but we never gave up. was
to be princess some day, and then
we'd live in a palace and have every
thing we wanted. If I'm hurt too bad
to ever be princess, what will granny
do?"
Then came delirium, and the rawlings
told the nurse such a story of mingled
romance and poverty that she wept
over 1t. A simple illusion had carried
that child through years of uncom-
planning penury without complaint. 1t
had safeguarded her amid the lowest
and vilest. 1t had kept her face to
God and it had made her reverenced
! by men. Half an hour before death
came the delirium passed. Then she
looked at the nurse with her big blue
eyes and asked:
us it bad-very bad"
"You may never get we'll" replied the
nurse. with a sob.
There was long silence The gates
of pearl must have been opening when
the Princess asked:
"Will-will ever be princessY'
"Yes, dear-up there among the an
gels you shall come into your king
DOM"
The nurse went back to the window
and leaned her elbows on the sill and
sobbed as if the life of a sister was de-
parting. When she turned, the little
face was growing white and the eyes
had closed
And so the knight of the Princess sits
with poor old granny and talks of that
which was and tries in vain to offer
comfort