Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-12-02

and the principle Of snoblesse oblige
was engraved deeply on his escutcheou
He had never been traitor to his under
standing of loyalty to the Child. -
The Ragamufins lived beyond tn
stately grounds of the Child's home, 1
little way around a corner The Chile
and the Nurse came upon them often II
their daily walks, and the Nurse al
ways shielded the Child's white skirt.
with her own person. 1t was terribl,
that such--ah-gamins should be per.
mitted to run at large.
But how they did run. 1t E was q
source of endless wonderment to ths
staid. orderly Child how their pairs Of
bare brown legs could twinkle in and
out so dizzily. Why was 1t they die
not get into tangies and trip the Raga.
mullins up? Oh, could she ever, eve,
learn to do that? But in Heaven
maybe you learned things easier. The
Child longed intensely to get away by
herself some time and practice, but she
could never get away. The Nurse was
always there. q
There were two Ragamufins-the
Boy one and the Girl one. though the
only perceptible difference between
them was in the matter of the Boys
trousers. The Girl Ragamuffin acted
exactly like the Boy, the Child had
noticed. But, then, when you hadn't
rufEies and ribbons and laces and kid
gloves and pointed shoes and feathers
on your hat, of course it didn't make
so much difference whether you were a
Boy one or Girl one. 1t must be the
feathers and things that did it. o.
|. Ry dint of much hard bordering, the
Child had come to almost-not quite
make up her mind that she would rath-
er wear the little brown calico petit
coats than the little brown jeans trous-
ers. There were delicate shades of
difference, after all. Still, rather than
not be Ragamuffin, she would be the
Boy one-oh, my, yes!
"Oh, Ptolemy," she whispered, on one
of her walks though Ptoleny could not
hear. They had just passed whirl of
brown clothes and faces and bare
brown legs, and the old longing was in
tense within the Child. "Oh, Ptolemy,
want SO many things! And can't
supposen theIn-Ive tried, but I can't.
You can't suppOsen your stockings
right off your legs and your kid gloves
right off your hands, and freckles and
calico things on. You can't-yOu can't.
Ptolemy! And those are not what /
want--nOt to have on stockings and
gloves, and to have on freckles and
calico dresses without any ruffies.
want to be brown all over my face and
hands and legs! I want to run-my!-
the way the Ragamuffins do! Ptolemy,
sometimes l can't wait" ....
The tenth birthday seemed to be the
crisis. All at once the Child made up
'ner mind to take things into her own,
hands. She made plan, sitting up
feverishly among her lace-trimmed pill
lows, after the Nurse had gone away.
Before she sank back to sleep, she had
arranged every tiniest detail. 1t was a
desperate little plan, but the Child was
desperate. She had decided she could
not wait until she got into Heaven.
"ror supposing 1 should live a hum
bred years. she said ScOrnfully. l
didn't think about that. You can't
wait for things a hundred years."
She had to carry out her plan in the
night, and only the fact that the Nurse
was a heavy sleeper made that possible.
The Child was terribly afraid of the
dark, anu that Tic YAH yAh6 Oue
of her desperate plan absolutely heroic
on her part. To go Out-of-doors alone
and feel herself swallowed up in the
dark like a quivering atom in a great
abyss! To hear all round her the IN
Vulnerable soft voices Of the night! To
feel the ghostly fingers of the shrubs
and bushes clutching at her little white
nightgown! To go back and forth so
many, many. noiseless. dreadful times!
She had begun to make up her bundles
just after the Nurse went away, but there
were so many beautiful clothes to fold
and put together in piles that it took a
lorg time. 1t was very late when she be-
gan her dreadful journeys out INTO tne
dark. Back and forth. back and Iortn'
with her arms full of the clumsy bundles.
she went. She could not stop to rest,
there was so much to do. AFTER the
clothes were all collected under the weep.
ing mulberry-the Child had chosen that
because it wept-then there would be the
grave to dig. 49,, =
The moon came out by and by, and in
it's soft light the Child made the grave
the dainty little gowns and sashes, an
the small kid gloves and Shippers, tne
bracelets and rings and the little 1eweieo
watch She tried not to forget anything.
And on the top of the shining. soft heap
she laid the stately patrician doll The
moonlight lay for moment on the star
ing, wondering lace, anu III man Soh-
triton the Child leaned over the grave
and kissed it.
There" she said. "talze that and try
to be 50 tisfied! l never kissed you be-
fore; isn't it worth being buried for?'
1t had been terrible work making the
grave The Child's tender hands were
bru Used and bleeding, and her whole body
Ouivering under the strain of using the
great spade. If the soil under the null
berry tree had not been yielding and soft
she must have given UP in despair. But
it was done at last. The funeral was
over, and the Childs career as Raga-
muffin assured. For how could she be
ANYTHING but ragmuffin without any
clothes at al? She threw herself down
on the new-made grave, utterly spent but
happy. When they found her there In
| the very early morning she was laughing
| i'm her sleep. Her nightgown was earth
stained and damp with dew and shredded
with rents Her soft hair was in tangles
all about her small. sOiled face. At last
| the Child was "a little ragmufffn.
| The riddle of the grave was solved when
lit was opened and they found the clothes.
IThey comprehended then what the mar
tvdom of the Child had been! But at ten
wears old, thank God. 1t is not too late
to begin to be a child.-Annie Hamilton
Donnell.
| "HANNER's" ROMANCE.