Fitzgerald enterprise. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1895-1912, 1903-03-20
HUNTING THE HILLS

ANOSu H1Ofduu1 sat at the door or the
ashman's howell and looked at the far
away hills.
Rosa was the ashman's daughter.
She lived with the ashman and his
Wife and their many wizened brown
children in the basement of a gray
mousse on gray street in the gray city
of San Francisco. The poor little room
IN the basement had nothing bright in
It, 1t, too, was dull and gray like the
house and the street, and when the
cold fog rolled into the crowded room.
as 1t always did in the evening, it set
tied about the faces and forms Of the
children and made them look pale and
wraithlike.
"Evermore! Eyermorcr' Rosa had
heard the word at Sunday school, and
1t haunted her. She asked the good sis
ter what it meant, and she had smiled
kindly and said it meant always, eter-
nally." Rosa looked at the sister
thoughtfully with her big, solemn
eyes. 1--WE have evermore babies at our
house." she said
And so it was. When Rosa, the little
elder sister, had taught the last thin,
brown baby little patois and encour-
aged it to take few steps, another
wailing stranger would demand those
offices. Rosa loved the brood of little
ones, but she tired sometimes of their
weak cries, and her thin arms and mar
row shoulders ached from the burden
nj 4o
and her head ached woefully.
Rosa was dwar1ike girl with we'll
developed head, pale, olive skin and
big brown eyes that would not permit
you to forget her. There was IL haunt
Ing earnestness, Il wistful questioning
in them, that you recalled sometimes in
gay crowds where the hungry orbs
were out Of place. They followed and
troubled you as does the gaze of dog
that has lost Its owner. There was
an animals pain In them and human
unrest. They reminded you of the eyes
OF a woman whom you can never for
get, one who had looked upon the woes
and mockeries Of life until she prayed
to die. 1t was with such q prayer in
her eyes that Rosa Giovanni looked at
the PARKWAY hills. The two smallest
brown babies were asleep. The others
were playing in another room with
children who were old enough to care
for them. So the small, brown hands
were idle for once. They lay crossed in
the lap Of the dreamer.
The great, green hills! How fresh
and beautiful they lookl Had not Nina.
the nelghbor, told her 1t was there the
flowers grew, the dewy. delicate flow
ers which she had seen 4 countryman
of hers selling at the place where many
streets crossed? She had caught the
breath of some of those flowers once,
and 1t was sweet-as sweet as heaven.
and the hills. All, to have some Of them
In her lap at this moment! To press
her hot forehead against their cool
Softness and so forget that 1t ached so
terribly.
The hak closed eyes opened wide
They stared in wild way at the hills |
A resolve was being born, resolve
that sprnng from her ignorance and
pain She would go to the hills. They
were not very far. Some one had said
they We're far away, but they had come
closer to her. They seemed to be open
Ing their soft, green arms to her. She
would go. She would come back again
to the brown babies, but she must seek
that GOODNESS and rest and the flowers.
She ran up the narrow street and
among the cars and wagons at the
crowded crossing. Nobody noticed the
ragged little figure, for the haunting
eyes did not seek their faces and chal-
lenge their curiosity. Those strange
eyes looked past the hurrying people to
the strip Of velvety green beyond the
roofs. She sped along the street, stop
ping not for questions. She could not
be lost. Did she not know where she
was going and was it not to the hills,
which her eyes never left for mo-
ment? She shivered, but not from fear.
The fog had wrapped her about In Its
stealthy embrace, but she thought:
The hills will take care of me. They
are warm and kind"
Her breath came shorter. She was
tired, but not as when she left the eel
lar of the gray house, for was she not
coming nearer to that wavy line of
green at every step? Once she fell
but she drew herself up again and
walked on, more slowly this time. But
the feverish light in her eyes had be-
come fierce flame. Her cheeks burned.
The hills were coming closer. She
could not walk much farther. They
knew 1t, and they were coming to her.
~
Il found her lying across the curb.
She was stretching out her arms on the
sidewalk and saying something like:
'Ah, bills! I've found you She must
have peen there an hour or two, for
she |Ns cold as the stones Of the side
walk"
The big policeman put the Ssunted
form into the matron's arms.
Poor little lombr sha said Cbo