Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-10-05
WILLIE BOYS NINE LIVES.

aDoegone the luck, anyhow. Pears
to me they can't do nuthin' but scod
me all the time or whip me all the
time, or make me work my fool head
eff It's Willie, do this, and Willie do
that, and Willie, you quit, from day
light till dark.
That is just what Willie Boy said
and thought about it. But really he
wasn't so much abused as he thought
he was. Lots of boys are that way.
The folks wanted him to run errands.
of course. and most always he want
ed to do something else when they
asked him to do so; and they want
ed him to do right and grow up a
worthy man, and so his parents cor
rected him now and then. But they
were not al il all the time, because
they put in full hours at work them
selves.
But Willie Boy felt aggrieved. Sc
many boys do So he Went and sat off
hy himself to think about it. His
mother called il pouting He pIctur'
ed it out where it would all end.
He saw them scoldng and beating
fim day after day getting worse all
the time. while he, poor Willie Boy,
grew thin and frai from the abuse
heaped upon him Being weak, he OF
course. was handy victim for the
"nee-mony," as he called it He pic
Jured how he suffered and his checks
grew hollow and red and his hands
thin till the bones showed, and his
eyes were large and bright. 1t seem
ed like he could feel the dread dis
case lingering at his heartstrings and
he knew he was going to die. Still.
his father did moi understand and
spoke harshly to him. One day he
slept all day. and at night lay tossing
and suffering alone while the family
slept. and the next day they realized
the end was near. Then his mother
awoke to realization Of how she had
treated him. But ii was too late. She
bent over him, just as he had seen the
rlother doing in East Lynne. ano'
laving his head on her breast, walled.
aCh. Willie Willie. don't you know
YOUR mother. Willie?" But it was too
late. His ewes We're glazing, and, WIN
a gasp. he. was gone.
Willie Boy said to himself as he
watched the agony of his parents tna1
If served hem right. He was getting
even with them some but they ae-
served more So he began thinking 1t
out again.
After running here and there till he
was almost ready TO drop. his mother
told him to wash his hands and go
across the street to get a bucket VI
well water. 1t was bad enough TO nave
ia fetch the water. but to nave 10
wash again. when he had ALREADY
washed once that day, was too mnch.
Human nature can't stand everythlhS'
II mnst rebel sometime. Willie BOY
orumbled. SO many boys do. But
ms mother was cruel and harsh anu
made him wash because she was Dig
erer than he and a tyrant by nature
That is the way Willie Boy felt apo"
Il So many boys do. And after 1hls
eutrage he must take the heavy old
lncket and carry it all the way home.
No wonder that, with all ms trouple'
no chould go head down and fail to see
tho team that was running down NV
o,reat He got to the roadway JUST AS
they did, and was caught unaer 'ne
hoofs and wheels trampled and drag
oed until his clothes were torn a'lo
bic clean hands sOiled and the III
hoaten ont of his body. Just as hs
c.sned his last his mother dasee'
from the house, ran to him. gazed o''
his bloody face one moment so'ieNou
and fei in dead faint. rms We
something like it. Willie gazed o''
,er form lying limp in the roadway
oroaninc in her agony, though he'pl'sS
IL her swoon, and thought that no"
ebe was being paid for the way she
had treated him. She would nave =
wash her own hands now. Sne """'
have to get someone else to run er
,.,as and bring water now. On no"
she would miss her little Willie ooH
ona crv and decorate his grave WIN
flowers!
This was life number 2, and it maze
him feel a great deal better to""r'
his mother, now that he kne" h'"
she suffered and really did care lo'