Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-10-13
WILLIE BOYS NINE LIVES.


to me they can't do nuthin but scolc
me all the time Or whip me all the
time, or make me work my fool head
off 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 hey want
ed him to do right and grow up a
worthy man, and so his parents cor
rected him now and then. But they
we're not at it all the time, because
they put in full hours at work them
selves.
But Willie Boy felt aggrieved. 50
many bows do. So he went and sat on
hy himself 10 think about 1t. HIS
mother called it poutins. He pictur-
ed it out where it would all end.
He saw them scolding and beating
him day after day getting worse all
the time. while ne. poor Willie Boy
grew thin and frail from the abuse
heaped upon him. Being weak, he. OF
course. was a handy victim for the
"nee-monv," as he called it. He pic
t1rod how he suffered and his cheeks
grew hollow and red and his hands
thin till the bones showed, and his
eyes were large and bright. 1t SEEM
cd like he could feel the dread dis
case lingering at his heartstrings and
he knew he was going to die. Sui,
his father did not understand and
spoke harshly to him. One day ne
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 it was too late. She
bent over him, just as he had seen the
rAother doing in East Lynne, and
laying his head on her breast. walled.
oh Willie Willie, don't you know
your mother, Willie?" But it was too
late. His eyes were glazing, and, with
gasp. he was gone.
This ended life number one. One
Willie Boy said to himself as ne
watched the agony of his parents that
it served them right. He was getting
even with them some, but they de-
served more. So he began thinking 1t
out again.
After running here and there till no
was almost ready to drop his mother
told him to wash his hands and 60
across tho street to get bucket OF
we'll water. It was bad enough to have
to fetch the water, but to have 70
wash again, when he had already
washed once that day, was too much.
Human nature can't stand everythlng'
il must rebel sometime. Willie BOY
erumbled. SO many boys do But
i,,s mother was cruel and harsh ana
made him wash because she was Dig
Ger than he and a tyrant by nature.
That is the way Willie Boy felt about
it. So many boys do. And after ms
outrage he must take the heavy old
|ucket and carry it all the way nome.
No wonder that, with all his trouble,
10 should go head down and fail TO see
the team that was running down the
street. He got to the roadway just as
they did. and was caught under the
hocfs and wheels trampled and drag
ced until his clothes were torn and
his clean hands soiled and the III :
beaten out of his body. Just as he
casped his last h.s mother dashed
from the house. ran to him, saZed on
his bloody face one moment. shrlekca
and fell in a dead faint. This We
something like it. Willie gazed or
her form lying limp in the roadway
croaning in her agony. though helpl aS:'
il. her swOon, and thought thai nov
she was being paid for the way ehe
had treated him. She would nav" ~
wash her own hands now. She Wo"fl
have to get someone else to r"n er-
lands and bring water now. On how
she would miss her little Will, Boy,
and cry and decorate his grave win
flowers!
This was life number 2, and it made
him feel a great deal better tower"
his mother, now that he knew how
she suffered and really did care for
him. But his father. Hadn't he 'oid
Willie Boy that he acted like ruA'an
and he didn't know what would be-
come of him? This was more than his