Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1904-06-22
The Miawinter
Knight Errant
By CLINTON DANGERFlELD
co7yright, iaol. by J. .. Mitchell

"Yez will be after indin' 'em split
| into klndlin' wood some day" said
| Nora maIiciously. regarding Ham.
| mishs treasured blocks with an evil
eye. The position of general slayey in
a cheap tenement does not improve
ones temper. do yez think yez can
be keepin' a mess of chips to play wild
when we all do be sufIerin' crool for
coal?"
Don't know muffin bout coal Don't
care" retorted Hammish sturdily.
Five years old and gentleman unafraid
was he.
Presently he bethought him to visit
| his special friend. the little seamstress
on his own floor. Concealing the pre-
cious blocks. he trotted off to her room
and. getting no answer to his knock,
| pushed open the door and went boldly
| in.
| Why had Mazda let her fire go out?
He snutfed the biting air doubtfully,
wondering where she was. Then be
discovered her in drawn heap on the
bed. The thin blankets were huddled
over her. On top were piled her thread
bare jacket and the wrapper she had
been making for firm.
| Hammish went to the bedside.
! us you sick. Nadia 2" he asked petu-
lantly. He did not like sick people.
| The girl opened pair of great violet
eyes and regarded him.
| Not sick" she said slowly; "jest
| cold I'm freezin' to death It's taken
so long | hope tits come at last"
| Does freezin' to death mean you
goin' to die?"
Yes" The blue lips scarcely shaped
| the word. but he caught It, 1t dis
tressed him greatly by virtue of knowl-
| edge newly learned from the resource
full Nora, who had been trying 10
| frlghten the child with stories of
| deaths grim paraphernalia. He seized
her shoulder in his baby hands and
| tried to shake her.
Don't die"' he cried piercingly
You said Jack was comm home to
marwy you. How can he marwy you
| il you is dead? Do you fink he would
dig you up?"
"Oh. Hammish," said the girl very
A'hAhAiNf RAth9t ~ away ~ III bf
| long, so long. before he comes. | can
not live till then. And they told me
there was no more work after this
When Jack comes tell him / wasn't
afraid of-the grave. 1t must be warm
er down there"
Conscious that he was growing very
cold himself. Hammish. fired with n
sudden resolve. made for the battered
| coal scuttle. He would make a fire
| himself.
| For II Jack came home and had to
dig Mazda up might he not hold him
| (Hammish) responsible? How often
| Mazda had told him proudly OF her big,
warm hearted sailor who was coming
| across the great seas.
And | was in no such place as this
when he knew me and courted me-"
she would say more proudly still.
NANNY and | had little house of
our own" Then with droop of her
| tired lids: But when she died after
| being sick so long it was hard, so hard,
| to make bread. You don't know how
hard, little Hammish, but it will be
your turn some day"
Don't care" Hammish was wont
TO reiterate scornfully. VIII take my
| turn all right. Shall be a man"
But now he felt vaguely that a mans
| responsibility rested on him long ere
he had looked for it. for the battered
scuttle was utterly empty. There was
| nothing in the pitifully bare room out
! of which the tiniest fire could be made
| In his search he lifted the faded cur
tain which covered the box termed
pantry. Not fragment of food was
within. II dawned on Hammish that
| if there was no food as well as no
coal Mazda might be hungry. Again he
| attacked her imperatively.
Has you eat you dinner"
Go away, Hammish." repeated the
| girl. How could | eat? There-was
nothing"
| Now, indeed, the puzzled knight er-
rant faced complex situation. His
mother, the deus ex machina who al
ways remedled all wrongs, would not
return until sunset. How long did ii
| take people TO die? Would Mazda
really die before his mothers return
| just because she was cold! or whom
could he take counsel? He knew no
one but his enemy, Nora.
| He waylaid her in the corridor.
"Oh. waitr he cried. Please wait.
How long does it take people 10
| freezer
NO time at ALL" said Nora seornful-
ly, 'ye little fool, ye!'
And them
Then they dig a cellar OF hole an
slap 'em into it?'
| She whisked on down the corridor,
and Hammish went YEARLY TO his own
quarters and stood before the fire
| thinking,
For he was now facing the great
problem of self sacrifice which all Of
us meet sooner or later. Either he
must burn his beloved blocks or Mazda
muSt fraaza Either he muat warm