Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1904-04-27

NTH floor had given her weddin
gown to the sister to be retrimme,
in the prevailing fashion.
One evening in playing with tn
ink bottle Cab let it slip from hi
slender fingers, and its contents raj
unluckily on the white satin skirt.
They did not scold him. Alas, no
The CONSERVATION in his face wa
too painful to see. His sister stiAet
a cry Of terror. Silently, nervousl,
she sponged the material and meas
ured the extent Of the disaster. Tn,
ink had outrageously spoiled eigh
yards of satin.
Between a loss to the client OF
the fifth floor and pity for Cab Their,
must be no hesitation. The clerk
wife was not rich, and her wedding
dress was her only resource for fet1
days and occasions of ceremony
Then, again, the little dressmakel
was proud and did not wish the peo
pie of the house to know the cares
and sorrows of their home. The most
practical and dignifed thing to dc
was to run to the Bon Marche and
try to match the stuff.
Eight yards at Is francs yard
made a total of 1870 francs, a rude
breach in the bank, a fund for the
journey.
1t was finished. 1t would be nee.
eSsary to give up the visit for this
year.
The girl embraced Little Cab and
went to sewing again.
The following winter they work
ed steadily on the first floor. Ths
autumn had been rainy, and Little
Cabs health had suffered in conse-
quence. His bones ached, he had a
fever and pains in the head. The
doctor examined HIN, stroking his
beard meanwhile, and again ordered
the child to Berck as soon as the
weather became warm.
This time it was decided, cost
what it might, they would start for
the baths at the end of May.
The sewing machine recommended
again, and its grasshopper chorus
was heard far into the night.
They had bought Cab a picture
book with nothing but views of the
sea. Here were ports with their for
ests of masts ranged along the walls
of the quays, steep cliffs and rocks
washed by yeasty waves and fishing
boats disappearing at sea like a
flock Of white winged birds.
The child talked Of nothing but
the ocean. He saw it in his dreams,
and sometimes in broad day he
thought the fog which filled the in
ner court strips of coast beaten by
the tide and large vessels with swoll-
en- sails.
Occasionally he took from the
mantel a large shell and held it to
his ear. He would stand thus, his
neck lost in his shoulders, listening
for hours to the noise of the sea
which seemed to him to come from
far off-from very far off,
The winter was exceptionally
damp, and | did not meet Little Cab
any more on the porch of the house.
The physician had expressly forbid
den that he 60 out.
From time to time / saw him at
the window. His eyes were sad,
and they looked far of,
while his slender fingers designed
vague ships on the window pane,
Then, suddenly seeing me in my
window observing him and thinking
himself spied upon, he made an an
cry gesture and drew the muslin cur
tain.
Toward the middle of March /
saw him no more. His bones ached
with increasing severity, the pains
in his head were redoUbled, and his
legs could no longer support him.
He lay now the entire day stretched
sut on his little bed, turning for the
hundredth time the leaves of his
picture book, where he saw the
ocean and the vessels with their
white sails.
He had not given up the idea Of
hts trip. "When are we going to
,tart?" he asked his sister. and when |
The explained that they would have
10 wait for warm weather he replied |
n his thin voice;
"But | am in a hurry. | want to
DO cured quick, very quick, so that
will not see you cry any more"
He had looked up the names Of
he towns on the route, and he al
'eady knew them by heart-Chantil-
y, then Clermont, Amiens, Able
lille and then the ocean.
"Once we are there, / am sure my
zones will hurt me no more"
In waiting he had constantly by
lin the large pink shell from the
chimney, and with his ear against
is mother-of-pearl lining he listened
o that distant murmur of tho sea
hat was to deliver him from all his
niseries.
Toward Easter l heard no more
he heavy rumbling of the sewing
machine. They worked no longer
III the first floor, but | saw a light in
he window far into the night show
ng that some one was watching by
he bed of the sick child.
Ole is very low" the concierge
aid to me in low tones as she press
d instinctively against her skirts