Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-09-18
THREE CHilORENS
RIDE FOR LIFE.

lost their mother early In the spring.
Maggie was - years old-that is TO
say if one counted her age by years
! But if one caluclated il by judging
from the experiences she had suffered
through privations. loss and RESPONSE
| bilities. she was very much older.
True. the children had their father.
| s,uod man, bur upon Maggie fell the
! management of the house: and she
V as obliged to look after her little
II rothers. siX-year-old Billy and four
year-old Bob. being real little mother
| t. them
| Their home was on the wild plains
o. Kansas, across the prairies of which
ore could look and look, with nothing
| t. break the view. to where distant
| land and skyline met. The small
| stream. that bore the dignified name
o. river. aud which looked in the sun
| light like streak of clear glass cut
| ting its way through the land, was the
nous landscape. This unpretenrious
| tributary ran about mile from the
Browns rude stone. dirt-roofed house.
| On the day that the story deals With
Mr. Brown was obliged to go to town
Eve miles distant, on an important er-
r2nd He started early in the morn
i ing. and could not POSSIBLY return be.
fore late in the afternoon. Before
starting he warned the children to not
go out of the beaten yard for the prai-
res We're full of snakes of the most
poiseao,ls kind and there was much
bitten
Mr. Brown rode old Fan. one of the
team of farm horses, leaving her mate,
old Ben. tied under the straw-covered
horses shed.
! It was sultry day. for the season
had been a long continuous drouth. and
the early September days followed the
burning August without fall in the
temperature. Fields. gardens and prai.
r;es We're baked brown and scar, vege-
tation and grass being killed from
want of rain and dew The air was as
cry as bleached bone, and the sky
was a dull hazy gray.
After her fathers departure Maggie
cleared away the few breakfast things.
swept the floor and tidied up the
scantily furnished room. Billy and
Fob. barefooted and brown as Indians
played about the yard, keeping near
the house in obedience to their
fathers orders. After a little Maggie
came out to join them, bringing bit
of sewing to do as she sat on great
flat rock in the shade of the house
"Wish could go down to the river"
ventured Billy. gazing with longing
look at the line of distant water. the
banks of which could only boast of a
few half-dead cottonwood trees at long
distances apart.
"Wist TODD do too," said little Bob.
rolling dirt between his toes, as he
llay on his fat stomach on the bare
|grOund.
"You remember what pa said about
leaving the house or yard, don't you",
asked Maggie threading her needle.
"You wouldn't disobey pa for anything,
would you?
"Mebby for some things I would
bravely asserted Billy. with an en-
rhatc nod of the head. "P'raps If a
big spook or a awful beard come pop
PIN 'roun' in the yard I'd put off to the
river fastern snakes. would.
I'D run off wifi you, too half
WHISPERED little Bob, his eyes startled,
as he pictured to himself the possible
dangers that Billy made mention Of.
Then he got up and sat very close to
Maggie for perfection against said
spook or bear.
",Then if YOU did would sure get
caught. SAID Maggie, e'lipild lt'''S =
"Children what disobevs their parents
always gifts into trouble
Then Maggie sewed away in silence,
While Billy searched through his mind
for some other cause that might the
better excuse him from the yard and
warrant disobedience to his father.
Maybe something in the air at thai
moment-something Billy was not
aware of-prompted his next remark.
which was in the form of a question to
his sister. "Sposen big fired come
would you run to the river, Mag?
Even as Billy asked the question
Maggie. without paying any heed to
liz, rose suddenly aud shifted the air
shading her eyes from the sun vi h