The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-04-26
PART II.
BLOSSOM.
CHAPTER VII.
Adolescence.

Will INT lGQJol4NS VI Ae S
the period Of adolescence is b most
nninteresting portion of life.
The pretty ways of childhood have
run their tender and fascinating
course, and there is a long wait, as al
the fall in the act-dron in the drama.
To this rule, howe, :. Little Make,
Believe was an exception.
Her life was full of color. and every
day that dawned brought with it the
necessity of action.
This struggle for the bare necessar-
les Of life, this fight for food, vas re
plete with interest, albeit of a painful
kind.
Yet from her inner being, in which
lay a well of purest sweetness, she
drew q wondrous compensation fol-
anxiety and suffering; her gratitude
for trifes was so great that it might,
with some semblance of truth, be said
that the pleasure of her days was born
Of the pain thereof, and would have
been of a lower quality had her need
been less.
She had found a friend, however, but
for whom she might have succumbed,
the world was so powerful and she so
weak.
These last words have nothing of ex-
aggeration in them, for the world was
her enemy.
Ruled by social laws which Of very
necessity might have compelled Little
Make-Belieye to drift into wrong do
ing, in the eyes of the world she was
q sore blemish, for which none but the
narrow-minded could have condemned
her.
Happily for her, of this exceedingly
numerous order of beings Thomas Dex-
ter was not q member.
From that night upon which he was
spectator of his w funeral in Para
disc Buildings he became her friend.
In q small way certainly. To the e1-
tent, probably, of three or four pen
MES in the course of a week, bestowed
epon her a penny at q time when he
met her in the streets.
1t was little enough, but it was a
help. The wonderful godsend of three
bright shillings from his hand to hers
was not repeated, Out that was hardly
TO be expected.
The occasional pennies were a wind
fall which often sent Little Make-Be-
heye home rejoicing.
Saranne grew stronger and more
beautiful, and, accepting as her right
the cheerful willingness to provide for
her which was Little Make-BeheVe'S
chief rule of life, did no work herself
even when she was old enough for it.
But it is hard to say what she could
have done had sad fortune deprived
her of her supporter.
She knew nothing, had learned moth
ing, and was easily discouraged,
whereas Little Make-Believe fought
doggedly against the heavy odds, and
sometimes exclaimed sometimes in the
midst Of bitter tears), Never say die"
During the years that interviewed be-
tween childhood and womanhood the
sisters became acquainted with three
persons who were destined to play i'm
portant parts in their histories.
Two were gentlemen, u a boy Of
the people.
Where this latter came from no one
In Glare Market knew.
Some said he had dropped from the
clouds-an euphemism, for he more
likely sprang from the cutters.
He was utterly wild, ungovernable
and untamable and seemed to have
gypsy blood in him.
Questioned about his parents, his re-
ply was that he didn't know nothink
about 'em."
He had lived anyhow, from hand to
mouth, as the saying is.
Where he slept, how he managed to
live, where he came from, and if there
existed a human being in the world
with whom he could claim the smallest
tie of kinship-these were questions
which none could answer
In some odd way he became &C
Quainted with Little Make-Believe and
Sarannc, and would sometimes sit in
the cellar with the one and stroll
through the streets with the other.
A bad companion in every way, bet
they were not in a position to choose
their associates.
Whatever fell to their share, they
were compelled to accept, whether for
good or i'll.
From the policeman, Thomas Dexter
who had seen the lad with Little
Make-Believe, and was curious about
him-received his character.
"A bad lot, sir. Been locked up a
dozen times, at least. When he's
charged no one comes for'ard to speak
up for him. When he's asked in court
whether he doesn't belong to some,
body or whether somebody don't be-
long to him he sarces the magistrate
and tells him to mind his own. A
regular bad lot, sir, is FoXey."
This was the name by which he was
known.
A personal experience Of Thomas
Dexter's was c~onfirmatory Of the char,
acter given to Foxey by the police
man.
He had bought some odds and ends
at auction, which he engaged a man tc
wheel home in a barrow.
FoXey, coming on the scene while
the goods were being conveyed into
the shop, appropriated an old-fash
toned mirror and made off with it.