Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-08-24
Grundfuther's s
 AWakening

no reasonable sort of claim.
 Ever since the death of Grandmother Williams, Mrs. Cyrus had been abso- lute ruler upon the immense farm, but the fact that the title deeds for all those rolling acres and well-stocked barns still stood in the name of the bent old man was a ranking thorn in that lady's peace of mind.
 Not that he interfered in the slight est with her arrangements or failed to sign papers when told when and where to sign, or asked embarrassing Ques- tions about household expenses which were stretched to cover son Edwards college bills, but it seemed such tire some thing his hanging on to the frayed threads which connected him with earth and earth's affairs.
 Ever since the death Of Maggie, his wife, Grandfather Williams. had seemed in something of a dream out of which his faded eyes had looked indif- ferently at the world in which he still played shadowy part.
 Toward Mrs Cyrus his manner seemed to convey perpetual apology which she considered nothing more than her rightful due, particularly since he had shown the questionable taste to re- cover from an attack of lung fever in his eighty-fourth year, despite the fact that, with the doctors word as her authority, she had gone so far as to make all ar engagements for an elaborate funeral.
 It was the spring after this unpleas ant occurrence that Jimmy came to be chore boy upon the farm.
 Jimmy was without visible relations. He was a homely little fellow with an ever-present unappeased appetite and a talent for doing all sorts of unpleas- ant tasks that other people didn't like to do about the house and barn.
 Jimmy did not resent the fact that. under the reign of the sharp-tongued, working Mrs. Williams. he had over much to do, and not quite enough to eat, and scarcely anything to wear. He had never been used to much con- sideration, and the heart which beat inside his narrow chest was filled with natural kindliness which would not permit of the existence there of any ranking resentment against his unre- lenting mistress.
 At first he did not see much of Grandfather Williams, but gradually, he began to notice tie old man, and tried to show in little ways the timid compassion he felt for one who, in his ignorance Of worldly matters, he con- sidered almost as unfortunate as him self.
 It was he who discovered the myste- rious hiding places of the steel-rimmed glasses, and it was he who often thrust into the kitchen stove an extra stick of wood when grandfather crept out from the frozen splendor of, the, family. sit ting-room in search of the heat needed by his enfeebled system.
 Not that Jimmy deliberately planned being attentive to the silent old man. In what he did he was merely inspired by the same instinct which made him take time from his hurried journeys about the poultry yards to set droop- ing chicken where the bright sun could beat down upon its bedraggled feathers or to throw a specially attractive bit of garbage in the way of poor-spirited hen hanging upon the outskirts of a barnyard feast.
 For long time he never guessed that Grandfather Williams noticed his timid efforts 10 throw little more of comfort into his cheerless life and then came the great day when a secret con- radeship sprang up between them.
 First it was only small bag of rath- CT ancient peppermint drops laid dur ing his absence upon the three-legged stool beside his narrow bed. but. in time, such treasures collected in the tiny attic bedroom as 10 make Jimmy the richest boy in tbe country round.
 An actual pocketknife with only one blade. the same with which Grandfather d he sat summing himself during the warm spring days. a tin box in which he had once kept the tobacco for which he no longer had the taste. long. stout string which Jimmy meant to use for fish. line. and numbsrless other treasures be- sides an actual piece of money: a care fully polished. and. what seemed 10 Jimmy, an especially large quarter of a dollar
 Oh. Jimmy needed 10 ones pity now. besides. he and Grandfather Williams often talked together. Such nice. little talks as grandfather leaned against the pasture bars while Jimmy did The milk Ing which feIl 70 his lot upon the great. busy farm. Jimmy would then tell how. some day. he meant 10 be hired man and get s15 a month and have a suit of Sunday clothes and q red tie ike Henry Bates. and grandfather would tell Jimmy endless stories of how he and Maggie had come 10 the farm when they both were young. and what a smart t0usekeeper Maggie was. ana what a cute I5-tle chap "Cy' had been.
 Ina, Cv. who was roT go wonderful man that Jimmy scarce dared lift his eyes 10 his hard. sst face.
 Perhaps nothing else would ever have cone Of this intercourse between the tEo stray sheep h the Williams fold fus f0r --1 rH-~Tz rfs u-rr. =a-rs-r -s-rr-s advertisements for which had been s5orling the landscape for weeks dur ing the eve-tflI sumner. The u0rn- ing Of circus day. grandfather feeling a ssrss ot loneliness upon him. wandered half simlesslv- but with unerrirz En- stilct into the bsck yard where Jimmy rsf starrf~r -azs rsr---- Eaa -r-