The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-08-29

despair.
You amt a bad kid, are We, Petc?'
asked the officer.
Il amt when Is LETT lone, Is bat
when is maddened,' added the boy
candidly.
Pete, I've taken likin' to We, Pete.
says the officer, and if We promise NO
to cut that boy that BACKED yer eye
when We meet i'm, I'll be yer friend
and We wont have to 20 to the re.
form school,"
Pete did not answer; it was no,
every day that people took liking tc
him. He clutched his rag of hal
tighter in his little, swarthy hands and
the tears stood in his eyes
Now will you promise not to cut
that boy?" queried the officer, with an
assumption of that tone he had heard
the police justice assume toward cul.
prits. Still the child-child-m rath-
er. did not speak. He was doing his
best to control the rising tears. He
was afraid he would blubber out, and
that, according to his code, would be
unmanly.
"Well." querfed the officer, do ye
promise?" The boy nodded his head,
with the mass of black, unkempt hair
on it, as a sign in the Affirmative, and
with a quick movement of his hand
across his eyes managed to intercept
a tear that in spite of his efforts es-
capped his eyelids. The officer saw and
was satisfied; then addressing himself
to the child as if he was a full-grown
man, and cheerily rubbing his hands,
he said:
Now, Pete. me boy, we'll have some
dinner, We and me-
Very soon they were on the best of
terms and Pete would have gladly lain
down his life for his new friend. He
told O'Callaghan his little history.
But what interested the officer most
was that Pete knew Zoe
Eyes, knows Zoe," said the little
fellow, swelling with delight "Zoe's
out on'y little-mebbe two months;
her old ladder, he bought that stan
of a Italian Teller, and Zoe she runs
1t all her own self, she does''
The officer had early in the ac-
Quaintance determined to make use of
Pete in declaring mis- love for Zoe. so
that the friendship had selfish mo-
tive, and was not at all so disinter-
ested as was Pete's for him. He took
the little fellow entirely into his con-
hdence. and the latter was as delight
ed at being able to do his great friend
a favor as was the little mouse in the
fable when it was given an opportunity
to gnaw the meshes of the net that held
entangled Its great benefactor, the
lion.
Perhaps the smile is a bad one in
this case. as Pete was helping to en-
tangle his friend in the meshes of
q net rather than to disentangle him.
The officer well know that in the
course he had determined on there
were many difficulties to be overcome.
He recognized the fact (like another
great man of recent times) that it was
condition, not a theory, that con-
him, and, taking a heroic re-
solve. determined to learn Greek; that
Is, he determined to learn enough
Greek to pop the question in it, and
Pete should be his teacher. It did not
need many words, he soliloquized-one
short sentence, and toward the pro-
duction of this sentence our hero
furnod tho full foroo ~ hts e,roo% i~
tellect. After covering, with a short
stub Of pencil, quires of foolscap pa
foolscap rather than any
other kind of cap is not stated-he Sc
ected the following, more in despair of
being able to do better than on ac-
count Of its perfect fullness.
Zoe, love you. Do you love me
n return?"
This was was no SLOUGH of sentence
our lovesick hero thought, as he sur
Keyed it with his head first on one
tide and then on the other. and the
author Of this veracious history is
Inclined to agree with him, and earn
'stly recommends it. to young gentle
men In similar situations Pete could |
tut this gem of sentence into pretty |
air Greek. all but the words "in re-
urn" What did that mean? he asked,
nd our hero replied, why, to love me
q return means to love me back" Ac-
ordingly the sentence as Pete UNDER
TODD it real:
zoe. l love you; do you love me
ack?"
Now, Pete was a precocious child,
nd very bright In those things in>
1hich he had had experience; but a
title knowledge of philology would
ave taught him fhoro woo eurh |