The enterprise-recorder. (Madison, Fla.) 1908-1933, 1908-09-03

despair.
you amt bad kid, are ye, Peter
asked the officer.
Il amt when rs lett lone. rs bad
when Is maddened," added the boy,
candldly.
Pete, I've taken a likin' to We, Pete
says the officer, and If we promise not
to cut that boy that blacked yer eye,
when We meet i'm, IN be yer friend,
and we wont have to 80 to the re-
form school"
Pete did not answer; It was not
every day that people took a liking to
him. He clutched his rag of a hat
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-man, rath-
err, 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 queried the officer, do we
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, Wen have some
dinner, we and me-"
Vdy soon they were on the best of
terms and Pete would have gladly lain
down his life for his new friend He
told OCallaghan his little history.
But what interested the officer most
was that Pete knew Zoe.
Yes, l knows Zoe" said the little
fellow, swelling with delight "Zoes
out on'y a little-mebbe two monthsS
her old fadder, he bought that stan
off a Italian Teller, and Zoe she runs
it 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 a selfish mo-
tive, and was not at all so disinter-
ested as was Petes for him. He took
the little fellow entirely into his con-
fidence, 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
a net rather than to disentangle him.
The officer we'll know that in the
course he had determined on there
were many difficulties to be overcome.
He recognized the fact Oike another
great man of recent times) that il was
a condition, not a theory, that con-
fronted 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
turned the full force of his great in
tellect. After covering, with a short
stub OF a pencil, quires of foolscap pa
per-why foolscap rather than. any
other kind Of cap is not stated-he Sc
lected 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
in return?"
This was was no SLOUGH of a sentence
cur love3ick hero thought, as he sur
veyed it with his head first on one
side and then on the other, and the
author of this veracious history is
inclined to agree with him, and earn
estly recommends 1t to young gentle
men in similar situations. Pete could
put this gem of a sentence into pretty
fair Greek, all but the words in re-
turn" What did that mean? he asked,
and our hero replied, why, to love me
in return means to love me back" Ac-
cordingly the sentence as Pete under
stood it real:
zoe, l love you; do you love me
back?"
Now, Pete was a precocious child,
and very bright in those things in
which he had had experience; but a
little knowledge Of philology would
have taught him there was such a