Smyrna times., 1909-01-20
By FRANK H. SWEET.
1yright, 1903, by American Press

~sSsS"-o'.s.'-O.'s'o.ss~s +
1t was a most disheartening trick of
the brain-so John Lotus told himself
"a trick of the memory, Il way it had
of dropping into that old rut and go
ing over and over again the same aw-
full road of misery and desolation.
What be saw was Yrocky hillside
pasture. with myriads u Canada this
ties and barefoOted boy picking his
way among them at the heels Of
struggling little line Of home going
COWS.
"O-u-u-oO, but l can feel those this
Ties yet. How like sin they did punish
my bare brown feet! Mother was not
feeling we'll when | went after the
cOws-my blessed, darling mamma.
She had heart trouble, l heard one
neighbor tell another. and would go
suddenly some day when we least eX-
pected it. l had hardly let her out of
my sight after that, although in the
misery Of my poor, bursting heart
could never tell her what l had heard.
How l raced down the hill that night!
And at the foot of the pasture. just ut
the end of the village street. l stopped
to put up the bars.
"As l turned there stood that-that-
vision. Blessed if l did not think it
was fairy. l had never seen the like
before For a moment | forgot even
my anxiety about my dearest mamma.
Oh, l can see her nOw-the folds of
her flmy white dress, the little blue
slippers with the straps over the an
| kles, the long golden curls and the
| pitying violet eyes. And the poor little
| devil of kid in a faded shirt and
blue jeans-howB he WINGED and felt
ashamed
And then the vision spoke. She
came to me shyly and held out a rose,
81 wish you would take this she
said, holding it out, far out, and l
saw then that tears were running
down her pink cheeks. l did not take
the rose, but the birch switch dropped
from my hand, and my heart turned
to ice. Poor little kid! Poor kid!
NJ lnlAlAlld oClll lAAC W hlCCl OuS
she said and sobbed, brushing the
palm of her hand across the track of
her tears. L wish you'd take the rose.
came to stay all day wifi you. May
be l can stay all day tomorrow. /
I've got 4 white kittie. We brought it
from our former charge. I'm the new
minister's little girl. you see. and you
may have my kittie, and-and l know
how to string red berries into booful
strings of beads, and-and'-
"She pushed the rose into my hand
and then turned away, and l saw heI
bare white shoulders toss up and down
in tumult of sobbing.
"What awful, horrible hurts there
can be in this little life of ours!
knew, knew.
81 threw the rose as far as l could
dash it and flung myself into the sane
by the roadway.
81 did not cry out. I beat the eartl
with my clinched fists and my bar,
face The sand filed my mouth anC
blinded my wet eyes, and the blood
ooZed out and clotted across my throb
bing temples.
''Then people came and wiped ava!
the sand and the blood. and the shak
ing voice Of a woman kept saying
Poor boy, poor little boyv
"a team drove along the road an,
crept out into the grass in order t.
pass me. Then heard a neighbor say
Let me take the little shaver into tn
waggin. Poor little feller! 1t is dret
full student for i'm. but still Mis- Loi
tus haz he'd the heart disorder fur
good spell back
"Oh, yes, knew. knew the awfu
= truth as soon as l saw the tears il
the eyes Of the little strange girl. Th
dreadful blow had fallen.
i 'They carried me into the house
n full now of sad faced. whispering W.
men. that very room where l ha
kissed my mother a merry goodby nc
more than half an hour ago Away /
the darkened bedroom they had lai
4, her and spread a white sheet over he
face. Mother!
But the great wheel of the year
Il kept turning. The old life was
thing of the past. The boy was hom,
less, friendless. But the years di
not stop, and as they turned I gre
out of my blue jeans and no longC
went barefoot. And now was
love with the minister's daughte
just the same angel that stood thG
I night at the bars. the beautiful visio
with a woman's tender heart An
then came ambition. that grea
swelling sea that swallows up a
else of life"
He swept his hands out and in Il
gesture inclnded all the magnificent
that wealth could give. all that h
surroundings implied.
"T'll give you my white kittit
Dear little heart, what was she n
ready to sacrifice for me always
And I,~brute. the beast of selfshne
and ambition clothed over with Il
garments of man, Iryes, it was Il