The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1910-03-29

but to 60 on and face her az best they
could. They had the impulse to turn
and run, which the bravest, they say,
will have in moment Of supreme dan
ger.
The Lord help usl" groaned Dough-
erty again, with piety that was new
to him. "sthand stiddy, bhoys! Yell
not see poor human critters in much
wuss throuble. I'll do the exphlainin'."
Connolly seized Dougherty by the arm
and jerked him backward Look
a-there!" he whispered, excitedly. DO
We mind that, now! See hint"
| With the others Willet had paused ir-
resolutely. Then he DULY raised his
head and saw his WIFE A quick sob and
he strobe forward, erect, both hand
outstretched. Hannah" he cried,
brokenly; Hannah" 1t was the first
time he had spoken since the accident
In a pitiful attempt not to understand
the woman glared wildly from one grief
stricken face to another. all the youth
ad happy good humor of her own looks
blotted out Finally her glance met
her husbands and rested there. The
terror of apprehension faded from her
face, giving way before a compassion
that was divine in its self-forgetfulness
that transformed her from the plain
wife of common workingmon into the
very embodiment of tender, womanly
pity. To Willet she seemed by q super
human intuition to have understood
everything. The only words that could
warm through the numbness around his
heart she spoke. The one phrase that
was ticking clock-wise in his brain she
repeated aloud for him, and so took
away half Of its torture. "You had to
see him die" was what she snid. "Oh,
my poor man! my poor mani Little Jim
was drownded, and you couldn't save
him!"
give him to me-" she commanded
Connolly, holding out her arms for her
child. LET him lay here on my
breast, like he did whin slip of a
baby. TIN make his fathers heart
easier to see him So"
She gathered the body to her bosom
and she folded Connolly's coat more
tightly around it and began softly to
rub the shock OF damp hair on the cold
little head. 1t should be dry. dry entire
Is, or it might do him hurt; his mother
wouldn't never let him stay cold like
that! No, she wouldn't never. "Poor
Jim, poor Jim!" she went on, st;M keep
ing up that instructive, motherly chat
ing of the child in her arms. "Poor
Jim! You had the hardest, jim! I
couldn't ha' been there an not killed
myself, forgetful of you. 1t was you as
brought him home. You came all that
cruel way to bring him to me. Oh, Jim,
Jim darlin'"
Her voice was less unnatural now; it
had dropped to a note of human dis
tress that was fast bringing her to full
realization of her pain. Tears, which
Willet was as yet unable to shed, rained
scious that she wept. The men began
to shuttle awkwardly away, muttering
their clumsy words of consolation.
They need not have taken the slightest
precaution in the manner of their GO
ing; neither Willet nor his wife re-
membered they had come, nor knew
when or how they left. Timidly Jim
drew ear and laid reverent fingers upon
Hannah's sleeve. 1t was good to touch
her and feel that she was there. Under
her all-comprehending pity he was able
to speak and think once more. She
humanized him into himself.
Lay little Jim on his bed. Hannah,
darlin'," he said, gently. "There
can't come no harm to him no more.
The rest of my days I'll have his call
a-ringin' in my ears. He was down by
the bridge, you know, where it's SO
SMALLER an safe, an he a-splashin' an
a-laughin'! Then he called; student,
sharp. lie drownded afore l got to
him. Oh, my God! afore I got TO
him!"
The woman shook herself free of his
hand and stepped back.
"Afore you got to him?" she re-
peated, in voice that was hushed in
very wonder. "He drownded afore
you got to him, an'-an' little Jim
cnlled-little Jim called" She paused
as If the breathing hurt her: II thought
first that you had to see him die while
you was tryin' to save him; but it wasn't
true. He was there in the water. an
he called, an you couldn't get to tim."
She dropped her face a moment over
the dead child. When she raised it, it
was set, hard, pitiless. "A mothers
feet would ha' carried her." she whis-
pered only just above her breath; "an'
he was mine the same as yours. You
let my boy die. l never gave you no
right to let my boy die"
Slowly, deliberately, she turned and
entered the house. Willet stood where
she,left him, motion,ess. staring straight
ahead From the bridge at the foot Of
the hill the men gazed upward, watch
ing. They saw Hannah move. and,
Dougherty drew a long breath Of sntis-
faction. "It's we'll wild 'em now, poor
things" he announced. sagely. "The
wust is over. They bore it bravely, an
they stood by each other. Did ye see
how Hannah took to comfortin' Jim
from the first? You've got to leave
throubles to time. anyways; but praise
be to all the saints an the angels of
glory! the wust is over whin folks is
lovin' an sympathizin' enough to keep
each other up N. Y. Independent.