Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-09-23

OTTUMW
old man who had treated him 80 un.
kindly. But he also felt sympathy
for the young mother In her distress
| over the lost child, and did not 20
home. He sat on the roadside, listen
ing to the excited voices, inside the
grounds. From their calls and cries
to each other he knew the little Sally
had not yet been found.
II wonder II the dear little tot
might have wandered on towards the
timber mused Watson. Then, with
the calls Of the people at the farm
In his ears, he hurried of down to
the big dusty road which ran towards
a line of timber that marked the
banks of a very deep lake. The
banks were of crumbling clay, fully
| ten feet above the water line, and
perpendicular at the point, the road
led to.
AS Watson turned down the dusty
road something suddenly caught his
| eye. 1t was little child's foot
prints prints Of little shoes. His first
| intention was to follow where they
| led without first informing the ex-
| cited and anxious people at the farm,
but the mothers sad face came to
his mind and he ran back to the big
gate and called out: II think little
| Sally has wandered off towards the
lake. I've found footprints of little
shoes going in that direction" Then,
not waiting for the mothers ELUSIVE
thanks and the fathers anxious ques
lions, Watson took to his heels and
| went Of down the road as fast as
he could run. He kept his eye on the
ground, watching the direction of the
| little, tracks. They led him straight
towards the treacherous banks of the
| lake.
The entire Brown family and their
| servants came after Watson. Mr..
Perry Brown and his men running as
fast as they could. MRS. Brown and
| "Old Grumps'' brought up the rear.
All wore anxious faces, and Watson
could see that Mrs. Brown wiped her
eyes with her kerchief.
Watson, having the start, gained
| the banks of the lake fully three min
| utes before the others. On entering
| the thicket of trees and underbrush
covered with vines and wild weeds
Watson beheld in front Of him, and
| directly on the verge Of the lake, a
| little pink-clad form. For only mo.
ment did he see 1t, just as it was on
the point of reaching for wild
flower which grew on dangerous
ground. Then something seemed to
give way beneath the little form and
it dropped out of sight.
In another instant Watson had
reached the very spot on which he
had seen the pink-robed figure Of the
| little child. But when within ten
feet Of the spot he lay down and
crept the remainder of the way. Then
he peered over. And he saw some
thing that made his heart beat fiercely.
A little fluttering creature was in the
water of the lake just below him.
Watson did not wait for orders. He
did not wait for anything. He slid
feet-foremost down the ten feet Of
perpendicular clay bank. And luckily,
he had thrown off his shoes when he
started to run down the road from
the gate. He wore no coat, the
weather being warm.
Well, there is little more to tell
of real events: but there might be
much to tell of the Browns feelings
towards the little hero who rescued
little Sally from drowning. for she
could not have lived another minute
in the water, and 1t was fully three
minutes after Watson reached her be-
fore her father came painting upon
the bank.
And the most humble person of all,
the most ELUSIVE lin his thanks to
Watson, was "Old Grumps." He fairly
smothered the dripping boy with
words of praise 1--WE been an old
hard-shell," he cried in trembling
voice. Here's a boy-a real hero. by
golly!-that almost insulted half an
hour ago in my house just because
he wanted to rent piece of land
from me to work. Well, he'll have
all the land he can use and have it
in his own name, too. may be a
rough old codger, but that little Sally
is the sunshine of my life, and I
know how to pay the boy who saved
her for me-"
And all this happened early in the
spring, and now. in the autumn. Wat
son is marketing his produce from
five-acre garden which "Old
Grumps' Brown (but who is no longer
a grumpy gave over to him. He
insisted on deciding the place to Wat
son-and fifty acres more to it. but
Watson would not hear of such a
thing. II did my duty, that was all, F."
he declared on the day he saved Sally
from drowning. "And I can't take
pay for saving life"
But he has a lease for five acres
Of the best garden land on the Brown
estate, and the family refuses to re-
ceive rental for it in the way Of vege.
tables, Mrs. Brown paying secretly
for everything she gets from the gar
den, and thus helping Mrs. Grey to
add to her dear sons School fund
without his knowing about it. And
cold Grumps" Brown has already
written to an eastern college, asking
to be allowed to buy scholarship
for his good young friend, Watson
Grey. And he declares that Watson
has made of him a new man, for