The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1911-06-02

I
tonly tribe with ready death. His
guardianship Of the kithless one was
| thus established and undisputed. Be
! sides, as distraction, there came 9th.
er babies to the camp; two Of them
! both tiny glrls-the elder scarcely
more than FIVE years Of age. who in
| soiled pinafores rsmbIed in and out
among their mothers tubs, made mud
pies on the dumps, and occasionally
upset the tenor Of the camp by get.
ting lost.
| Th@g were the offspring Of 4 for
lorn and dilapidated woman who In
| troduced herself az the derellct Of
Mike O'Shaughnessy, Hiyin rist him,
a. good la-ad as iver filed two shoes.
A man. livery inch Of him, who hadn't
a stake Of maneness in him as wide as
the black Of your finger nail"
And thin O'Shaughnessy kirs"
dropped into the life Of HoIcornb a.
completely as had the general; but
the latter bestowed more attention On
them than did any one else.
Indeed, his little heart, with It's bur
den Of working responsibility, had
longed for childish compani0nship. and
with graVely patronizing air he as
sumed very paternaI attitude toward
| the newcomers.
That they appreciated his interest
was shown by the fact that they often
transferred whole castles Of mud to
hts front doorstep. and over them all
Big Andy would step with soIicitous
care and a merry CLEAN of understand.
Ing In his eye. Only once In the long
summertime was the lad given q lee
ture.
General" the miner said on that
memorable evening. what's this the
big O'Shaughnessy girls tellin' round
the camp about your KILN a snake
a few days ago? You amt never said
anything to me about it."
Jean Guillot Lafayette shrugged his
shoulders and turned his hands palms
outward with an inimitable gesture.
but declined to talk until Kendall in
sisted.
"Eet was the evening in. Monsieur
Andahkeudal, and l follow the chill
dren up the gulch-" This with an air
OF bashfulness. 'Hah. They stop
quickly. So" And here he demon
strated by jumping to the floor and
fixing his eyes with dramatic fervor
on a charred spot, whereat the miner.
carried away by the recountal, also
stared
'Z-z-z-z-r-r-rr-rip! the generals
Rs rolled QuiVeringly. Z r-r-run 10
them-Eet ees a vaire angry sairpent
whose head move so!" Now his
slender hand wove to and fro in dis
tant imitation CT a ratrler's head. =
seize the stone! hurl it thus! VOLTA,
That ees ALL"
Monsieur Andahkendall" sat for a
long time studying as to how he might
explain the danger and death that lay
in the serpent with the "Z-z-r-r-rfp"
on his tail. administer repruof for such
recklessness. but at the conclusion Of
his homily was shocked by the discoY-
cry that the generals vocabulary, By
camp contact, was becoming consider.
ably enlarged.
'Eet ees not Monsieur Andahkendal
who would say to Jean GuiIIot Lafay-
cite: 'R-T-run away and let the sair-
pent eat the young ladies' No. no.
no, no, He, the gr-r-rand monsieur
would say"-and here his voice as
stunned a great depth Of hoarseness-
- See him in hell first, Jean; see him
in heIl!'"
The ACCOMPLISHMENT took the form
Of a discourse against swearing.
The general took to walking on
moonlight nights, unaccompanied; and
the miner. wondering at these peregri-
nations, Swallowed him only to observe
that he stroIled tentatively past the
o'Shaughnessy cabin a few times, in
the manner OF loye-sick swain, and
then. satisfied that all was well. re-
turned noRchalantly to his home and
accustomed seat before the big fire.
place which now roared its cheer in
the crisp nights Of fall But the gen
eral never told Of his adventures and
rarely talked Of himself.
1t remained for the days of early
winter to bring about the generals
most important move and display his
promptness Of action. Ii was when
the Widow O'Shaughnessy seized by
sudden heart failure, fell to the door
between her tubs, abandoning them
forever in the great and last relin-
quishment. 1t was Jean to whom the
frightened babes appealed, and for
once he dropped his Pail and ran as
fast as his little brown legs would
carry him to the tiny cabin; and then.
awed and stilled. and with startled
eyes, returned to Big Andy.
The miner in turn hurried to the |
cabin. followed by others, and the |
camp women laid out for burial the |
first woman to occupy the cemetery |
at the foot Of the shielding pines. The |
camp women also gave housing to the |
weeping and wondering little girls /
and, on the following day. kept them !
away from the trying scene when the /
widow was gently yielded TO the fra
grant earth which embodied her in its /
breast after all her years Of work and
worry and WEAKNESS. The general
h. I