Arizona republican., 1912-04-16
The Dawn
By OSCAR GRAEVE
COPYRIGHT. i'io, pr TIE rzAssoS PUBLISHING O.


 she turned. Her beautiful, glossy tail lay waved all over the pillow; the eacc if framed seemed whiter an' nore lined ry contrast with it's vivid black. She fUs%ed when she sav Ezra and he thought. as she lay there so still and thin. with all her coarse. ness, her hardness, gone tha- this vas the way she must have looked as very young girl
 She reached out one trembling hand to him. Her voice was faint but Do~ fcctly clear. Little Boy, giye-give him his supper. In the pantry--'
 Ezra nodded and went into the other room. With clumsy haste, he poured some milk into glass and spread some thick slices of bread with butter. Here, Little Boy. is your supper he said, in a deep voice
 The child laughed. drew I'D his chair and began to eat heartily. I'm awful hungry" he said. smiling up at the big man beside him.
 Ezra returned 10 the bedroom Roses eyes were waiting for him. She motioned weakly and he came over and knelt by the bed with her hand between his. He never know how many minutes and hours were passed in this way. He grew numb and cramped with pain, yet he was afraid to move. And he thought Of the commencement exercises al which he was expected 70 read tho speech that lay on his desk al the bank. He wondered what people thought of his absence. He wondered if his wife was there and if Jim Weston. who alone knew the truth, was also there.
 Presently, much later in the night or perhaps carly in the morning. Rose spoke again. Her voice vas no longer clear; the words came with long pauses between: re-the-one- I-loyed she said. "You-made- me happy silence. then-"forgive me. Ezra Her voice stopped and. for long while. Ezra still knelt be- side her until at length he looked up. Then he knew she was dead. e
 Finally, he went into the other room. Little Boy was asleep on the couch. The man stood looking down on him, pulling at his heavy mus tache. What should he do now? Good God. what should he do now? He studied with eager burning eyes tie face of the child who lay there sleep ing his chubby fists doubled, his face blooming. What lovely clay he was. This clay that could be fashioned into so many things. What could he make of him. Ezra wondered, of this boy who was his b0y-his and the dead woman's? 3
 But he must leave him. He could not take him now. He might as well stand in the market-place and cry his sin.
 He must leave him, And make ar engagements to have him brought up somewhere else - away from him where no one could know. Oh, there was pain in that thought, but it must be! And yet how could be leave him here in this house of death? How could he?
 It seemed to the man that, for the first time in his hard, fearless life, he needed help. He wanted help. He prayed for help-and for strength. Presently, he fell to his knees beside the boy. God he prayed to the God whom he had never known, what shall do?"
 He continued to gaze at the child. And suddenly the boy opened his eyes wide, saw the man. smiled and whis- pered, Papa Ezra," Then he fell back into profound sleep again. But with a long-drawn. hungry cry, the man stopped and lifted the child into his arms Holding the small. warm body close 10 him, he found 8 shawl shawl of Rose's--snd tenderly wrapped 1t around Little Boy, who was still sleeping.
 Then walking stesltbily, he went into the other room and gazed down for a moment on the face of the dead woman. "Good-by, Rose" he said softly. C n
 Quietly he went out of the house. Halfway up the hill, the boy awoke. T want mamai" he cried "I want to stay with mama!'
 Hush, boy" whispered the man, lc---ing his cheek against the child's, who took comfort and frightened his hold upon the mans arm.
 At the top Of the hill Ezra saw that the sky was flushed with the coming of the day He realized what that day would bring to him. It seemed to him that an ordeal lay before him as cruel as walking naked through the village with his sin burned in fiery letters in his flesh. He could hear the hooting and the laughing. He could feel the cuts of the stones they threw, mocking at his shame. s'
 But he hugged the child the closer and, fiinging back his head, facing the east, he cried aloud: "I don't give a