The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-10-29

lines and with accompanying photo
graph. 1t read:
"Swathed almost from head to foot
in white bandages that conceal awruI
burns, and yet under the influence OF
kindly narcotics that deaden her nerves
to what would otherwise be the most
intense suffering, Ethel Smythe, the
13-year-old daughter of our esteemed
fellow townsman, Montgomery G.
Smythe, president of the Traders Ma
tional Bank, lies at st. Ursula's hos
pitaI, with her life yet hanging in the
balance, as a result of the collision be-
tween a bicycle, ridden by the girl, and
a motorcycle, ridden by Motorcycle Or
ficer Henry Griffiths. When her in
juries were examined and dressed at
the hospital the attending physicians
said that the burns were widespread
and very serious and would probably
prove fatal unless skin grating over
an extended area is resorted to. So
many square inches of skin will be
necessary that the physicians do not
think that 1t will be possible to obtain
il even from several sources without
endangering the lives of those making
the sacrifice, and refuse to consent to
the parents Of the child furnishing the
skin from their own bodies to save
their daughter, although the mother
is frantically begging for permission
to make the sacrifice and the father
bowed his head in grief when his own
offer was turned down by the physi-
clans Without the skin grating the
physicians hold out no hope of the
child's recovery and that relief seems
to be excluded by the large amount of
skin for resurfacing that would be
necessary.
"I can't fergit how t kid smiled at
me wit de blue sky in her eyes," sob
/ bed Billy, gouging at his eyes with his
grimy fist. Then the choice stand at
the corner of Main and Elm was aban-
doned to the raids of POSTUM and
the Casey twins, and a lad dragged his
way to st. Ursula's hospital, his ferul-
ed crutches beating a slow tattoo on the
cement sidewalks.
| Doctor" said the trim, white-capped
nurse at st. Ursula's to one of the in
terne physicians, there's a newsboy al
| the door who will not go away with
out seeing you"
| "An' yer see, doc" concluded Billy
at the granted interview, "de paralyZed
| leg don't do me no good and is dead
weight to drag around wit me. but d.
skin on it is poifectly good. 1 will liz
still while yer take off der hide tt
graft on de little goiI and den yer car
chop off me bum leg and no harm done
to nobody"
Ethel Smythe's parents demurret
but, with her little life hanging in tn,
balance, the lads offer was finally ac
cepted, Mr. Montgomery c.. Smyth,
telling his wife that he would maxi
the cripple boy Independent for life.
Two tables in the operating ward o
st. Ursulas were drawn side by. sid
and Red Top Billy and Ethel Smyth
smiled family at each other as tn
nurses came with the ether sa turatet
cones
Both operations a perfect success,
Icomplacently announced the surgeons
while on snowy cots in separate,
wards consciousness struggled bacl
lfntofa pair of brown eyes and a pair. o
blue ones. blue as eornfiowers,
Somehow Billy, in his hospital bed
did not recover so fast as the littl
girl in the other ward. The thin
chested, one-legged boy had been lon
under the ether and his lungs were no
strong, but in addition to his daily de
light over the report of the progress
made by Ethel, two things gave hir
intense satisfaction. One was whe
McGraw's sluggers tied the score o.
the final decisive day of the eight
game with the Red Sox and then brok
} up the game with an extra run in tn
| tenth inning. "I knew de Giants woul
} cop de flag" said Billy with glee, an
they never told him what the Red So
} did in their turn at bat The othe
, event was when Teddy Roosevelt, wit
bullet hole in his breast, spoke a
} the Milwaukee auditorium.
1 Bully for Teddy" said Billy. Hull
! gee! but it must be fine thing to b
l a hero, but us newsies don't have n
{ chance. Wasn't dat great, standing u
dere with .3S-calibre slug in hi
= breast and tellin' folks how to save d
!, bloomin' country. Me fer Teddy ever
3 time"
One morning the physicians foun
A that pneumonia had set in and tn
ether-weakened lungs could no longe
t pump blood in the tired little body an
e death was waiting at the bedside t
a take the lad, who had never heard c
!, Sir Philip Sidney nor the BATTLEFIELD
: of Zutphen. His breath wheezed an
= ratified in his throat as Red Top Bill
= smiled at the nurse and at the cluster
of blue cornflowers that filled a vas
h at his bedside, flowers that came frol
n a costly home on Main street an
4 somehow reminded him of a pair {
h blue eyes.
J, II guess" sighed the lad, SCI guess
!, turned out to be some good after all
= Then he turned his face to the wa
Z and died.