Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1914-12-18
-oo on" I said. with an assurini

The hay I'm on fist now" he con.
dnued. dropping bis voice and lookini
cautiously around. 'is a-hidin' my boz
and arrushin' in, suddentlike, where
theys crowd O. nobs a-talkin' politics
er sonepin'. and a-jist startin' in, and
fore they know what's a-comin' I'm
a-dashin' up q nickel er a dime, and
a-telin' EN- II I only had enough more
to make 81. cents I could buy q blackin.
box. and wouldn't have to asst no boot
o my grandmother! And two minutei
chinnin' does 1t, don't you see, cause
they don't know nothin' bout blackini
boxes; they're fist as soft as you air.
They got an Idly, maybe. that blackin'
boxes comes all the way from Chiny:
with cokeynut whiskers packed round
EN-; and / make it solid by a-sayin'
I'm on'y goin' to git a secondhand box
soc? But that amt the p'int-it's
the MI. Nickel I already got. Oh! itl
paralyze 'em ever time! Sometimes
fellersH make up rs cents er a dollar;
and tell me to git a new box, and 60
into the business right That's a thing
that always rattles me. Now, II they'd
on'y growl a little and look like they,
was jist a-puttin' up cause the first
one did, / can stand 1t; but when they
go to pattin' me on the head, and
a-tellin' me that's right and not to-
be afeared O. work. and I'll come out
all right and a tellin' me to git a good
substantial box while I'm a-gittin','
and a-ponyin' up handsome, there's
where weaken-I do, honest!" And
never 30 plainly as at that moment
did l see within his face and In his
eyes the light of true nobility.
You see," he went on, in a tone of
voice half courage, half apology, az got
a family on my hands. and L list got
to git along somehow! l could git along
on the square deal as long as mother
was aliye-'cause she'd workout ever
sence she died-and that was winter
Tore last-T've kind O. had to double
on the old thing all sorts o. ways. But
Sis don't know 1t. Sis, she thinks I'm
the squarest muldoon In the business"
and even side by side with the homely
ptterance a great sigh faltered from
his lips.
"And who is sis?" I inquired with
new interest.
"Sis?" he repeated, knocking my foot
from the box, and leaning back, still
IN the old position, his hat now lying
on the ground beside him, and his
frowZy hair tossed backward from the
full. broad brow-"Who's Sis?" he re-
peated with an upward smile that al.
most dazzled me-"W'y, Sis ISIS
wy, Sis is the boss girl-and don't you
fergit it,"
No need had he to tell me more than
this. I knew who ISIS was by the
light Of pride in the uplifted eyes; I
knew who isis" was by the exultation
IN the broken voice, and the half-de-
hant tossing Of the frowzy head; I
knew who isis" was by the little,
naked hands thrown upward openly: I
knew who isis" was by the tear that
dared to trickle through the dirt upon
her ragged brothers. face. And don't
you forget It!
0 that boy down there upon his
knees!-there In the cinders and the
dirt-so far, far down beneath us that
we trample on his breast and grind our
heels into his very heart; o that boy
there, with his lifted eyes, and Gods
own glory shining in his face, has
taught me, with an eloquence beyond
the trick Of understanding words
and metaphor, that love may find a
purer home beneath the rags of pow
erty and vice than in all the great
warm heart Of Charity.
I hardly knew what impulse prompt.
ed me, but as the boy rose to his feet
and held his hand out for the compen-
sation for his work, I caught the little
dingy palm close, close within my
own n wrung 1t as I would have
wrung the hand OF some great con-
queror.
The little fellow stared at me in
wonderment, and although his lips
were silent, I cannot but believe that
had they parted with the utterance
within his heart my feelings had re-
ceived no higher recognition than the
old contemptuous phrase, ooh, what
you givin' me?"
And 30 you've got a family on your
hands?" 1 inquired, recovering an air
VI simple curiosity, n toying In my
pocket with some bits of change. "How
much of a family?"
"On'y three Of us now"
Only three OF you, Ell? Yourself,
and Sis, and-and-"
THE old man." said the boy, uneas.
lily; and after a pause, in which he
seemed to swallow an ~utterance more
bitter, he added. "And he amt no good
on earthi"
Cant work." I queried.
Wont work." said the boy, bitterly.
HE won't work-he won't do nothin'
-on'y bulge! And I hat to steer him
in ever night, cause the cops won't
pull him any more-they won't lat him