Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1914-12-17
Go on" / said. with an assuring


cautiously around, SIS a-hidin' my box
and a-rushin' in, suddent-like, where
they's crowd o nobs a-talkin' politics
er somepin', and a-iist startin' in. and
fore they know what's a-comin' I'm
a-fiashin up a nickel er a dime, and
a-tellin 'em if only had enough more
to make so cents I could buy a blackin'
box, and wouldn't have to asst no boot
o. my grandmother And two minutes
chinnin' does it, don't you see, cause
they don't know nothin' bout blackin'
boxes; they're jist as soft as you air.
They got an idy, 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
see? But that amt the p'int-it's
the Mr.. Nickel ! already got. OH it'll
paralyze 'em ever timel Sometimes
fellers'll make up rs cents er a dollar,
and tell me to git new box, and go
into the business right That's thing
that always rattles me. Now, if they'd
y
was list a-puttin' up cause the first
one did, can stand it; 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 Ill come out
all right and 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 so plainly as at that moment
did see within his face and in his
| eyes the light of true nobility.
you see" he went on, in tone of
voice half courage, half apology, 81 got
family on my hands, and L jist got
to git along somehow! could git along
on the square deal as long as mother
was alive-'cause she'd workout ever
sence she died-and that was winter
fore last-I've kind o. had to double
on the old thing all sorts q ways. But
Sis don't know it. Sis, she thinks I'm
the squarest muldoon in the business, =
and even side by side with the homely
utterance a great sigh faltered from
his lips.
"And who is Sis?" / 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. / knew who isis" was by the
light of pride in the uplifted eyes; l
knew who Sis was by the exultation
in the broken voice, and the half-de-
faint tossing of the frowzy head; l
knew who sis" was by the little,
naked hands thrown upward openly; |
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!
O 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.
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, / caught the little
dingy palm close, close within my
own, and wrung it 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, 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 SO you've got family on your
hands?" / inquired, recovering an air
Of simple curiosity, and toying in my
pocket with some bits of change. How
much of 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 pause, in which he
seemed to swallow an utterance more
bitter, he added, And he amt no good
on earth!'
Cant work." I queried.
won't work." said the boy, bitterly.
''Ie won't work-he won't do nothin'
-on'y bulge! And l hat to steer him
in ever night, cause the cops won't
pull him any mOre-thev won't lot him