Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1915-01-28

asserted that the fat man was In no
wise biamabie; that he had run away
On his own hook, and would do it
again IL he wanted TO But no broke
there with heavy sob: and the tat
man said: There, there! Cootsey, 60
along with the old 'un, and here's a
dollar for you" And Ted cried aloud.
The good minister had brought a
letter for him, too. and aa the boy
read 1t through his tears he turned
homeward almost eagerly.
Dear Tod Eit RAM. have been quite aoi
| since you left me. You must co.ns back,
| for miss you. and / can never get well
again without you. I've got q new kfuk
ON o pair of stills I've made you. but I
| can't tell how long 10 make them till you
1 come back. Fanny comes over every day.
and talks about you 30 much half be-
I lie|e sometimes she likes you better than
| she does her old sick uncle; but I can
| stand that, because you deserve It, and
| I'm too old FOR little girls to like very
| much. it1l soon be the Fourth, you
| know. and we must be getting ready for
| a big time. Come home at once. for
/ am waiting.
To stoddard Anderson. from his old
friend and teacher. ....- ,-
Tod went home. He fastened to
the teachers darkened room. The
dear old face had grown paie--so very
pale! The kindly hand that reached
out to grasp the boys was thin and
| wasted, and the gentle voice that he
had learned to love was faint and
low--so very low, 1t sounded Hike a
prayer. The good minister turned 81
lently and left the two old friends to-
gether: and there were teardrops In
his syes. "a
And so the little, staggering life
went on alone. Some old woman COS
sip. peering through the eye Of S
needle on the institution known as
the Ladies' Benevolent Sewing so.
cfety," said that 1t 'peared TO her like
that boy OF the preachers jes' KEEP n
pinin' and a-pinin' away, ever sence
they fetched him back from his runa-
way scrape. She'd seen him time and
again senee then, and although the lit
Ito snipe was innocentlike to all APP
pearances, she'd be bound that he was
In devilnent enough! Reckcned he
was too proud to march In the school
recession at the teachers funer'I; and
he didn't go to the meetin' house at
| ell. but put OF to the graveyard by
hisself: and when they got there with
the corpse, Tod was a.settin' with his
legs a-hangin' in the grave. and a.
| pitchin' clods In, and a-smilin' "And
only jes' the other evening" she con
tinued. "as was comm past there
kind o. In the dusklike, that boy was
a-settin' a-straddla o. the grave, and
jes' a-cryinT And ! thought 1t kind
o. strangelike. and stopped and hol.
Tered: What's the matter of ye,
TodT and he ups and hollers back:
'Stumpt my toe, durn YET and thinks
!, My youngster. they'll be day o.
reckonin' fer yeu!'"
The old world worried on, till July
came at last, and with Ii that most
glorious day that wrapped the baby
nation In fits swaddling clothes of
stripes and stars and laid 1t IN the lap
of Liberty. And what day that was!
And how the birds did sing that morn
Ing from the green tops Of the trees
when the glad sunlight came glancing
through the jeweled leaves and woke
theml And not more joyous we're the
birds. or more riotous their little
throbbing hearts to pipe the trail and
cheep ana twitter twenty million
loves" than the merry children that
came fiuttering 70 the grove to join
their reyelry.
o brighter than dream swept
the procession OF children from the
town toward the boy that swung his
hat from the tree top near the brook.
And he flushed with some strange &C.
stasy as he saw q little girl in white,
with a wreath OF evergreen, wave her
crimson sash In answer to him. while
the column slowly fled across the
open bridge. where yet again he saw
her reappear In the reflection In the
stream below. Then. after the duh
opening of prayer. and the more tedi-
Gus exercises following, how the woods
did ring with laughter: how the boys
We'd with one another in their Iahors
OF arranging swings and clearing IN
derbrush away preparatory to day
OF unconflned enjoyment: and how the
girls shrieked TO see the black man
coming" and how couuettishly they
struggled when captured and carried
of by that dread being, and yet what
eagerness they displayed I'm his be-
haiti And "Ring"--rnen and women
even Joining In the game. and kissing
one another's wives and husbands
like mad. Why. even the ugly old
gentleman with carbuncie on the
back Of his neck, grew riotous with
nirth, and when trippee fun length
upon the sward by the little widow In
half-mourning, hustled ntmbly to his
feet and kissed her, with some wicked
pun about grass" widows. that made
him laugh till his face grew as red
| as his earbuneie. That bashful young
man who had struggled or alone. sit
ting so intentionally upon q log. kill
ing bugs and spiders, like an ugly
giant with a monster clab-how he
must have envied the airy freedom OF
those ''old boys and girls"
Then there was a group OF older
men talking so long and earnestly
about tho weather aad the cTops that