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

tNSSsSA WI eaAdh INC lat {hAn WAA III NO
wise blamabie: that he had run away
On his own hook. ana would do IL
Egain IL he wanted to. But he broke
there with heavy sob: and the rat
man said: 'Therel there! Coofsey. go
along with the old 'un, ana here's
dollar for you," And Tod cried aloud.
The good minister had brought a
letter for him, too. and ~ the boy
read It through his tears he turned
homeward almost eagerly.
Dear Tod ct ranl. have been quite sacs
since you left me. You must CORE back.
for miss sou, and I can never Get wei
again without You I've got a new kink
On . pair Of stilts I've made you, but
can't tell how long 20 make them till you
come back. Fanny comes over every day
and talks about yoa so much half be-
lieye sometimes she likes you better than
she does her old sick uncle; but can
stand that because you deserve it, and
t'm too old for nttie girls to ike very
much. It'H soon be the Fourth. yott
know. and we must be getting ready for
big time. Come home al once, for I
ann waiting
To stoddard Anderson. fren Ids old
friend and teacher
Tod went home He FASTENED to
the teachers darkened room. The
dear old face had grown pale-so very
pales 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 like a
WyhM ,.sx4v, 49,. n
lentfy and left the two old friends to-
gethor: and there were teardrops in
his eyes.
And so the little, staggering life
went on alone. Some old woman gos-
sip, peering through the eye OF q
needle on the institution known as
the Ladies' Benevolent Sewing so
cfety." said that IT 'peared to her like
that boy OF the preachers jes' KEEP a.
pinin' and a-pinin' away, ever sence
they fetched him back from his runa.
way scrape. She'd seen him time and
again sence then, and although the lit
tle snipe was innocentlike to all APP
pearances. she'd DO bound that he was
In dcyilment enough! Reckoned he
Was too proud to march In the school
p'cession at the teachers funerI; and
he didn't so 20 the meetin' house at
all 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, ana a.
pitchin' clods In. and a-smilin'. "And
only ies' the other evening" she con
tinued. "as was comm past there
kind o. in the dusklike, that boy was
R-settin' a-straddle o. the grave, and
tes' a-cryin't And I thought 1t kind
o. strangeliks. and stopped and hol-
Tered: What's the matter of We,
Todr and he ups and hollers back:
'Stumpt my toe. durn YET and thinks
I, My youngster, they'll be q day o.
reckonin' fer your"
The old world worried on, till july
came at last. and with 1t that most
gloricss day that wrapped the baby
nation In fits swaddling clothes of
stripes and stars and laid IL 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 giancing
through the ieweled leaves and woke
thern' And not more joyous were the
birds or more riotous their little
throbbing hearts to pipe the trail and
cheep and twitter twenty million
loves" than the merry children that
came fluttering TO the grove to join
their reveiry.
o brighter than a 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 a little girl In white,
with q wreath of evergreen. wave her
crimson sash In answer to him. while
the column slowly fled across the
open bridge, where yet again no saw
her reappear in the reflection I'm the
stream below. Then. after the dull
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 labors
OF arranging swings and clearing I'M
derbrush away preparatory to a day
Of unconiined enjoyment: and how the
girls shrieked to see the black man
coming" and how coauettishly they
struggled when captured and carried
OF by that dread being. and yet what
eagerness they displayed In his be-
half' And 'sRing"--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 q carbuncle on the
back Of his neck. grew riotous with
mirth. and when tripped fun length
upon the sward by the little widow In
half-mourning, hustled nimhly to his
feet and kissed her, with some wicked
pun about "grass" widows. that made
him laugh TIN his face grew as red
as his earbuncle. That bashful young
man who had struggled on alone. sit
ting SO intentionally upon Q log. kill
ing bugs and spiders. like an ugiy
giant with a monster ciub--how hs
must have envied the airy freedom of
those '.old boys and girls"
Then there was a group OF older
men talking go long and earnestly
N f,fssy% 4I.n ysnathMr ana eha yw.vNvu %3,e&