The Dolores star. [volume] (Dolores, Montezuma County, Colo.) 1901-current, 1916-09-29

4 DhDy Dut AllCt udu aIu1OSI IOI-
gotten that there was such a thing as
fatherly fondness. In the Devils
Truck Patch men quarreled violently
with their wives and assaulted their
children with any convenient weapons.
At the mission Sunday school Mary
Alice had been told a great deal about
| fatherly affection. but in real life ex-
emplification had been negligible
Like as a father pitieth his children"
seemed TO her n kind OF sarcasm.
Little Charlie Thomas suddenly
looked around and saw the intruder.
His eyes widened in surprise and ques-
ton.
90, lookr' he cried Look at the
little girl-she's the one dreamed
about: honest, she is
Sam and Martha turned and oddly
enough, thought Mary Alice, greeted
her very pleasantly.
"Hullo kid" said Sam. "Sleep good ?"
You poor young-one-" Martha said
"Come here and let me wash your face
I bet you're hungry"
Mary Alice was not conscious OF
hunger. Now she submitted dumbly
to the ablutionary processes Of the
clearly Martha. All the while she kept
her eyes fixed upon the little shiny
haired boy in the big chair by the win.
dow.
whats your name?" demanded
Charlie. "Please come here and talk
| to me-"
Mary Alice went slowly up to the
childs side.
lie g shake hands," he said. 81
dreamed about you. What's your
namef'
"Mary Alice Brown"
"Where'd you come from? IL like
you, Mary Alice"
"she come from Shefiield. Charlie
hoy" put III Martha. Wash Moore,
the trolley conductor, brought her
here. She got lost or something. She
slept upstairs all night. What do you
s'pose made you dream about herr"
II don't know. l just wanted some
one to come and see me, some little
boy or girl Will you stay here f'rever,
Mary Alice?"
my mother wouldn't let me-" said
the little girl. II got to 20 home right
now"
Charlie looked from his father to his
mother, as II in them lay the decision,
quite without reference to Mary Aliee's
necessities.
Cant she stay? like her SO much,
| and she can read me Stories
There was nothing teasing or whin-
inn In, Cho lo'o inu OH
ful, hopeful insistence.
"Could you" began Martha.
II have to help my mother" said the
girl. "She's probably terrible worried
about me. We got baby, too, and
he's kind Of sick. could go home
OH the trolley. the same way I come.
1 got money"
"Well, you might g well eat some
breakfast. The next car don't go for
an hour"
Mary Alice went and sat by Charlie.
He asked her hundred questions. told
her a hundred little things about his
own life. Mary Alice was rs frank ms
she felt she could be. But she hated
to admit the facts that were all too
plainly revealed by her dress and con-
dition Instinctively she knew the hurt
she must give the boy If she told him
too much truth about herself. Shrewd
Martha Thomas saw 1t all as through a
magnifying lens.
"Dear Lord" the thought. helpcssly.
| chow can such things be right? Why
do little children have to suffer and
ray? Why don't grown-up folks settle
their own accounts. Poor innocent ba-
bies, poor innocent babies"'
From this one may see that some
how or other Martha Thomas was
CHASING her Charlie with Mary Alice
of the Sheffield Stun. What was the
common debt thus vicariously charged
against her boy and the fororn little
girl?
Sam, coming in from the barn. an
nounced that he must postpone his
wagon trip for another day.
But" he said. I'll just change my
clothes and take her." indicating the
visitor home on the trolley. I'm
goin' to find out somethin' about that
! kid. She amt very laxative: but I'm
darned good and sure. if she'd tell us
all we'd like to know, it wouldn't
sound like no funny story. That young
ones had some hard treatment"
I'm glad you're going" agreed his
wife. "She's a real nice child. only
she's been kicked or whipped or some
thing-you find out all you can. dear
Maybe we can do something"
"My fathers the grandest feller,"
Charlie was telling Mary Alice 81
guess I'm n awful lucky little boy. He
made me this chair hisself. Did you
ever see a baseball gamer Some day
when I grow up and my legs gets
well, I'm goin' to play baseball. I'm
goin' to be big leg pitcher. Gods
goin' to make me well, mummee says
I'm gettin' better all the time. Feel
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H What sorrow has darkened I5