The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1918-07-30

ou6ht " Dc gnu VI Tn gOOQ
home I've give We since your father
died. God have mercy on his sowl
It's not afther cross-eyed girls he'd be
goin. neither" walled Annie.
"She amt cross-eyed |" snarled John
ny, stung by the repetition. IF 1
likes a girl likes her, and it's not
even me mothers business, under
standT
me wild my rheumatismatics I
Many's tn time I've stood In tn snow
earnin' living to support you'll If 1
was many tn mother. I'd bat you
acrost tn face for talking back t. me-"
reproached Annie.
You'd only bat me once, then" re-
torted Johnny stoutly.
MRS. Kelly's grief broke forth afresh.
Her son surveyed her sullenly and
reached for his hat.
I'm goin' out" he remarked.
Mrs. Kelly gave no sign of having
heard.
I'm goin' down to Oliver street."
he added tauntingly.
Then Mrs. Kelly removed the apron.
You go down to Oliver street and
you can stay there" she said, trem-
bling.
"An right" replied Johnny. 'I'n
stay therel And you can be getting
some one else to help sell your pa
pers," he added shrilly. II won'tr
The slam Of the door closed the dis
cussion, and Mrs. Kelly sat by the
window alone. The fountain of tears
evaporated swiftly In the heat of her
gathering wrath.
'Shtruck, has hep she muttered
aloud to the silent room. "Readin'
thin coal mine stories, it's like. And
he'd be lawn me FIR a red-headed hus-
sy-th divil sind her joy of himl All
right, let mi I'll not take IN back,
not FIR President O'Roosevelt and tn
whole crowd of arbitraries. 1 know.
me business II
With the final sentence Mrs. Kelly
rose and set about her evenings work.
The vigor with which she banged the
iron fryin'-pan upon the table beside
the kitchen sink spoke volumes for
the earnestness Of her resolve.
me wurrkin' me hands to tn bone
an him lettin, mel It's on grating
he can sleep this night" she said saw
agely, at the end of two hours of I'M
assisted toll.
AS she fiounced from the kitchen,
outraged motherhood caused her to
lock the door viciously, and to indulge
In the hope that the autumn night
might be cold.
During all the following day Annie
stood at her post in front of one of
the newspaper buildings on Park Row.
Annie had been selling papers at this
particular stand for more than ten
years. and In the crowds streaming to
and from the bridge there were dozens
whose days would not have been fully
begun or ended without CHEEKY word
and a hurried purchase as they paused
before her. And usually as CHEEKY
word had been tossed back to them.
On but one Occasion-when Johnny,
as baby, lay very Ill with diphtheria
could her customers recall such de-
preston.
1t CHANGED that one of the Oldest,
who remembered, and who now no.
ticed Johnny's absence, made in
quiries.
Annie told her woe volubly. The
man shook his head.
Better arbitrate it." he said grave
ly. Seems the only way to do bust
ness nowadays" Then he dashed
around the corner for a trolley car.
Johnny remained obdurate, and in
the tenement on Cherry Hill dust
gathered for three days upon his bed.
Mrs. Kelly ate desolate breakfasts and
did all the work. At dusk on the
third day she followed an insistent
impulse and went for a little walk.
Totally oblivious footsteps carried her
stout and rotund figure down into
Oliver street. She happened to no.
tice the cross-eyed girl sitting on her
doorstep in close and unabashed con-
verse with boy who was not johnny.
Shortly afterwards she returned bone.
and the haste with which she opened
the door meant hope as plainly as the
subsequent look in her old eyes meant
disappointment. The room was still
empty.
AT the moment in which she plodded
uneasily to her work on the next
morning, Johnny crawled forlornly
from a packing-box in Thirty-first
Street area. and denounced upper
broadway vigorously. He was hungry
and business was bad.
Towards four in the afternoon he
shifted his bundle of unsold papers
under his arm and despairingly caught
on behind truck that was rafting
towards the Battery. AS he swung
off at the city hall his heart grew sud-
denly light, and he ran across the park
In citation. AT the foot of the city
hall steps he sprang with joyous
whoop upon the back of an acquaint-
ance who, in company with a group
of other newsboys, was beguiling the
tedium of the afternoons slack hours
by pitching pennies. The acquaint-
ance leaped to his feet and mixed
things until policeman scattered the
ring.
On native soil the lifeless insipidity
Of upper Broadway fell rapidly into
the dim recesses Of memory, and John
ny heaved sigh of relief.
By six o'clock he had lodged guilt
fly into Park Row to get the extras,
catching glimpse, on his way, of his
mothers back as she stood In her
regular place and cried her wares.
There was something about the lines
Of her figure which made Johnny I'M
comfortable, but he ducked behind the
nearby Franklin statue and COM
menced business hurriedly.
From time to time he peeped around
Ben Franklin. He noticed the tao
tics of the piratical outsiders as they
boarded Annie's customers, and his
blood boiled over. When restraint
ceased to be possibility, and while
his mothers attention was engaged,
he crept up behind the intruders and
cuffed one of them soundly. The 9TH
ers fled, and 1t was noised swiftly
abroad that Johnny had returned to
kis own.
Mrs. Kelly got the news at last.