The Arizona copper camp., 1919-02-15


and grammar and geography as we
rode along in the darkness and said
by and by:
you'll have to work hard, Bart.
You'll have to take your book into
the field as 1 did. After every row
} of corn learned a rule of syntax or
arithmetic or fact in geography while
1 rested, and my thought and memory
took hold of it as / piled the hoe. |
don't want you to stop the reading,
but from now on you must spend half
Of every evening on your lessons"
AS / was going to bed the Senator
called me to him and said:
81 shall be gone when you are up
in the. morning.. 1t may be a long
time before I see you; shall leave
something for you in a sealed enyel-
ope with your name on it. You are
not to open the envelope until you
go away to school. I know how you
will feel that first day. When night
falls ycu will think of your aunt and
uncle and be very lonely. When you
go to your room for the night / want
you to sit down all by yourself and
open the envelope and read what I
shall write. They will be, I think, the
most impressive words you ever read.
You will think them over but you
will not understand them for long
time. Ask every wise man you meet
to explain them to you, for all your'
happiness will depend upon your un-
derstanding of those few words in the
envelope"
In the morning Aunt Deel put it
in my hands.
'T wonder what in the world he
wrote there-ayes !" said sh0 "We
must keep it careful-ayes I'll put
it in my trunk an give it to We when
ye go to Canton to school"
'Has Mr.. Wright gomez" I asked
rather sadly.
"Ayes! Land O. mercy! He went
away long before daylight with a lot
o. ierked meat in a pack basket
ayes Yer uncle is goin' down to the
village to see bout the mortgage this
afternoon, ayes!'
IT was q Saturday and l spent It's
hours cording wood In the shed, paus-
ing now and then for a look into
my grammar.
What a day it was !-the first OF
many like it. 1 never think of those
days without saying to myself: "What
a Gods blessing q man like SilaS
Wright can be in the community in
which his heart and soul are as an
open book !"
AS the evening came on I took O
long look at my cords. The shed was
nearly half full of them. Four rules
of syntaX, also, had been carefully
stored away in my brain. / said
them over as I hurried down into the
pasture with old Shep and brought in
the COWS. l got through milking just
as Uncle Peabody came. I saw with
joy that his face was cheerful.
"Yip!" he shouted as he stopped his
team at the barn door, where Aunt
Deel and I were standing. "We afh't
got much to worry about now. I've
got the interest money right here in
my pocket"
We unhitched and went in to sup
per. l was hoping that Aunt Deel
would speak of my work but she
seemed not to think of it.
l went out on the porch and stood
looking down with q sad countenance.
Aunt DceI followed me.
"W'y, Bartr' she exclaimed, "you're
too tired to eat-ayes Be ye sick?"
I shook my head.
"Peabody," she called, "this boy has
worked like beaver every minute
since you 1eft-ayes he has! I never
see anything to beat it-never!
want you to come right out into the
wood-shed an see what he's done
this minute-ayes -
I followed them into the shed.
"W'y of all things!'' my uncle ex-
claimed. "He's worked like mailer,
amt he?"
There were tears in his eyes when
he took my hand in his rough palm
and squeezed it and said:
Sometimes I wish ye was little
again so I could take We up in my
arms an kiss We just as I used to.
Horace Dunkelberg says that you're
the. best-lookin, boy he. eyer. see