The Snowflake herald., 1922-10-06

| llgntS, but they were Such that tnelr
remembrance brought no pleasure to
Bruce. They were just wild glare,
a fixed, strange brightness as of great
fear or insanity.
The Woman had kissed him and
! gone quickly; and he had been too
young to remember if she had carried
any sort of bundle close to her breast.
Yet, the man considered, there must
have been such bundle-Otherwise
he couldn't possibly account for Linda.
| And there were no doubts about her,
| at all.
OF course he had no memories of
| her that first day, nor for the first
| years. But all later memories of the
| Square house always included her.
She must have been nearly four years
younger than himself; thus when he
was taken to the house she was only
an infant. But thereafter, the nurses
put them together often; and when
Linda was able to talk, she called him
something that sounded like Bwova-
boo. She called him that so often that
for long time he couldn't be sure
that wasn't his real name. Now, in
manhood. he interpreted.
Brother Bruce, of course. Linda
was of course sister"
Linda had been homely; even a
small boy could notice that Besides,
Linda was nearly six when Bruce had
left for good and he was then at an
age in which impressions begin to
be lasting. Her hair was quite blond
then, and her features rather irregular.
But there had been light in her eyes
By his word, there had been!
She had been angry at him times in
plenty-Over some childish game-and
he remembered how that light had
grown and frightened. She had flung
at him too. He laughed at the
memory of her sudden, explosive feroc-
ity-the way her hands had smacked
against his cheeks, and her sharp little
nails had scratched him Little Spit
fire." he sometimes called her; but
no one else could call her anything
but Linda. For Bruce had been an
able little fighter, even in those days.
He was fond of drawing pictures.
This was nothing in itself; many lit
tie boys are fond of drawing pictures.
Nor were his unusually good. Their
strangeneSS lay in his subjects. He
liked to draw animals in particular
the animals he read about in school
and in such books as were brought
to him. And sometimes he drew In
dians and cowboys. And one day
when he wasn't half watching what
he was doing-he drew something
quite different.
Perhaps he wouldn't have looked at
it twice, if the teacher hadn't stepped
up behind him and taken it out of his
hands. 1t was geography" then, not
drawing" and he should have been
paying attention" And he had every
reason to think that the teacher would
crumple up his picture and send him
to the cloak-room for punishment
But she did no such thing. When
her eyes glanced down, her fingers
slowly straightened Then she looked
carefully.
~''What is this, Bruce?" she asked
''What have you been drawihg?"
Il don't know" the child an
swered. He looked and for an instant
let his thoughts go wandering here
and there. "Those are trees" he
said A word caught at his throat and
he blurted it out. "Pines Pine trees,
growing on a mountain"
"NOt bad for a six-year-old boy"
the teacher commented. "But where
of such pines?" But Bruce did not
know.
Another puZzling adventure that
stuck in Bruce's memory had happened
only a few months after his arrival
at the Square house, when a man had
taken him home on trial with the idea
Of adoption.
All the incidents and details Of the
excursion with this prospective parent
were extremely dim and vague. He
did not know to what city he went,
nor had he any recollection whatever
of the people he met there. But he did
remember, with remarkable clearness,
lHc pei pIoAIlS ldIh tIldI tile man ana
the superintendent Of the Square
house had together on his return.
"He won't do" the stranger had
said. II tried him out and he won't
fill in in my family. And I've fetched
him back.
II believe in being frank, and I tell
you there's something vicious in that
boys nature. 1t came out the very
first moment he was in the house,
when the Missus was introducing him
to my eight-year-old son. This is lit
tie Turner she said-and this boy
sprang right at him. I'd never let
little Turner learn to fight, and this
boy was on top of him and was pound
ing him with his fists before we could
pull him off. I didn't understand it
at ALL
Nor did the superintendent under
stand; norm these later years
Bruce either.