The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1926-11-12

little dllcnCcS UoloISinSS. 1t uiu hol
look like the same room.
As she chung to the squirming pup
by and stared. Lizzie came in.
Saint it nice? she asked. "Mr.
Levine came out with the dog this aft
ernoon and suggested the change. He
helped me. See the old quilt in the
corner? That's for the dog to sleep
on. Amt he as big as an elephant!
I'm afraid he'll eat as much as
man."
HE can have half of my food"
cried Lydia. "Oh, Lizzie, isn't he
beautiful J"
swell, no." replied Lizzie, truthful
ly. HE looks to me as If some one
had stepped on his face. You'd bet
ter take him out for run"
John Levine never did wiser or
a kinder thing than to give the brindle
English bulldog to Lydia. He was
puppy of nine months, well bred and
strong. Lydia took him into her emp
ty little heart with a completeness
that belongs to the natural dog lover
and that was enhanced by her be-
reavement. She and Kent cast about
some time before deciding on name.
At first they thought seriously OF
naming him John, after the donor,
but decided that this might lead to
confusion. Then they discovered that
Levine's middle name was Adam, and
Adam the brindle bull became, forth
with.
Lydia made no objection to return
ing to the old room. 1t had lost Its
familiar outlines.
In May the garden was planted and
in June, Lydia graduated from the
eighth grade, and the long summer
vacation had begun. After the episode
of the note, Lydia made conscien-
tious effort to play with Margery at
recess, and when vacation began she
called for the bankers daughter regu-
larry every week to go swimming.
Outwardly this summer was much
like the previous one, except that
there was a quiet contentment about
Amos in spite of his real mourning
for his baby daughter, that had been
foreign to him for years. 1t was the
garden that did this. Not only was
it a wonderful garden to look on and
to eat from, but with it Amos paid for
milk and butter from the Nortons and
for part of his groceries. This made
possible the years interest and pay
ment on the note.
Lydia sewed for Florence Dombey,
climbed trees, swan and played pi-
rates with Kent But as matter of
fact, the old childish Zest for these
things had gone. For Lydia's real
childhood had left her that December
night she had spent under the far cor
ner of her fathers bed. She had not
prayed since then. Her young faith
In the kindness and sweetness of life,
badly shaken by her mothers death,
had been utterly destroyed when lit
tie Patience had been taken from her.
Lydia was very nervous about her
first day at high school. Kent was
entering at the same time and she
would have liked to have asked to go
with him but she knew he would re-
sent violently being associated with a
girl on so important an occasion.
So 1t was that one of the teachers
{ observed child In q faded but clean
galatea sailor suit, with curly blond
| hair barely long enough to tie at her
neck, standing in one of the lower
| halls after the mob of seven or eight
hundred boys and girls had been sue
cessfully herded into the great assem-
bly, room.
What Is your name, my dearT'
asked the teacher.
Lydia silently presented her promo
ton card. The teacher nodded.
"Come along, Miss Dudley. or you'll
miss the principals speech"
She seated Lydia near her in the
assembly room, then looked her over
curiously The child's face was re-
markably intelligent, high-bred lit
tie face under finely domed head
The back of her ears and the back OF
her neck were dirty; and her thin
hands were rough as If with house
work. The galatea sailor suit was
cheap and coarse.
! "A sick mother or no mother" was
the teachers mental tone. 81 must
| inquire about her."
Miss Towne had the reputation OF
an unfeeling disciplinarian among the
! pupils, but Lydia did not know this
She only knew that by some miracle
Of kindness she came to understand
the classroom system Of recitations
that she was introduced to different
/ teachers, that she learned how to de
cipher the hours of her recitations
from the complicated chart on the as
sembly room blackboard, and that al
noon she started for home with lisi
of textbooks to be purchased, and 8
perfectly clear idea of what to dc
when she returned on the morrow.
Lydia walked along slowly. thinking
deeply. She knew that her list oil
books came to something over Ave
dollars. She knew that this sum OF
money would floor her father and she
knew that she would rather beg or
the streets than start Amos on one Of
his TRADES on his poverty.
When she turned into the dirt road
Billy Norton overlook her. He wal
wearing very high starched collar and
new suit Of clothes. Billy was &
senior and felt his superiority. New
ertheless, he wanted to tell his trou
bles-even to first-year pupil.
Gee, don't / have the luckv hi
groaned. 81 could get on the schoo
football team, I know 1t, IL / didn'
have to come home right after schoo
to deliver milk. Hang It'll"
Lydia looked at him quickly. ''Hov
much milk do you have to deliver?"
Jaw. just a snag. Two quarts W
the road to Essers' and two to Stones
Think Of putting me off the schoo
team for four quarts of milk 70