Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1932-01-14

Evans. Himself be coming-
But the little boys mother had lai,
a finger to her lips and had glance,
meaningly at the little boy. And Nor,
b~eckoned Annie after her. And a tax
from the station had come, In the du'
course OF time, to fetch them away. Tn,
little boy missed them. bitterly. HI,
missed Nora's drop cakes, frosted il
chocolate. He missed Annie,s music
But now there wasn't time, not real.
", for missing. AS he went through
the lonely hall. up the lonely stairs te
the playroom. the little boy reaiizee
that he had a task before him. His
mothers words-unintentionalIy grin
words-were beginning to ring in his
mind. 40
IS a fine time to have a COM
plete clearing out" she had said. Eyes
you may take the whole TOYS. all OF
them. But the broken things we'll give.
or throw away. SO mother had
spoken, and her tone had been casual
so casual that. at first. her meaning
hadn't crept into the little boys mind.
1t was only now. climbing the stairs,
that 1t anne over him, the real force
OF her remark. Did mother know
could she knoW-hoW few whole TOYS
the little boy owned? Could she guess
that even some OF the very newest of
his toys were-cracked?
Almost Historically the little boy
who had begun the climb slowly-be-
gan to race up the stairs. He was won
der1ng about the blackboard. WHY. he
blackboard was n Of the cracked toysI
There was quite a big piece off the
corner Of it. And the trair-it was All
dented, Where he'd dropped 1t. And the
hobby horse. Both Of its ears had been
snapped off, that time he'd played cir
u And the teddy bear. with the
saWdust out of arm. and a leg COM
pletely gonel The teddy bear was the
bfokef1est toy of a1f-and yet the little
boy couldn't give, or throw the teddy
away He couldn't go into any place
If it was only one room, without
his teddy. Why, his teddy had STAYED
with nlm every night since he could
remember. He'd gone to sleep, always.
with his fingers feeling along teddy's
nose, until they came to teddy's beady
eyes. The cool feel of those eyes was
the last waking memoryi
The httle boy was running when he
to the playroom. He flung open
door with fingers that felt lairly
stiff. He peered inside at the waiting
toys. And then. more than q trifle
sadly. ne stepped across the threshold.
For II was worse. far worse, then he had
dreamed it would bel AS his glance
swept across the room the little boy
saW that few, indeed, of the TOYS were
whole. Almost everything was damag-
q. He hadn't meant to hurt them.
lis toys. It was only that he'd PLAYED
With them SO constantly. His CHAIR
me rocker was split. The top knob was
Missing from his ring-toss game. The
Gathers were fuzzy in his Indian war
,onnett-some Of them were gone. His
wooden cart had a wabbly wheel. And
blackboard, and the train. and the
lobby horse and the teddy!
The little boy took in the whole
ragic sight at a glance. And then.
lerolcally, he set his teeth in his ul1iy-
ring upper lips. He mustn't cry. not
LoW- There wasn't time-mother was
lready packing to leave. He had too
luch work ahead of him. too short d
In which to accomplish it, for
ne luxury of tears.
Speculatively the little boy SURVEYED
playroom and its content. All az
ne dear, broken thingsi His breath
IN Q desperate, quivering sigh.
nd then he had turned and his feet
ere Tying from the room. There was
ie medicine closet first, in the bath
'om, where bandages and adhesive
lpe might be found. Then mothers \
Ork basket that stood on the table he
dc her bed, where there were needles
ID pins and thread. Then the desk
the study, where one could locate
lSte and Ink and Irvine. 1t wasn't
very long before the little boy had II
q medicine chest and the desk
T basket he took possession MI
mpletely- 1t wasn't SO very long he
re he Was back again in the utavrnom
q was seated with the results of his
lulng party all about him on the
,Or. II
The teddy bear. that was the most
eclouS, 1t must come first The little
y reached Tor 1t, held 1t close for q III
,ment to his heart. n
With clumsy, stubby, small fingers. III
wonder SO many toys were broken. III
searched through the orderly inside iii
motners work basket. He found a
Use Unread, a large needle. He tried
: 70 sob aloud when the needle prick
ms fingers. After a while he got it
'eaded.
(To Be Contin11ed)