Show A PRICELESS GEM IN THE BAD BOYS CHOWft OF SUBLUNARY SUBLU-NARY GLORY Ah ha you have got your deserts at last said the grocery man to the bad boy ag he came in with one eye black and hia nose peeled on one side and sat down en a board across the coal scuttle and began whistling BB unconcerned as possible Whats the matter with your eye Boy tried to gouge It out without asking my consent and the bad boy took a dried herring out of the box and began peeling it HHe is in bed now and his ma is poulticing him andsbe eayo he will be out about the last of next week 110 you are going to be a prizefighter prize-fighter aint you said the grocery man disgusted When a boy leaves a job where he is working and goes to loafing around be becomes a fighter the firet thing I It you had this black eye and got it in the way I did it would be amore a-more priceless gem in the orown of glory you hope to wear then any gem you can get by patting quarters in the collection plats with the holes filled with lead as you did last Sunday Sun-day when I was watching you 0 didnt you look pious when you picked that filled quarter out and held your thumb over the place where the lead was The way of the black eye was this I got a job tending a soda fountain and last night just before be-fore we closed there was two or three young loafers in the place and a girl came in for a glass of soda Five years ago she was one of the brightest scholars in the ward school when I was in the intermediate department She was jnet as handsome as a peach and everybody liked her At recess she used to take my part when the boys knocked me around and she lived near us She had a heart an big as that cheese box and I guess thats whats the matter Anyway see lelt school and then it wag said she was going to be married to a fellow fel-low who is now in the dude basinet but he went back on her and after awhile a-while her ma turned her out dears and for a year or two ebe 1i ce jerking beer in a concert saloon until the mayor stopped concerts She tried hard to get sewing to do but tbey wouldnt have her I guess came oho cried so much when she WH sewing and the tears wet the cloth one was sewing on Once I asked pa why ma didnt give her some sewing to do and he said for me to dry up and never to speak to her il I met her on the street It seemed tufi to pass heron her-on the atre ° t when she nod tears in her eyes air big 119 marbles aDd not speak to her when I know her eo well and she had been BO kind to me at echool just cause dude wouldnt marry her but I wanted to obey paso pa-so I used to walk around a block when I see her coming cause I didnt want to hurt her feelings Well last night she came in the store looking pretty shabby and wanted a glass of soda and I gave it to her and 0 bow her hand trembled when she raised the glass to her sips and bow wet bereyen were and how pale her face was I choked up BO I couldn speak when she banded me I the nickel and wen aba looked ly Ito at me and 6mil d just like she p lib l j JJ to and raid Las getting to K 8cn Ol 1 IDItD4inae we tent most aman at the old urooolboue ud pat her J handksrcbef to her oyec by gosh my till whether 1 fUll I couldn t eyes got f > it was aJickel or a ozerer she gave me jist then one oi those loafers I and call her I at htv began to laugh > and say the police ought tot and be made her for f1rsYJ talc > up a foj of her until roe orled some more nd I got hot and went around to where he wap and told him it be said another unwind word to that girl 1 would ujpal him He laughed and asked if she was my sister and I told him that a poor friendless girl who was sick and in distaess and who was insulted ought to be every toys sia ter for a minute and any boy who baa a spark oi manhood should protect pro-tect her and then he laughed and said I ought to be one of toe Little Sisters at the Poor and he took hold of her Jaded shawl and pulled the weak girl against the snowcase and said something mean to ber and she looked aa though the wanted to die and I mashed that boy ono right on the nose Well the air seer ed to be full of me for a minute causehe was bigger than me and he got me down and got his thumb in my eye I guess he was going to take my eye out but I turned him over and got ou top and I mauled him until he begged but I wouldnt let bim up till he asked tho ira pardon and swore he would whip any boy that in suited her and then I let him up and then the girl taank d me but I told her I couldnt sneak to bar cause she was tuft and pa didnt want me to speak to anybody who was tuff but if nn body insnlted her BO she had to cry that I would whip him if Lbad to tike a club I told pa about it and I thought he would he mad at me for tuking the part of a girl that was luff but by gosh pa I hugged me and the tears came into I his eyee and hd said I get good blood in me and I did just right and if I would show him the father of the boy that I whipped pa said he would whip the old man and ma said for me to fijd the poor girl and send her up to the boaee and she would give her a job making pillowcases pillow-cases and night shirts Dont it seem darn qneer to you tnat everybody goon back on a pobr girl cause she makes o mfeukeand the blasted wbelj that is to blame gets a chrome I makouae tiwd to think of itftnd the oy got up and shook himself and ooked into the cracked mirror bang fug upon a post to see how his eye was getting along I Say young fellow you are a thoroughbred said the grocery man as be sprinkled some water on the asparagus and lettuce and you can come in here and get all the herring you want and never mind the black eye I wish I had it myself Yes it does seem tough to see people never allow a girl to reform Now in Bible times the Savior fcrgave Mary or somebody I forgot now what her i name was and she was a better girl than ever What we need is more of the spirit of Christ and the world would be better What we need is about ten thousand thou-sand Chriets We ought to have tenor ten-or fifteen right here in Milwaukee and they would find plenty of business busi-ness too But this climate seems to be too rongbJPeeks Sun |