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Show the extremes of life seemed to bnrst upon him. lie dropped into a ihair. his first impulse being: to sit there until morning, if necessary, a sileat guardian of tbe sleeping boy, but, as he realized the saturated condition of the child's clothing and his need of a change, he reached over reluctantly and gently shook the little shouldar. At length the eyelids quivered, and? finally opened, disclosing a pair of large, sleepy, blue eyes in mute appeal for rest. For one instant their eyes met and then the young man, with a single hurried glance round, a3 though ha was about to do something wrong, suddenly snatched the child from the floor, placed him upon his knee, in utter disregard of consequences, and inquired if he was hungry. Amazement seemed to hush articulation. articula-tion. The silent answer came in an affirmative affirma-tive nod of the little head and a brightening bright-ening of tha eyes. A secluded corner of the dining-room was sought, and an order given, with the confidence of an eld habitue, for anything and everything the kitchen I could afford at that late hour of night, r 1 j jj AN AWAKENING. T T WAS two houra past midnight and a January storm was reding. New Torli lay a foot undor the snow which had been falling all diay and night, only to give place to an icy rain. The streets .were deserted by all save -the guardians of the peace, and even they sought shelter shel-ter wherever they could, secure in the - Relief that on suh a eight they were afe from detection by the .chance patrolman. pa-trolman. The clogged gutters afforded iio outlet, and rivers of water ran over She mounds of snow and gathered in pools in the footprints made early in the evening by hurrying crowds of -workers eager to reach their homes. .''At the dek of one of the largest and jfiost luxuriquH hotels stood a young arian, fashionably attired, leaning partly part-ly on one arm, -with his face turned toward the door. "Near him stood the clerk, and they were engaged in that "We diisst, yer bet! Ycr wouldn't like ter meet Tiger w'en he's drunk ho1 rears and charges whew! Well, yer ! see, sur, dc shad got busted ternite aoi' I wua hunMn' fur a place on' suthin' made me hase in 'ere," "Where is Jimmie?" "Dunno; ef he6 in luck he's in de hum!" "How much does it cost to get a bed in the home?" "Ten cents; yer see, luck went agjn me terdn.y. Two dagoea big. fellers," rind the blue eyes grew as large" as the ugh illustrating the size of theene? tt'.u- "cum and ewiped mc fctajtid an' pmhed me, see, an' I jest dropped m pa-iexs down to fite 'cm, and de odder dago grabbed 'em an' run. But I'll git square wid dem dagoes!" ho added, meditatively. "How?" "I'll git Tlgersum time w'en he ain't woozy ter cum down ter d stand ; he'll git away wid 'em. Bee! "Well, here's a dime. Run down to the home n.nd go to bed. Stay there tomorrow to-morrow morning until I come to see you. Maybe I would like to be a side partner of youis and Jimmie's." "Ilully gee, tanksl" and without waiting for further persuasion, the boy jrm out into the bleak night. The cleak gazed at the young man with a. cynical smile. Al.could do that 20 timeft nlghtif I liked," he said, coldly; "it doesnothelp j them any." 4 still made no remarkn. " 'Deed, sur, it's true, dead true. See here's Jimmie's Jim-mie's coat; he left it fur me and I wuzn't hungry, an' he ain't had noth-in' noth-in' ter eat all day." He unwrapped a ragged old coat front about his bare legs and held it up in triumph. " 'Deed, sur, ye kin go an see.1 ' "Here, yoa young reprobate, how far is it to that home you talk about?" "Just down dere two blocks, sur.' "Here is a quarter which I think will v enable you to take all the houseless people you may meet on the way, and also yourself, to the home. Now run. and do not let the fact of your having had one dinner debar you from evec eating another. Renumber, I will Bee you and Jimmie in the morning." The young man resumed his struggfe through the snow. The night had lost all its terrors for him. His mind ab sorbed in the whirl of ideas 6et in action ac-tion by this recond meeting, left him unconscious of the elements. n thought only of the light and happiness those few pennies had brought out of : the etorra and darkness, and to one who . had long been in the habit of squander- ' ir.g large sums in pleasure that did not please and amusements that did not amuse it was a revelation. Suddenly he stopped. Ills facn turned unconsciously .upward, a-s . -y r though he was seeking jsome ray of , light out of the blackness of tho ' heavens. For one moment he stood so; then his hands went deeper into his pockets, and his arms came closer . to his sides, as he started ahead agaiu, . with the quick and linn step of suddeu determination. Had be a gleam of light? For what was he indebted to that midnight waif? 7or what would" that midnight wait be indebted to him? Home Journal: now "well into morning. Tor some time after the soup waa served the little fellow sat in wonder, gazing unblinkingly at his benefactor. Suddenly he reached over and touched "What is it? What do you want?" asked the young man. "Jest wanted to know if yer wuz dere!" answered the boy, sheepishly "Is it all rite, or is it jest one of dem dreams?" A burst of loud and happy laughter came, from the young man ns he gave-assurance gave-assurance that this time it was no dream, and, reaching over, helped the first spoonful of eoup; then he dropped into silent contemplation, ns he viewed a most ferocious and indiscriminate attack at-tack upon 'everything the table afforded. af-forded. Sense of an obligation never before suspected began to take possession of him and the problem of bow to deal with it kept him silent, as he watched the food disappear in xnarvelouely large quantities. "Why didn't you go home to-night?" he asked, when he thought time could be found for an answer. "Got na huni!" "Haven't you a father or a mother?" "Fadder. Mudder ded." "Where" nTe your brothers iS3 waters wa-ters ?" "Onlfe got lister." "Where in fhe? How large is she?" "She's littler en me. Tuk hor to de prie?t's house an' run!" 'Vhere is your father "Dun no. Drunk!" "Well, what do you. do? Where to 3'ou sleep?" . "Under Tiger's shed. Down dere in Dixon's alley." "Yer ?, continued the boy, confidentially, confi-dentially, gradually thawing out under tbe -gentle iuihiencc of light, beat and food. "Tiger keps de dog, an' Jimmie Jim-mie an' me, we jest creep in too, on' dev keeps us warm." "Who is Jimmie?" "Jimmie's me pard!" ! "Does Tiger ever give you anything to eat?" "Yetr rite! W'en he ain't full he t'rows us boner same a dedoge!" "What doe he do when bele drunk?" i .aemiconudential chateo itsual between den of their habitB. All life in the fast caravansary was hashed under the Jreary, sodden wound of the rain as it ; :rove its .wyinto- the:snow. - Suddenly one of the doors- leading to rt.be street ewung in a little, and what e'eroed but a gray bundle of wet rags Hashed through and disappeared be-tiVnd be-tiVnd a huge hall lounge beside the radiator. ra-diator. Despite the rapidity with which ltcame and vanished1, neither the eye of ?the clerk or that of .his companion laired to observe it; ncr were they at a'loss to understand what it was. An ejaculation somewhat profane escaped the lips of the clerk es his hands in-flnctively in-flnctively came down upon the bell, xtxtd. the .almost unconscious "Front!" : caime aa .though jerked from his li-ps. The young man, on the contrary, j straightened himself up, and a smile, 1 used cither by the irritation of the fclerk or try a chance thought of his, own, broke orer his face. The hall troy IsrSurwaA running to obey the summary command of the clerk was stopped by a backward nod of th head aud words: pTil "Mtend to thtel" The young roan tthcn .proceeded down the hall toward ' Jthe door and enme within view of the IbuYidle, which proved to be a boy of fix tor seven years of age. I i The .child waa sitting bolt upright, tfast asleep, with his little legs, stiff tfrom the cold, extended straight out mlong the floor, and his hancfa clasped ttogether in friendly embrace in hi lap. ! 9Is hat, which had falln from hia dieiid, lay Ix-eide him, and iiis long wet tair hung straight down over his face, (l;nost shutting out from view the ked eyelid. The little flguro was rljr'd, aid the young-man ntcod for one txweoent in absolute amaz4jieut as he realized the suddenness with .whichthis. Uonaken waif of the streets htul found .fe;I) In sleep. J I He. had been accustomed to peeing shtie boys about the great city, in all B1&i-ca and at all hours of the night, finding shelter wherever they could, mnd bad never given 'them a single serious thought. Now, us be stood (Shre in the quietude of that night, 'Socking tkwn on that little, silent, t"j yi-bcate n C;nire, a realization . of i i, "Just think, though, of the good it dees me," returned the young man. carelessly; "I am thoroughly selfish, I admit." "There are plenty of societies for them," continued the clerk. "This pro-miecuous pro-miecuous giving only pauperizes them.' i "We all need a lift sometimes, over ' bard places. This problem of helping , the poor haa never yet been solved, and never wUl be until there is more practice prac-tice of the comradeship and brotheT-I brotheT-I hood of which we hear so much. Every-I Every-I one believes in the theory; it is beautiful beauti-ful to talk abottt, but how many live it?" "What would you have? Society divided di-vided into two clacces. the tluramer and the slummed?" "That might be preferable to the two classes into which id is divided at I present. Moral support is what the poor need-not so much inowy a friends and friendly advice. Some on to put them on their feet end stand by j them until they are strong enough to ' rtaiid alone. Irut it is so eaey to write In check and hand it to the minister; then our conscience is free to curse j every beggar we .ee. Well, guesa IT1 be off. Good night!" and, lighting fresh eigar and turning up the collar of bis Large aj.d comfortable ulster, the young man departed. A block from the hotel his attention waa attracted to a small figure in the fhelter of a doorway. He stopped intuitively in-tuitively and, walking toward it, recognized recog-nized the boy from whom he had parted about 15 minutes before. ij ne looked at him in sXMJcPJesA sur- j prise. ' The boy, young as he was, realized the suspicion with vbih he was regarded. re-garded. "i'leaee, sur!" he exclaimed, eagerly, "I wdb g.'n' ter da hum, an' I found Jia:inic here, an Jimmie wuz sick, he wur. crvln,' an 1 guv him de dime, rind toie ""a tr go ter de hum." The wan Icoked Ktrrnly at him ard |