Newspaper Page Text
6 (78) the:
J Our Boys
FIVE DOLLARS LOOK BIG TO SIDNEY.
"Have any of you boys found a twenty-five
cent piece lying around"?
The group of boys came to a halt. Mr. "Wingate
was immensely popular with the boys of
the town. He owned Beachley's Hill where
the chestnut trees were so thick, but no one
ever saw a "No Trespassing" sign put up on
his land in the autumn. Mr. AVingate liked
dogs and horses and boys, and boys and dog3
and horses liked him.
"No, we haven't found a quarter," said Sidney,
answering for the group. "Did you lose
one?"
"Yes, I've lost one. It's a liberty head, date
1825, and I'll give five dollars to the boy who
finds it."
" Ts it n rnrp nnin ATr Winrrntn V AIIpii
White asked, respectfully. Allen collected
stamps, and found that rather expensive. The
idea of collecting coins made him gasp.
"Not particularly. There are a good many
of them floating around. But my father gave
this to me when I was a lad, and I've always
carried it as a sort of pocket-piece. I wouldn't
lose it for considerable."
"Say, we'd better be going, or we'll be late
to school," suggested Will Whiting, and the
boys started away, one or two of tbem lingering
to promise Mr. Win gate that they would
do their best to find his quarter. But Sidney
went on with a dreamv look in his eyes, and did
not come to himself till Allan said, almost
crossly: "Say! "What's the matter with you?
I've spoken to you three times, and you haven't
said a word."
That noon, Sidney went home in a hurry.
He dropped his books in the hall, and ran up,
stairs to the garret. In a drawer in an old
writing desk was a stout little bag, which contained
a number of big copper pennies, with a
sprinkling of silver coins. Among them, Sidn
ATT ^Alir< d o nil o AM VTflill ill T Vl Af\ /I AM
ncj iuuiiu a quai icr wiuii uic uiucrij ncuu aa
he had remembered. lie looked at it eagerly,
and found that the date was 1825.
Sidney slipped the quarter into his pocket
and went downstairs. All through dinner he
was silent, thinking busily. This was not Mr.
Wingate's quarter, hut it was like it, and if
Mr. Wingate did not know the difference, he
would readily pay five dollars for it.
Five dollars looked very large to Sidney. lie
wanted to buy a printing-press, and it was slow
:c 1. .
wurn up pennies lruni iiis iuiuwuni:?if
and the little he could make on odd jobs. "If
T had five dollars more, T'd have enough," Sidney
said to himself. His heart began to
thump.
All day Sidney carried that quarter in his
pocket, and something like a heavy weight on
his heart. Sometimes he told himself that it
would he a cowardly thing to return Mr. "Wingate's
kindness hv playing a trick on him. hut
then another voice would begin to reason along
another line. Mr. Wincrnfe felt sorrv over
losing the partieulnr piece his father had given
him. and he would hp pleased to got it back. or
to pet one so noar like it that lie eould not tell
the difference. Sidney would get the five dollars,
and both would be satisfied.
On the afternoon of the second day he found
himself going toward Mr, Wingate's home,
his eheeks burning and an uncomfortable feeling
in his heart. Tie tried to think about the
printing-press, hut instead he kept thinking
how kind Mr. "Wingate always was to boys,
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SO
and Ciirls
aud how he took their part agaiust people who
seemed to think that boys were nuisances. And
at last, when he found himself looking into Mr.
Wingate's face, he said "the last thing he had
expected to say.
"Mr. Wingate, it's funny, but I've got a
quarter just like the one you've lost, same
date and everything. Grandpa gave me some
old coins, and this was one of thera."
He put his hand into his pocket and pulled
out the quarter. And to his astonishment, Mr.
Wingate did exactly the same thing with his
pUUAt't,
"Mine's rubbed more tban yours," snid Mr.
"VVingate. "That's because I've carried it for
a pocket-piece so long. Oh, yes, I found mine
you see. Dropped it in my bedroom. I'd take
good care of that quarter if I were you, Sidney.
It belonged to your grandfather, and
perhaps some day you may hand it over to your
grandson."
As Sidney walked away, he felt as if he had
had a narrow escape. Not from being caught.
Oh, dear, no! But from being a cheat, and
knowing it.?Alonzo MacMillan, in Young People's
Weekly.
"BILLY CUB"?A NATURE STUDY.
BY ARCniE P. M'kISHNIE.
The bear cub was almost as broad as he was
loug. His eyes were small and twinkled roguishly
whenever he. turned his black face towards
you. His name was Billy and he was a
* k J 1 3 1 1 A-l r
1 h:l cuu, unueisiuuu, iiuvmg ui'uii tuiteu irorn
his nest in the hollow tree by a lumberman, before
his eyes were open.
So, you see, he knew human beings only as
strange, two legged animals who seemed anxious
to spoil him by too much petting and give
him indigestion by too much feeding. Not
that he objected in the least to either. He loved
being caressed and he was always ready to
dnvrmr jinvtliincr frnm nlinnnlntn /Imno tA ?noot
turkey. Sometimes he gorged himself so that
his little stomach ached and at such times he
would roll on the grass and hold his four paws
in the air and whimper for all the world like a
naughty boy who had eaten too much plum
pudding. Sometimes too, when the pain was
great, he got real cross, and one day, in a fit
of temper, he attempted to put an end to the
sleepy-eyed old tabby cat who had always
treated him with lofty disdain.
Much to his sumrise and disenmfnrtnre th*
old cat retaliated with tooth and claw, to such
good effect that the cub was glad to beat a hasty
retreat up a nearby tree, at the very top of
which he stayed all night long, nursing his
wounds and wailing his woes out to the unfeeling
stars.
The boy who owned the cub, knew that he
had gotten what lie richly deserved, so he let
him stay in the tree and whine to his heart's
content. .
Next morning Billy Cub was sulky and refused
his breakfast. The old cat chanced along
the path and Billy bolted for his tree again.
This time he absolutely refused to stir and the
boy bad to climb the tree and coax him to
come down.
The cub continued to eat a lot, sleep a lot
and grow a lot, so that at the age of six months
he was quite a sized bear.
One morning a tiny spaniel dog, belonging
to the boy's mother, attempted to steal Billy's
dinner as he snoozed in the sunshine and the
> U T H I January 29, 1913
cub reached forth and with his strong paw
sent the little dog sprawling. The spaniel did
not get up and run away, as the cub expected
him to do, so he struck him again. The boy'a
mother came out and screamed and the boy's
father came up and struck Billy Cub a sharp
blow with his cane. Then the boy's father
said something to the boy, who had just come
up and the little fellow went away crying, to
look for the gardener.
From the very top of his friendly tree the
sulky cub saw his young master and the gardener
return; saw the man lift the lifeless
carcass of the little dog and carry it away.
Then he Raw the boy climbing his tree and he
scrambled down to meet him and lick his tearstained
face.
Billy Cub loved the boy and the boy wa3
the only thing in the world he did love, so he
listened gravely while his young master told
him of the fate that awaited him and wagged
his head from side to side sagely just as though
he understood every word that was being said.
The boy's father had given orders that Billy
Cub be shot. He was getting troublesome and
dangerous, and also had he not committed an
unpardonable crime in the killing of the little
pet spaniel?
.remaps rmiy uud aia really understand
what the sobbing boy told him, at any rate he
did a most extraordinary thing. He reached
forward and gave his young master a good kiss
then he scrambled quickly down the tree and
made for the garden gate. Through it he went
at a gallop, and as the voice of the gardener
and his helpers sounded behind him, he sprang
over a fence and made across the meadow towards
the deep woods beyond.
So it was that Billy Cub escaped death from
the hands of the unfeeling gardener. Deep and
far into the big forest he made his way, and for
years lived his life naturally in his natural environment.
Sometimes he thought of the boy who had
cried when they parted in the tall tree on the
lawn, and once a strange hunger to see him
again led him back along the trail to the open.
Billy Cub was a full-grown bear by now, a
big, fat glossly bear who feared scarcely anything
alive. But he'did fenr the rrnrdener end
the man who had struck him with his stick, so
he approached the spot of his early cubhood
cautiously.
As he noiselessly leaped the stone wall surrounding
the big lawn a small grey animal
sprang across his path and leaped for the tall
tree in which he had spent so many sulky moments.
It was the sleepy-eyed cat that had given him
such a scratching when he was too young to
defend himself, and his heart rejoiced that he
was now to have an opportunity to revenge
himself.
'He loped across the moonlit lawn to the tree,
and standing on his hind legs stretched himself
to his full height. From a crotch in the treetop
two cold eyes gleamed down at him like
yellow coals of fire.
Then sinking his sharp claws in the tree
the boar climbed slowly upward, and reached
lor ins enemy, sure that revenge was about
to be his.
But the old cat thought differently. As that
armed clow reached towards her she sprang
straight out, alighting in the shaggy top of a
smaller tree some nine feet distant.
Slowly the bear made his way down the tree
and stood with swaying head, watching a
streak of grey cut the moonlight on,the lawn.
Then, forgetting all about the boy he had
traveled so far to see the bear climbed the
stone fence and loped across the meadow to his
own world.?Toronto Sunday World.
4