On a bed of straw and paper in
one corner lay a withered, wizened, white-bearded old man with
wide eyes staring at the unaccustomed light. In the other corner
was an equally dilapidated cow.
"It's my old man!" cried Titee, joyfully. "Oh, please, grandpa,
I couldn't get here to-day, it rained all mornin' an' when I ran
away, I fell down an' broke something, an', oh, grandpa, I'm all
tired an' hurty, an' I'm so 'fraid you're hungry."
So the secret of Titee's jaunts down the railroad was out. In
one of his trips around the swamp-land, he had discovered the old
man exhausted from cold and hunger in the fields. Together they
had found this cave, and Titee had gathered the straw and paper
that made the bed. Then a tramp cow, old and turned adrift, too,
had crept in and shared the damp dwelling. And thither Titee had
trudged twice a day, carrying his luncheon in the morning and his
dinner in the afternoon.
"There's a crown in heaven for that child," said the officer of
charity to whom the case was referred.
But as for Titee, when the leg was well, he went his way as before.
The end of The Project Gutenberg Etext of
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar
Pages:
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106