Little Boy

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A bat, a ball, a dozen boys or two are wrangling over a disputed point in our national game, when the younger of the participants feels he is worsted, leaves the game and takes his ball and bat and finds his mother on the steps awaiting to comfort and dry his tears away. The one person in all the world to cheer and soothe the childish heart, as all through his young life and to manhood she had been his hope. Now that Dick Benton had grown to that age when he longed for his own home, he sought his schoolmate sweetheart and we soon find them married and in a little cottage all their own. Dick's business frequently called him from the city, and many times the young wife grew lonesome and unhappy. Frank Worthing, her former admirer, took advantage of these times to press his attention. One evening the outgoing train was reported late; this caused Dick to return suddenly home to spend the wait with his wife, when the butler delivers a message intended for the wife, but read by the husband who conceals himself and awaits the serpent's sting. Mary, in ignorance of the late train, and overjoyed at Frank's coining, meets him with fond greeting. The husband appears upon the scene, but the prayers his old mother taught him still rang in his ears, he renounced his claim, and with a heavy heart leaves them in their clandestine meeting to their fate. Dick suffering the pangs of bitter disappointment wanders from his home, but nothing seemed to quiet the raging mind. A kindly friend saves him from further disgrace and brings him home to his dear old mother, whose love and caresses bring happiness to his troubled mind.