A GIFT TO GREEN RIVER INN.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 367, 21 May 1903, Page 7

A GIFT TO GREEN RIVER INN.

It was thirty below zero in the little Canadian village, and far too cold to think of starting with a dog train inta an unexplored; portion of the country. The big, blanket-clad lumberman from the ptates famed to his son, a-sturdy lad of fifteen, and said: '''Gerald, I think we'd better go--to the' - Soo and attend to-matters there. We can« do nothing here, while this cold; snap.: lasts. FII go down" to the store and settle up, and yon can wait for me here.' When his father iad departed, the lad looked around the forlorn boarding- house parlor for something to read, for he was fond of bookß. He found upon a side table an ancient copy of a Quebec paper and a tattered, two-year-old magazine, which was s finger-marked, _to wa and almost unreadable* ttir b§ett read and reread, and tha ioine of the pages:were missing, if did not take Gerald long co read both the paper and the magazine, so he was glad when the inn-keeper's two children entered the . >Bwir*j .- * Could you find me something to read P' asked Gerald. «, The little girl turned to the fragmentary magazine. 1 'Oh, I've read that,' said Gerald. ' Haven't you any story books V ' No,'was the.reply. ' Don't you take any magazines ?' asked - Gerald, who received by-mail every month . four of the \ best juvenile periodicals and - whose room at home contained a wellfilled bookcase. ~j , «No' seid thdjißn-kee|et's hoy. 1 / ' V 'Don't youV -and ? mother s ever read V asked Geralds , , - v 0 " . ' ' They don't know how to,' said the girl frankly, *but we do.'. ' Gerald, who "had not supposed that a boy of fifteen could exist without books, was very much surprised. * Haven't you any books at all V he asked. .. ~;lThat?s all we have, said the girl,, '' except a 'rithmetic and a speller we bad when we went to school last' summer. There ain't any teacher here now. Most .of the scholars are Indiana.', •'" Gerald noticed daring the' evening that a number, of young men, employ id by the railroad, sat around the etove ia the shabby parlor before going .to,.bed. One of them had a gieasy'pack of cards, one or two letters from their homesj but no one had anything new in the way of literature*-, The ancient, newspaper and the tattered magazine, however, seemed to be in constant use; ' 'lsn't there? any place where ono can buy reading maltir ?' auked Gerald,- who was-daeply impressed by this dearth' of ? ~~ literature. 1 ' No,' eaid the man addressed, shaking his head.' ' There's only one store here, 1 and they don't keep much fancy truck.' ' ' I'm a fireman on an engine, now,' said : another young fellow, whose hands were ' rough and stained with labor, ' but when I was on the through passenger train I ' • used to be able to buy a paper now and • then on the cars. 'You might be able to get something by nagging the train.' Gerald laughed, and said it was worth trying; but he had no opportunity to make the attempt, for he started tha next

morning with his father for the States, The travellers were obliged to change cars that afternoon at a town of considerable rize, and' finding themselves with over an hour to wait. Gerald wandered into a newspaper's store. 'Could yen find me a small wooden box,' he asked, after fingering a small leather purse in his pocket, to see if its contents were still there. He has earned a email salary as his father's assistant, and had no opportunity to spend his earnings in the wilderness.

• Yob/ said the newsdealer, ' here's one right here if it isn't too big.'

(' That'll do nicely,' said Gerald, turning •to the counter, where hundred of magaI zinea V«re displayed. * I want this, and this, and this,' said he, pointing to one and another, choosing with very good judgment. To the magazines ho added Bone paper-covered copies of 'Eobiason Crusoe,' 'The Swiss Family Robinson/ Andersen's 'Fairy Tale?,' and a cook book. He was sure that the innkeeper's i daughter could make better biscuits -if : she had a book. Perhaps she might even ; read the recipes to her mother. .' Now,' said Gerald, when the box would , hold no more,«•£ can you give me a board for a cover, a hammer, some Bails and something to mark this wifcii F' ; § The shopkeeper, who was'quite inipressedvby his customer's business-like manner, brought the things. f ~\ 1' Thank ycu,' said (Gerald, -tossißg abaak not on the counter, with, it must be confessed, a slight pang of regret, for. the bey' bad felt very - proud of that par-~ ticular bank note. It was the first ten dolJ»r bill he had ever owned, and he had ifrfcbiit it at least forty-times' in anticipation, but nover for magazines His face, which had grown.serious, aa-his treasure disappeared over the counter, brightened as he dropped the change into his pocket and thought of the innkeeper's children. WJten tte box was nailed up it ■dressect'inibi!, black lettf ra: 'Th'^Parlor 1 ] of Green Bivjr Inn.' § & %s& I *- : "S*S* Gerald, "after paying the express charges and arranging to have tbe box forwarded, joined his father .at.the station, He modestly refrained from mentioning his generous deed; but his father learned of it later, upon his return to the ' forlorn little village, and was greatly pleased. • It was a little thing, counted by dollars and cents, but who can count the amount of frood accomplished by this big-hearted lad's kindly deed P—Cabboll Watson Eankin.