“It was the poor boy’s wish,” Nancy replied tearfully. “They took him to the hospital and kept him alive for a day, an’ before he died, he made Andy an’ the girls promise they’d never let his mother know of his end. He had a hundred and fifty dollars saved to take him home an’ he bade them sind it to her a little at a time wid his love. His last words were ‘Don’t let poor mother know! It would kill her! Don’t let poor mother know!’” There was a long silence, broken only by the subdued sobbing of the girls. At last Mary said, wiping her eyes with her apron: “By the help of God, Nancy, we must still keep it from mother. She’s not long for this world, an’ Johnny, poor boy, was the light of her eyes!” Going out of the cabin, they found Mrs. Ryan still seated upon the bench. “Mother darlin’,” Mary said softly, “it’s growin’ cold, an’ you’d better come in for your cup of tay.” There was no answer. A smile of ineffable peace lingered upon the aged, care-worn face. In the faded blue eyes, whose unseeing gaze was fixed upon the merciless ocean which had taken her darlings, one by one, from her arms, shone the wondrous light “that never was on sea or land.” To his mother, the silence of Johnny was no longer a mystery. He had not come to her, but she had gone to him. _Vanished Years_ BY HELEN A. SAXON She sitteth in the sunshine, old and gray, Her faded kerchief crossed upon her breast, Her withered form in sober colors drest, Her eyes, deep-sunken with far memory, See not the eager children at their play But look beyond them to the crimsoning west, And still beyond where everlasting rest Remains to crown and close her little day. Yet all the fragrance of the vanished years Is at her heart, and time hath left its trace In lines engraved by joy no less than tears Upon her tranquil and unconscious face. For Youth, quick-flying, left his dearer part, Imperishable love, within her heart. [Illustration: _King John Refusing to Sign the Magna Charta_ _Bart., in Minneapolis Journal_] [Illustration: _Perhaps some treatment of this kind would cause Mr. Roger to answer questions in court_ _Handy, in Duluth News-Tribune_] [Illustration: _The Man from Missouri_ _Donahey, in Cleveland Plain Dealer_] [Illustration: _Letters From The People_] Our readers are requested to be as brief as possible in their welcome letters to the MAGAZINE, as the great number of communications daily received makes it impossible to publish all of them or even to use more than extracts from many that are printed. Every effort, however, will be made to give the people all possible space for a direct voice in the MAGAZINE, and this Department is freely open to them. * * * * * _John Nill, Watertown, N. Y._