Young Folks Magazine, Vol. I, No. 2, April 1902: An Illustrated Monthly Journal for Boys & Girls — John Shaqi
Young Folks Magazine, Vol. I, No. 2, April 1902: An Illustrated Monthly Journal for Boys & GirlsVarious
General
Young Folks Magazine, Vol. I, No. 2, April 1902: An Illustrated Monthly Journal for Boys & Girls
Various
Children's literature -- Periodicals
“He’s a saint, ever’body knows; and there’s something behind all this I
don’t understand. But, all the same, I wish my hand had shivered before
I broke the glass!” she had muttered, but had done his bidding, still
complaining.
Commonly, meals were leisurely affairs in that forest home, but on this
morning Mr. Dutton set an example of haste that the others followed;
and as soon as their appetites were satisfied he rose and said:--
“I’ll show you to your own room now, Adrian. Occupy it as long as you
wish. And find something to amuse yourself with while I am gone, for I
have much to do out of doors. It was the worst storm, for its duration,
that ever struck us. Fortunately, most of the outbuildings need only
repairs, but Snowfoot’s home is such a wreck she must have a new one.
Margot, will you run up the signal for Pierre?”
“Yes, indeed! Though I believe he will come without it. He’ll be
curious about the tornado, too, and it’s near his regular visiting
time.”
The room assigned to Adrian excited his fresh surprise; though he
assured himself that he would be amazed at nothing further, when he
saw, lying upon a table in the middle of the floor, two complete suits
of clothing, apparently placed there by the thoughtful host for his
guest to use. They were not of the latest style, but perfectly new, and
bore the stamp of a well-known tailor of his own city.
“Where did he get them, and so soon? What a mammoth of a house it is,
though built of logs. And isn’t it the most fitting and beautiful of
houses, after all? Whence came those comfortable chairs? And the books?
Most of all, where and how did he get that wonderful picture over
that magnificent log mantel? It looks like a room made ready for the
unexpected coming of some prodigal son! I’m that, sure enough; but not
of this household. If I were--well, maybe--Oh! hum!”
The lad crossed the floor and gazed reverently at the solitary painting
which the room contained. A marvelously lifelike head of the Man of
Sorrows, bending forward and gazing upon the onlooker with eyes of
infinite tenderness and appealing. Beneath it ran the inscription,
“Come Unto Me”; and in one corner was the artist’s signature--a broken
pine branch.
“Whew! I wonder if that fellow ran away from home because he loved a
brush and paint tube! What sort of a spot have I strayed into, anyway?
A paradise? Um! I wish ‘the mater’ could see me now. She’d not be so
unhappy over her unworthy son, maybe. Bless her, anyhow. If everybody
had been like her--”
He finished his soliloquy before an open window, through which he could
see the summit of the bare mountain that crowned the centre of the
island, and was itself crowned by a single pine tree. Though many of
its branches had been lopped away, enough were left to form a sort of
spiral stairway up its straight trunk to its lofty top.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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