Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 310, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 December 1912 — THE YELLOW ROSEBUSH [ARTICLE]

THE YELLOW ROSEBUSH

The afternoon sun waa caressing the flowers in the old garden for the last time. The gate opened and a sweet lady In white came down the S ox-bordered path, peering from left k right “Laddie, Laddie,’’ she called, “where’s mother’s little man?” Crouching behind a hollyhock a little figure was trying to avoid observe tion, but a gleeful laugh burst from his lips at his mother’s ignorance ol his hiding place, and In another moment his dusty blue jumper was nestling in the folds of a white gown. “Naughty Laddie to make poor mother hunt.’’ Laddie’s laugh rang out again. He waved a bright flag in the air. “Tell me a story, muwer, a nice, long story.” The mother sat down on a settee and cuddled the little man in her lap. “Does Laddie want to hear about a big, brave man?” “Yes, muwer.” “Once upon a time,” —Laddie knew that “once upon a time” stories were the very nicest and he smiled contentedly—“there was a little man.” Laddie looked apprehensive. It was when his conduct had been questionable that stories were about “little men.” But mother shook her head. “Not about this little man, but about one who was a little man when mother was a little girl. This little man played in a. garden and he loved the flowers. He had a rosebush that his mother and he had planted on his fifth birthday. Every morning he used to water it and he grew to love it very much. The first rose that blossomed was a beautiful yellow rose. How proud he was of it! The third day after it blossomed, when he started to water it, he saw a little girl looking through the fence. She did not have nice clothes like he had; her feet were bare and she had been crying. The little man looked at his rose and then at her. * “ ‘Would you like to have my rose?’ he asked. “Her little face brightened and she said, ‘Oh, yes.’ “His little fingers trembled as he broke his sweet rose from the bush and gave it to the little girl through the fence. She broke into a merry laugh and said ‘Thank you,’ then ran away. “This little man grew to be a big man very soon and he took such good care of his rosebush that it grew and had very many roses on it. “One night he came into the garden with the little girl who had grown to be a young lady and they walked down to the rosebush. There was a big yellow rose on the bush, very much like the one that had first bloomed. He bent forward and picked it and put it in her hair. Then, Laddie, for the first time, he gave her what mother gives you every night when she tucks you in bed, because he loved her. A little while after that the lady came to the garden often, for she came to live in the big white house near it. “Then there came a day, Laddie, a very sad day, when the lady came into the garden with the big man. He was dressed like a soldier. She picked the prettiest rose on the bush, kissed it and gave it to him. He did not stay long," but said ‘Good-by,’ and the gate closed behind him. "A long time passed and one day the lady came into the garden and gathered all the roses and made a wreath, and later in the day she went to a place where there were a lot of little mounds covered with grass. She stopped before one, over which a flag was waving, just like this flag, Laddie, and she placed the wreath on it She was very sad. You see this big man was brave. He went off to a great war, and was shot while putting up a flag which some bald men had pulled down." Mother took Laddie by the hand and walked down to the end of th« garden. There was a rosebush covered with yellow blossoms. “This is the rosebush, Laddie.” “Who was the big, brave man?" asked Laddie. v < “Your father, darling.” “And was the little girl and lady you, muwer?” Mother nodded her head and Laddls saw two great tears almost ready to fall from her beautiful brown eyes. He bent forward over the bush and picked a yellow blossom. “Here, muwer,” said he, “take this rose and don’t cry. Laddie’s going to be your big, brave man.” —MARTHA GRAY PILSBURY.