Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 April 1908 — THE GREEN TOKEN. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE GREEN TOKEN.

By TEMPLE BAILEY.

Copyrighted. 1908, by the Associated Literary Press.

1 Miss Millicent had decided that on St Patrick’s day there should be a special celebration at the settlement There were so many little Mlckeys and Noras in the neighborhood, and it would be easy enough to tie up little sandwiches with green ribbon and serve the ice cream in potato forms. Miss Millicents coworker, Miss FaTersham, looked dubious when ice cream was mentioned. “It will be very expensive in forms,” she stated. “I don’t have to pay for it” Milllcent told her. “Mr. Barry wants to donate the ice cream.” Miss Faversham looked at her friend sharply. “Mr. Barry has taken a sudden interest in the settlement, It seems to me,” she remarked dryly. Miss Millicent glowed. “Isn’t it fine?” she said. "He’s going to give us a picture for the library. I am to go with him to pick it out” “Hum,” was Miss Faversham’s retort; “I should think he might select it alone.” 1 “Oh,” Milllcent told her, “he says he doesn’t know anything about pictures. He has lived on the plains, and be says his education along that line is neglected, but he is big and fine, and he is going to help us a lot with the boys. He says he knows what It is to be poor and rough and unloved, and now that he has made his money he is going to give the other fellows a lift” “How did he happen to get into the work here?” asked Miss Faversham. | “Mickey Doyle brought him here to see the club. Mickey had shined his shoes at the hotel and told him about It And I was In the office, and I took him over the whole settlement, and he was awfully Interested In It and he has been coming ever since." ! "I see,” said Miss Faversham, with a quick glance at her friend that noted the trim figure in white linen, the hair that rippled away from the low, broad forehead, the earnest gray eyes, the

dimple in the chin that redeemed the rest of the face from seriousness. “I see,” said Miss again. “I don’t know that I l&lame him for coming.” Mr. Barry took an immense interest in the St Patrick’s party. “My name,” he told Margaret with a smile that lighted his rugged features, “is John Patrick, and my grandfather came from the old country.” Mil licen t: laughed. “My mother’s name was Kate Kearney," she said, “and there is a tradition in our family that we are descended from Irish kings." “Good," said Barry. “It shall be a feast in honor of the good saint And you must let me give the kids a dinner, please. No little sandwiches, but hot things.” And, In spite of the protests of the economical Miss Faversham, the evening of the 17th of March found in the gymnasium a long table fairly groaning with good things. There were little pigs simply cracking with richness. There were potatoes mealy and white, and there were green candies and cakes with green icing and the potato forms of ice cream and a clay pipe for each of the boys and a tiny gilt harp for each of the girls. And at the head of the table Mr. Barry presided, and at the foot was Miss Millicent, while Miss Faversham was kept upstairs by a headache. “For which let us be thankful," said Mr. Barry when Millicent told him. She looked at him with shocked eyes. “Oh, how can you be so hard hearted?" she chided. “I beg your pardon,” he amended. “I am awfully sorry about the headache, but I am glad she Isn’t going to be down.” : Mlllicent looked at him wonderlngly. . “Why?" w He laughed. “Somehow I feel that she is weigh Ing me in the balance, and, besides. / don't believe she would enter into the spirit of it.” “Oh, she likes you,” Mlllicent teal him earnestly. “Everybody likes you.”

He stood looking down at* her for a moment in silence, and then he said abruptly, "Do you like me?” Something in his tone sent the quick blushes to her cheek. “Of course,” she said hurriedly and turned from him and began to straighten the favors on the table. “The children will be here in a minute,” she remarked, and then she stopped and stared, for at her own place was a favor different from the rest—a shamrock in green enamel, and on one leaf glittered a diamond dewdrop. “Oh,” she said and flashed a glance at him—“oh, did you put it there?” “Yes.” He came and stood beside her. “I put it there, Millicent.” She shook her head. “L mustn’t take it, please,” she said. “It Is too valuable for me to accept:” “It has no value except the sentiment. Do you know what the shamrock means?” “No.” “One leaf means truth and one valor, and the other one is love, and all that I have of truth I give to you, and all that I have of valor, and, above everything else, I give you love”— She was very white as she said, "You must not” “Why?” "I am dedicated to my work here. I shall never marry." He squared his shoulders. “That is nonsense. I’ll dedicate myself to It too, and we will work together.” “Oh, no, no!” she cried. "I must not listen. If I married you I should care so much that I should forget all this, and I should live for you.” “Dear heart,” he said under his breath, “do you know what you are saying—that yoif love me?” She caught herself up. “I didn’t mean”— she began. “But you have said it” he interrupted. She drew away. “I must not think of it,” she insisted. “My life belongs to these people.” And even as she spoke they heard the children on the stairs, a hilarious, shouting crowd, pushing through the doorway, piling into the seats, fighting a little for a certain place, but good natured always. Such a feast as it was! And at the end Mr. Barry made a speech. z He told of a lonely boyhood, of his efforts to rise, of his final worldly success. a “And any of you boys may succeed,” he finished, “but success isn’t everything, for you must value more the love of truth and a brave spirit, and more than all you must value lovfe. And some of you are more fortunate than I, for you have lots of people to love you. You have your fathers and your mothers, and Mickey has his little sister Nora, and I think little sister Nora’s love Is worth all the money in the world.” And he smiled down at the rosy cheeked child by his side. And Miss Milllcent, seeing him thus at his bsst, was thrilled and touched and almost convinced by his words. After all, why should they not work together? He was a king among men! And at this moment of her indecision Miss Faversham, somewhat recovered from the headache, drifted in and stood behind Millicent’s chair. “We ought to have Mr. Barry here all the time,” she said. “I heard his speech. He has a wonderful way with the boys. After all, men are more effective than women In such work.” Milllcent smiled up at her. “We are going to have him,” she said. “How?” asked her friend, watching the big man, who, with little Nora on his lap, was telling a funny story to the boys. “I am going to marry him,” said Milllcent as she pinned her green token to her blouse above her heart.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE SHAMROCK MEANS?”