Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 73, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 February 1909 — ....The.... Singing Lady. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

....The.... Singing Lady.

By MARTHA C. SANFORD.

Copyrighted, 1909, by Associated Literary Press.

John Tyndal Seymour, Jr., had been tucked into his little shining brass bed at precisely 7 o’clock. Being “tucked In,” however, does not necessarily shut out the wonder world of lights and laughter and singing. John junior had discovered this all by hlmsClf, for often, as tonight, after calling to his nurse and getting no answer, he had crawled out with confidence from under his tight covers and stood by the window watching the grownups in the houses across the air shaft.

He had just climbed back for the third time by actual count when the singing began. John junior loved that singing more than anything else in the world.

He lay very still and flat on his little back, because he had found out that if one ear was burled in the pillow he could not catch all of the notes, especially the soft, low ones. He had not been listening very long when he heard the hall door open and shut, and then he knew that his father had gone out. Perhaps he was going to find the beautiful singing. John junior wished so hard that he might go too. He sat up in bed, haff determined to follow. But, then, hearing the click of the elevator door, he 'knew that it was too late, and so lay back again with a sigh. Suddenly, right in the middle of a note po high and sweet that it made John junior hold his breath in an ecstasy of happiness, the voice stopped. And for a long time it did not go on again. What had happened? Perhaps

his father—no. If his father had found the singing, he would have just hid behind a curtain somewhere and listened. Of that John junior was sure. At length, quite as suddenly as it had stopped, the singing began again. With a bound John junior was at the window. This was the song he loved best of all. He could hear the words quite clearly as they came floating up from the window far below: Sweetest little fellow Everybody knows. Don’t know what to call him, But he’s mighty like a rose. And little John Junior, who had known no lullabies or mother’s croonings in his lone babyhood, felt that he must follow and find where the beautiful voice came from. After some groping he found his small woolen slippers, and after pulling them on very slowly and carefully he climbed out of the window and began the perilous descent of the fire escape.

The wind blew right through his nightgown, and the iron steps were very cold, but he kept bravely on, afraid only that the grownups in the flats across the air shaft might suddenly peep out from the curtains and see him

The window at the foot of the long ladder stairs was open, Just as John junior expected it would be, so he climbed in softly. The voice was still again, but he was sure he must be very near By the light that came into the room through the transom he could see a big bed, with the covers all turned down as if waiting for some one to creep in, and so, as John junior felt quite shivery, he crept in himself. He had no sooner drawn himself up Into a snug little bunch than the singing began again, and so near that It made his heart thump hard. It came right in over the transom. When the last sound of it had died away he heard a man’s voice—his father's voice! So his father had followed the singing, just as he thought. In a flash John junior was out of the big bed, had opened the door and went pattering down the hall toward the lights and laughter and singing. ' Between the two big curtains he paused and gazed into the wonderland of the grownups. John junior waited until the song was over and then tiptoed in very softly. "Please,” he begged, “won’t you sing about the little fellow* once more?” And then weren't the grownups star-

I■ ' * tied! John junior would never forget It But at last | the beautiful singing lady just gathered him up in her arms, and, her cheeks all pink and her eyes all shining, she sang the song he loved best in the world. And after that John junior never knew exactly what happened, for he went asleep. "Mighty like a rose,” murmured the singing lady, looking tenderly down on the little flushed face nestled against her arm. "Like a rose,” repeated John Junior’s father reverently. And the singing lady, looking up, found the man’s eyes not'upon the child, but upon her. "Take him,” she urged, the quick tears springing to her eyes. “And don’t, don’t make It any harder for me, John.” Then for many nights John junior did not again hear the singing lady’s beautiful voice after his nurse had tucked him in bed, although he lay flat on his back and listened hard with both ears. He questioned his father about it, but got only foolish answers which he knew were not true. The idea of the singing lady going away to learn to sing more beautifully! That was nonsense! Who could teach her anything? And it was just as silly to tell him that when she came back she would not sing for them any more, because lots and lots of people would expect her to sing {or them in a big parlor. John junior knew better than that too. There were plenty of people to hear her in their house and in the houses across the air shaft. At last John junior declined to be trifled with any longer. “Why don’t you write and ask her to come back?” he demanded. 1 “I have, dear,” his father admitted, smiling a little wearily. “And she won’t come?” John senior shook his head. r “Then why don’t you go find her and bring her back?” urged John junior. “I’ll go with you.” The more John junior’s father thought about this plan the more it appealed t;o him. Finally one memorable day he put it into execution. Once 1 more John junior found himself in the wonderland of grownups—so many, many grownups—with millions of twinkling lights. Suddenly out of the babel about him he heard a volte—the singing lady’s voice. And there she was, more beautiful than ever, with her pink cheeks and her shining eyes! It was very, very quiet while she sang, but when she had finished everybody applauded. John Junior clapped too. Then out she came again, and this time she sang about “the sweetest little fellow.’’ And when, bowing and smiling, she walked quite out of sight she tossed one of her roses straight over to where John Junior sat with his father. “We’ve found her! We’ve found her!” he cried. “Come, daddy, let’s go get her.” But the singing lady came to find them behind the velvet curtains, and as she gathered John Junior into her arms and snuggled him up to her close, Just as she had that other happy time, she heard John senior saying, “Mighty like a rose,” and, looking up, she found his eyes upon her as before, full of love and unspoken admiration. And, as before, she said, “Take him,” but, with Infinite sweetness, added, “and I will come back to him soon—and to you.”

THIS TIME SHE SANG ABOUT THE SWEETEST LITTLE FELLOW.