um-traffic legalized by law, would sink the whole State
in the Atlantic Ocean, if it were not that it had a life preserver in
Ocean Grove, I was hardly prepared to vouch for it being that kind of a
land.
"Why do you ask that?" I said.
"Because I hear Jessie sing about it so much, and when I asked her
about it, she said it's a land where there's green fields, and flowers
that don't wither, and rivers of delight, and where the sun always
shines, and she wants to go there so much. I hasn't told anybody about
it before, but I eats as little as I can and gets along with these
clothes what made you laugh at me, and I'm saving up my money to take
Jessie to that land of pure delight just as soon as I gets enough.
Does yer know where that land is?"
"I think I do, my boy, but you haven't told me yet who Jessie is."
"Jessie's an angel, but she's sick. She, lives up in a room in the
tenement, and I lives in the garret near by. She ain't got no father,
and her mother don't get much work, for she can't go out to work and
take care of Jessie, too. She cries a good deal when Jessie don't see
her, 'cause she thinks she is going to lose Jessie, but over in that
land of pure delight, Jessie says nobody is sick, and everybody who
goes there gets well right away, and, oh sir, I wants to take Jessie
there just as soon as I can. I takes her a flower every night, and
then I just sits and looks at her face, until my heart gets warmer and
warmer, and do yer think I could come out of such a place and then
swear and drink, and chew tobacco, and pitch pennies, and tell lies? I
tells Jessie how the boys calls me 'His Royal Highness,' and she tells
me I musn't mind it, and I musn't get mad, but just attend to my work.
And--and--and, oh sir, I wanted to tell somebody all this, for I always
tries to look bright when I goes in to see Jessie, and not let her know
I am fretting about anything; but I does want to take Jessie to the
land where flowers always bloom and people are always well. That's so
little for me to do after all the good that's come to me from knowing
Jessie. But, I begs yer pardon for keeping yer so long, and I thanks
yer for letting me tell yer about Jessie."
Ah, the boys named him better than they knew, for here was a prince in
truth, and despite his rags "His Royal Highness" was a more befitting
name than Joe.
"Where does Jessie live, my boy?"
"Oh, sir, yer isn't going to take Jessie to that land of pure delight
|