en, Tom Pen, they have killed Papa-day! They have killed my
Papa-day!"

* * * * *

After the funeral the little fellow was more lonely than ever. It was
hard to have his pony burned up in the stable. It was harder still to
lose Brother Willie, his constant companion, and now his mother was
desperately ill, and his father had been killed. Tad, of course, could
not comprehend why any one could be so cruel and wicked as to wish to
murder his darling Papa-day, who loved every one so!

He wandered through the empty rooms, aching with loneliness, murmuring
softly to himself:

"Papa-day, where's my Papa-day. I'm tired--tired of playing alone. I
want to play together. Please, Papa-day, come back and play with your
little Tad."

Young though he was he could not sleep long at night. His sense of
loneliness penetrated his dreams. Sometimes he would chuckle and gurgle
in an ecstacy, as he had done when riding on his father's back, romping
through the stately rooms. He would throw his arm about the neck of the
doorkeeper or lifeguard who had lain down beside him to console the boy
and try to get him to sleep. When the man spoke to comfort him, Tad
would find out his terrible mistake, that his father was not with him.

Then he would wail again in the bitterness of his disappointment:

"Papa-day, where's my Papa-day?"

"Your papa's gone 'way off"--said his companion, his voice breaking with
emotion--"gone to heaven."

Tad opened his eyes wide with wonder. "Is Papa-day happy in heaven?" he
asked eagerly.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure he's happy there, Taddie dear; now go to sleep."

"Papa-day's happy. I'm glad--_so_ glad!"--sighed the little boy--"for
Papa-day never was happy here."

Then he fell into his first sweet sleep since that terrible night.

* * * * *

"GIVE THE BOYS A CHANCE"

The fond-hearted little fellow went abroad with his mother a few years
after the tragedy that broke both their lives. By a surgical operation,
and by struggling manfully, he had corrected the imperfection in his
speech. But the heart of little Tad had been broken. While still a lad
he joined his fond father in the Beyond.

"Give the boys a chance," had amounted to a passion with Abraham
Lincoln, yet through great wickedness and sad misunderstandings his own
little son was robbed of this great boon. Little Tad had been denied the
one chance he sorely needed for his very existence.