boy closed his eyes, too, but only that he might the more easily dwell in an imaginary world. He wondered what the far confines of heaven looked like, and whether he should find volcanoes there, and as he pictured the scene, he suddenly startled the old man out of his sleep. "Grandfer, grandfer," he cried excitedly, "'sposing 'eaven shid blaw up!"
"Bless that boy," Zam answered, looking anxiously at the small fire, "I thought vor zure tha kettle wez biling auver.''
"Naw, grandfer," said Joe, "I wez on'yj a-wondering what that dimmet parts o' 'eaven might be arter when God wez kind o' thinking o' zommat ulse."
Zam's deep-set eyes twinkled. "A bit contrary, may ba," he said, "but nort lightzome, Joe -- nort lightzome."
"Folk ba turribul spiritless up tu 'eaven," the boy answered sadly. "They baistesses now that stand avor tha throne -- do 'ee reckon thet they iver roar?"
"Wull," his grandfather answered, after a moment. "I widn't reckon on it, if I wez you, Joe--I widn't reckon on it; but," he added, as his eyes fell upon the boy's disappointed face, "who can tull what the
talking o' zich critters as thie wull be like-fearzome, no doubt,"
"And, grandfer," Joe exclaimed, with rising color, "if lame Tom wez there wi' hiz crutch now, and jest stepped on that taw o' wan o' they baistesses, then ha wid talk moral spiritty, grandfer, widn't he?"
"Eh, for zure, for zure, mortal spiritty, I'll be bound," Zam answered.
The flush of excitement died out from the boy's face. "Moast like 'twull niver happen," he said, in a sorrowful voice; "up tu 'eaven things ba painful riglar."
"Ba 'ee tired, lad?" Zam asked, as he rose from his chair and lifted the child tenderly in his arms. "Shall I carry 'ee tu and fraw a bit?"
Joe pressed his thin white face against the old man's breast. "Tull me about things avor I wez born,
grandfer," he said. "Tull me about vather; wez ha fine and upstanding?"
"Ay, ay, lad, ha wez pleasant tu look upon," Zam answered, "but ha broak yer pore moather's heart for all o' thie. Ha wez turribul wild, wez Jim; good hearted anuff, but turribul wild; ha wezn't built for
marrying; ha cudn't stay pauking about in a little vullage zich ez this ba; ha zed thet tha wordel wez zsmall anuff, but ez vor tha village, ha' cudn't breathe in it; and yer pore moather hur cudn't get tu
understand thet nohow--hur reckoned thet if ha loved hur, ha wud stay; but law bless 'ee, lad, vor men zich ez Jim there ha sommat ulse in the wordel beside tha love o' wimmen-folk, tho' they pore zouls, can't gaw for tu zee it. But ha wez turribul fond o' hur vor all thie, and I cud zee thet it jest went tu hiz heart tu act contrary; but ha cudn't help it, pore lad--twez the nater thet wez in him fo'ced him on. Eh,
but they made a windervul handzome coupole that day they wez married; the vullage riglar tarned out tu look on 'em, and I thort tu mezulf thet twid o' bin a proud day vor my pore owld wuman if tha Almighty
had spared hur; but twez better ez it twez —better as it twez. Wull, they hadn't abin merried a skaur o' wiks avore Jim wez bin merricd a skaur o' wiks avore Jim wez riglar pining tu ba off; ha didn't zay nort,
; but wid gaw and wander about in tha wids. for haurs, and wan day ha didn't coome 'home; ha wrote from Liverpool tu zay ha wez starting vor Merikey. But that ship wez lost wi' all 'ands; ay, ay, pore lad. I
reckon ha zlapes zound anuff now wi' tha zay a-rolling a-tap o' him; ha cud niver o' breathed iv it had bin airth. But yer moather, hur niver forgave him vor it--niver; twez a Zunday thet that noos coomed, and Martha Snykes and zome o' tha naybours rinned up yhere ez fast ez they cud, pore zouls, reckoning thet yer moather wid like to cry all-tugether comfortabul, tha same ez it iz uyshil wi' wimen; but, law
bless 'ee, when hur zar they well-maining dumans cooming dro tha door, hur tarned hur back quat on 'em and marched upstairs. Arter a bit hur coomed down wi' a bonnet all auver pink roses atap o' hur
'ead and Martha Snykes wez thet tooked aback thet hur fell down wi' tha recurring spasams and drank ivery drap o' brandy ther was in that 'ause avor hur wuz brought to. Yer moather didn't throw a look at hur, but went off down tha strait tu charch wi' all tha naybours standing at ther doors and crying shame; but, law bless 'ee, hur didn't heed 'em ony more then tha geese on tha green. Ay, ay, for pore zoul hur wez alwiz wan for howlding hur head high; hur niver cud stomach tha contrary. Wull, wull, wimen's wimen, mortal strong in tha affections, but managing tu tha last---managing tu tha last. Them wuz terribul days, and yer moather's vace grew that hard I wez moast afeardt tu look at it; I thort, maybe thet when yer coomed things might o' bin diffurent;; I looked 'ee in tu hur, 'Jane,' I zed, 'ha wull want 'ee alwiz,' and
when I zed thie hur kained acrass at 'ee,
and hur vace changed back intu a wuman's
vace again; then all-ta-wance zommat
coomed auver hur and hur tarned hur vace
round agin tha wall. "Take 'im away,' hur
zed, 'ha ba nort tu me,' Her niver spoke
arter thie; ther wuz ony wan pusson in tha
wordel thet hur iver loved, and thet wez
Jim, and when ha died, hur wi' all hur
pride wez forced tu valler."
Later, when Zam laid the boy in the old
truckle bed, Joe looked up in his face,
"Vather wez mortal understandabul," he
murmured sleepily.
"But not tu wimeen folk," Zam answered, "not tu wimmen folk. Wull, wull," he continued to himself, "tha lad hez hit vather's spirut, ivery bit o' it; but ha wull niver break no wuman's heart wi' wandering--
tha Lord hez minded otherwise."
- # # #
It was about a week after the conversation recorded had taken place that Joe's uncle, Ben Tapp, came to Zam's cottage; but the old man was not at home, and Ben, who, after many years spent in America,
had arrived in England only to find that most of his relations were dead and he himself forgotten, sat down on Travelling Joe's bed in an exceedingly bad humor with himself and the world in general.
"Wall, Travelling Joe," he said, "thet be a darned queer start o' a name yer have fixed to yerself anyhow. They pins o' yars ain't extra spry at covering the ground, I should think, from the look o' 'em."
"But things wull ba mortal diffurent up ta 'eaven, Uncle Ben," the boy answered. "Ther woan't ba no diffurence 'twixt me and t'other folk then, 'cept mayba I shall ba more rasted. I shall do a sight o'
travelling when I gets up ther. You see, Uncle Ben, tha Almighty ba powerful understand-zome, so I ain't got no cause tu be feardt when I gaws up avore tha throne, and I shall jest ax Him tu let me vind noo ways droo tha dimmet parts o' 'eaven. 'Dear Laurd,' I shall say, 'I knaws wat rasting ba like, and now I wid dearly like tu ba doing,'"
Just as Ben Tiipp would have tortured any helpless animal that fell into his power, so now, as he looked down on the boy's eager, pathetic face, a desire came into his heart to crush out its happiness.
"Thar ain't no such place as 'eaven, Joe," he said, leaning forward , and. placing his great hand on the child's crippled form; "'tis all darned rot — bunkum, as us says out in the States. And as for the
Almighty that yer talk so slick about, tha bally old 'oss has kicked his last kick. Nater hez played low down on yer Joe, and tied yer up to yer darned bed; but when death gets hould of yer, ha wull tie yer a
tarnation sight tighter, yer can bed yer bottom dollar on thet, Joker;"
.....and the man burst into a laugh of coarse enjoyment.
"Thar, young shaver," he added, as he rose from the bed, "thet's the opinion o' wan thet has covered a darned sight more miles in his life than yer have minutes, so stow it in yer pipe and smoke it,"
So saying, he left the child alone. But from that moment a change came over Travelling Joe
--he began to pine away, and the villagers said he was "marked for death;" but Zam, as he walked to and fro with the dying boy in his arms, muttered; "Better death than thet tha Union should 'ave him; better thet than thie--better thet than thie."
One day, when it was plain that Joe was more than usually ill, Martha Snykes came to the cottage ' "I jest drapped in, Zam Tapp," she said, sinking her stout form in the nearest chair, "to tull 'ee o' a remedy,
a mortal efficasious remedy, tho' I zay it ez shudn't, baing, ze tu spake, the inventor o' tha same. But, law, I've suffered thet turribul bad mezulf; what wi' tha recurring spasams, and a percussion in the head that just drones on continuel for all the wordel like the passon o' praiching o' Sundays, thet I can abear tu think of the pore child wi' death rampaging auver him, and that cure zo tu spake at at hiz vury door tha
zame baing nort ulse but a tayspoonful o' tha brownest o' sugar, togither wi' a tayspoonful o' tha strongest o'brandies, and let it be tooked zitting, natur liking a smoothness at zich times. I have alwiz
reckoned mezulf thet if thet child's moather had vallered my advice and tooked thickey remedy, hur wid niver 'ave bin
lying in tha churchyard at this yhere bles-
sid minet; tho' I won't gaw for tu deny
thet hur made a vine corpse, straight vay-
chers favoring the zame. The which I have
alwiz allowed, and many's the time I've
red ez much. 'Jane Vaggis,' I've zed, 'may
have acted a bit contrary in hur life, zich
ez tha wearing o' roses at mistaken mo-
dooty, hur looked hur part. Not thet I
would ever act contrary to them ez natur
hed less vavored at zich times; and when
my pore moather came in tu the last, and
what wi' dropsy and wan thing and tother
her wez meast tha size o' tha feather bed
that hur layed on, 'Moather,' I zed, 'if
yer 'ave a fancy in coffins, zay the wud and
I woant go for tu deny 'ee.' 'Martha,'
her answered, 'ony color but black, and let
the handles ba shiny'; and I guved her
halum picked out wi brass and ther ain't
a corpse in tha parish ez wez buried more
comfortabul. But ther," she added, as she
rose from her seat, "I must be gettin' along
'ome; law bless us!" she exclaimed, looking
down on Joe, "how turribul bad the pore
child does look; but there ha iz gwaying to
a home o'light, tlio' I alwiz reckoned me0
zulf thet 'eaven must be trying tu tha eyes.
Wull, I wish 'ee good day, Zam Tapp," she
added, "and doan't forget a tayspoonful of
the brownest o' sugars togither wi' a tay-
spoonful o' the strongest o' brandies, and
let ta zame ba tooked sitting."
"Grandfer," said the hoy when the door close on Martha Snyke's fat, comfortable form, "carry me tu and fraw a bit and tull me zommat; tull me ywhat the wordel ba like out ther--ba it mortal wide?"
' "Ay, ay, lad;" Zam answered, raising the dying child in his arms, "wide and lonezome, wide and lonezome."
"But windervul vull o'' ditches," Joe said; "do 'ee jump they ditches, grandfer, when yer gaws tu and fraw tu wark:?"
"Naw; law, I ba getting owld," Zam answered, "I moastly walks 'longside."
There was silence for a moment, and then Joe spoke. "Grandfer," he said, "do 'ee reckon that they knaws more about 'eaven auver tu Merikey than they does yhere?"
"Tiz tha tother zide o tha wordel," the old man answered; "maybe they zees clearer ther."
"I ba mortal wangery, grandfer," Travelling Joe answered, sighing; "I reckon I cud zlape.:
Zam laid the dying boy back in the old truckle bed. "Shall I tull ze zommat from the Buk lad?" he asked.
The child shivered. "Naw, grandfer," he answered. "I wid liefer bide quiet."
He sank into a broken slumber, suddenly to awake with a start.
"Tiz turribul dimmet," he exclaimed; "but," and his face brightened,. "I zees things li'ke ditches;"
So saying, he died.
