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sal ot cree pepernarr tenant natty
. there, though!
Copyright, 1905, by David.C.
Cook Publishing Company.
74 r Jo. 27. PUBLISHED
Vou. LY. No. 27, { PUBLISH
DAVID C. COOK PUBLISHING CO., Exern,
ILLINOIS, AND 86 WasuInctTon St., Cricaco.
July 8, 1905.
f) PROVING HIS METTLE
‘e Tis: ball game last Saturday was
just all right, wasn’t it, boys?’
Hal Deming threw himself on the
ground under the shade of one of the wide-
spreading elm trees where the other high-
school. boys had already disposed them-
- selyes comfortably.
“T should say it was!” Fred Hale ex-°
claimed, suddenly sitting up and facing the
other boys. “‘ But wasn’t it close for awhile
I tell you I was beginning
to shake before that last inning. Say, but
that home run of yours was O. K., Harold!
My! But wasn’t that fine!»
"7
school just yell though!
“What about that game next Saturday? _
How do you suppose we'll come out, any-
way?” Frank Dalton broke in. “That
Academy team’s pretty hard to beat. Char-
lie Allen said there hadn’t any team beat
them this summer,”
“Oh, don’t take on such a doleful tone,
rank,” Harold Beyrl said laughingly.
“Of course they’re hard to beat, and of
course we're going to beat them: just the
ame, ‘There isn’t any fun playing against
a a team that isn’t hard to beat. We want a
chance to prove our mettle.”
“Wedon’t need to be afraid of them if
Harold will just make a few more of those
home runs of ‘his,’’ Hal declared. “I tell
you if we had two or three more‘ that could
play ball like he does, we wouldn’t need to
be afraid of anything in the state.”
Harold’s cheeks flushed, half in pleasure,
half in annoyance. The school and its
friends had gone wild over his play the Sat-
urday before, and he had been a good deal
embarrassed by all the praise he had re-
ceived since; so he was not sorry to hear
the school-bell ring just then.
The boys sprang up, and Harold walked
on up to the schoolhouse with his chum,
I'red Hale. “Say, have you performed
those experiments in chemistry yet?” Fred
inquired. “ You weren't in there when the
rest of us were at work. That last one is
fine.”
“Vm going at them now,” Ifarold an-
swered, as they ran up the steps of the
building. “1 had to work at my geometry
all the morning. You know I got behind
with it last week, and I-knew if I once
started in on chemistry, the old geometry
would go again.”
The two boys passed on to their seats;
but Harold only stopped long enough to.
get his chemistry and then went on into the
laboratory. Ile was intensely interested in
experimenting, and his happiest hours at
school were spent in the laboratory among
the retorts, test-tubes, and flasks.
else was in the room at that hour and he
had all the apparatus to himself. He was
soon lost to everything but the experiments
he was making. The work had a fascina-
tion for him, and after he had finished the
assignment for. the day he went on, trying
first one mixture of gases or fluids and then
another.
It was a study-hour in the assembly-
-Everyone was busy and the room
room, :
was very still. Suddenly, breaking start-
lingly into the stillness, there came the
sound of an explosion, mingled with the
shattering of glass and a sharp cry of pain.
The scholars sprang to their feet with
white, startled faces, Professor West has-
tened to the laboratory; as he entered the
room Harold staggered blindly toward him,
his hands pressed to his face.
Didn't our’
.to him distinctly and burned
“No one -
Professor West caught the boy in his
arms and hastily ordered one of the pupils
to telephone for a doctor.
Two hours later Harold lay in a darkened
room at home, his eyes closely bandaged.
The pain® was almost intolerable, but he
shut his teeth hard and made no sound. He
wondered how long it would be before he
was all right again; he hoped he would be
by Saturday. Ife must help the boys win
that game against the Academy nine. They
would have to put Bert Gatewood in his
place if he couldn't be there, and Bert was
no good at making a run.
But when Saturday came he was still in
the darkened room. But his eyes, pained
him much Jess and he was able to listen ex
citedly to Uncle Jack’s report of the game.
“So. it was a. tie, you see,” Uncle Jack
said in conclusion; “and they, are.to play
another game two weeks from to-day to de-
cide it.’
“Two weeks!” Marold exclaimed excit-
edly. ‘‘I.can play by that time, sure. I
just must. ‘Tl have to get around in time
to practice some, too,”
Harold did not notice that Uncle Jack
made no answer, and after a minute he
went on: “I’ll have to just more than work
at school when I get back, or-I’ll never
catch up with the class again. I wouldn't
fail of getting through this year. for any-
thing, and there’s only six weeks left.” He
wondered, why Uncle Jack sud-
After that day Harold was very quiet.
He did not complain, but his white, set face
in the dim light made their- hearts ache.
His mother petted him and tried to tempt
his appetite with all kinds of dainties, and
Uncle Jack strove in every way to entertain
him, but with little success. He would
thank them in a listless voice for everything
that was done for him, and then ‘turn his
face to the wall. He did not want anyone
to talk to him, and he preferred to be left
alone.
But one day when he lay there, his lips
pressed together in a hard line, trying-not
to think what life was going-to be like
with the light all shut out of it, Uncle Jack
came in with a resolute step and, crossing
over to the bed, sat down beside Harold.
Tle took one of the thin, white hands in
his own strong, warm one. Ilis voice
choked a little when he began to talk, in
spite of his effort*to make it cheery.
Ifarold felt: that he was going to say
something about his eyes, and he turned his
head away. He had not allowed anyone to
mention it. But Uncle Jack was not to be
put off this time. “ My boy,” he said with
that queer little choke in his voice, “ you
must face it like a man and not let it ruin
your life.”
Harold did not answer at first; his face
was still turned away. At last he said
bitterly, “ How can I help it, I’d like to
know? I can never do anything now.”
But Uncle Jack went on: “Fred told
me how you always liked a hard team to
play against in a ball game. He said you
liked a chance to prove your mettle.” Then
his voice grew very tender as he went on,
“Perhaps this is a chance for you to prove
your mettle, my boy. An ordinary person
may be successful when-everything is fa-
“Warold, your life is not spoiled, unless
you let it be,” he said. “It is going to be
hard—that is true; but you are not afraid
to face hard things. You were proud when
your ball team had to meet a hard battle;
are you going to lose your courage now
when it is a hard battle in real life that
you have to face, instead of only on the
ball ground? . Are you willing to be a hero
in the smaller way and not try to be one
in the greater?”
Harold made no answer. It was a new
idea and he was trying to think it out.
After a while Uncle Jack went on, “If
your nine had never had any but easy bat-
tles to win, do you think it could have
beaten the Academy team now? It is the
hard things we conquer that make us
strong.
Still Harold said nothing. He lay there
very still. Presently. Uncle Jack slipped
out of the room and left him aloné. ‘ Then
he turned his face to the wall and let the
choking sobs have their way. They were
the first tears he had shed since he was
hurt; but now he buried his face in the
pillow and cried until he was exhausted.
But he felt better afterward, and by and
by he began to think about what Uncle
Jack had said.
Ile lay awake and thought and thought
for a long time that night. Before morn-
ing came-he had made up his mind
that he would fight this hard battle and in
some way he would be of use in the world
even if he could not see. Then he thought
of his mother and of how badly she was
feeling for him. “I guess the first thing
for me to do is to cheer her up,” he thought,
and then he dropped asleep.
The next morning when his mother came
in with his breakfast, he greeted her in his
old merry voice. His tongue
dealy walked over to the. win-
dow.
It was one day the next week
when he lay there thinking how
loudly the clock ticked. Uncle
Jack was sitting over by ~the
window writing by the one ray
of light that was allowed to
come through the close-drawn
curtains, and the room was yery
quiet; The doctor had been in
to see him a little while before,
and presently Harold could hear
w hum of voices in the next
room and he knew that his
father and the doctor were talk-
ing. He lay there idly listen-
ing to the low murmur and
wondering if*the doctor was ~
telling how soon ‘the could have
the bandage taken off his eyes,
Suddenly two sentences came
themselves into his brain.
haps it was the sharp pain in
his father’s voice that made
Ilarold hear him so plainly.
“Can't you give me any hope,
Doctor?” he cried out. Harold
did not breathe as he waited for
the answer. Would the doctor
never speak! It seemed an age
to the waiting boy before the
low-toned answer came, “ I’m
afraid I can’t, Beyrl.”
Ilarold uttered a low cry and
stretched out his hands in the
darkness. Uncle Jack was be:
side him with a bound and gath-
ered his hands in a close, warm
clasp. Harold clung to him like a drown-
ing man; the world seemed slipping away.
At length IIarold drew his hands away
and turned his face to the wall. Uncle
Jack understood. Te touched the dark hair
tenderly and then slipped away; he knew
that Harold could not bear even sympathy
then.
vorable, but it takes a hero to win in spite
of all obstacles.”
Harold turned his face now and impa-
tiently put his hand up to the bandage
across his eyes. “ But what is the use,
Uncle Jack?” he said impetuously.
Uncle Jack drew the limp hand into a
yet closer clasp, but his voice was firm.
“‘PERHAPS THIS IS A CHANCE FOR YOU TO PROVE YOUR METTLE.”
rattled on all the time he was
eating his toast and eggs, and
Mrs. Beyrl’s face beamed with
pleasure at the change in her
boy.. “Say, mother,” he said,
when he bad finished his cup of
coffee, “can’t some of the boys
come up and see me to-day? I
want to hear about the exams
and that tine game last week
and everythin: ‘
Mrs, Reyrl's face lighted up.
It was the first time Harold
had shown any interest in any-
thing; he bad not been willing
to see even his chum, Fred,
fore. She was so glad that we
wanted to see them now; but
she was ,afraid it would make
him feel worse to hear about all
the boyish interests in which he
could have no part. Harold put
his hand up as she bent over
him, and felt the tears on her
face. “Now, mother mine,
don’t you go to feeling so bad,”
he said cheerfully. “I’ve got
hands and feet and ears and a
tongue and a few brains, even
if I haven’t got any eyes, and
it’s a pity if I can’t manage to
make some use of them. I'l ©
find a place in the world yet;
never you fear.”
So Fred and two of the other
boys came to see him that after-
noon. The doctor allowed a
soft light in the room now, and
Harold was. up and sitting in
the great easy-chair. The boys
felt a little embarrassed at first, but when
they found Harold as‘jolly as ever their
tongues were soon loosened, and they dis-
cussed last week’s examinations, their plans
for vacation, the prospect of victory in the
next ball game, and all the other great suh-
jects of interest. Mrs, Beyrl smiled in the
next room as she heard the sound of boy-
