Going Back 



his own burdens her geography, arith- 

 metic and composition book, and I 

 know not now what other schoolroom 

 accessories which she thought from 

 force of habit she had to have at home 

 that night around the evening lamp. 

 But they had not gone far before the 

 real size of the boy's contract became 

 apparent. 



Side by side they fought their way 

 tediously along, the girl at length con- 

 siderately asking that her own books 

 be given back; but the boy was game 

 enough, I am glad here to record, under 

 the spur of some new strength to turn 

 deaf ears to that appeal. True, his 

 fingers and his ears were aching, sting- 

 ing terribly in the icy blasts, and he 

 was so laden that he could neither bat 

 his hands to keep them warm nor 

 press a mitten tightly to the side of his 

 freezing face, although he dearly want- 

 ed to do both. He had undertaken to 

 carry those things home for her, and 

 carry them to her home he would, 

 [73] 



