BEING A HERO.
"There'll be no rain to-day," said Almira Jane as Master Sunshine
slipped off gayly to school next morning. "Your geese are sure to
be good weather-prophets, and I notice that they are dressing
their feathers and diving comfortably in the little duck-pond."
"And what would they be doing if it were going to rain?" inquired
Master Sunshine.
"Geese always get noisy and fidgety before storms," answered
Almira Jane. "That was partly what was the matter with the
Wanderer and his Wife the day you brought them here. They were
doing their best to tell you that there was trouble in the air."
"There is a great lot of sense, after all, even in creatures that
people think are foolish," thought Master Sunshine to himself as
he set off. Then he turned to wave his hand to his mother, who
threw a kiss at him from an upper window as he disappeared down
the road.
Tommy and he strolled along, swinging their school satchels as
they went. Presently a sound came to them on the still, morning
air, something like a frightened yet angry sob, then a noise as of
distant laughter.
"I wonder what the boys are up to to-day," said Tommy, with a
lively look of interest.
Master Sunshine said nothing, but broke from a walk into a smart
run. He was just a bit afraid that his friend, the half-witted
boy, was in trouble.
Sure enough! when they had turned the sharp bend in the road, they
came to the scene of the mischief. And then, somehow, all Master
Sunshine's smiles vanished, and a sad, troubled expression fell on
his face.
A group of schoolboys were teasing Billy Butler, by calling him
mocking names, and even by throwing balls of soft mud at him;
while poor Billy was growing white with rage and was gesticulating
wildly.
It was not the first time that the schoolboys had made a butt of
poor Billy; and Master Sunshine wished, oh, so much! that he were
not quite so young and small. He was sure that these big boys
would not stop their rude play for him.
Tommy was by his side now, and the boys were calling to them to
join the crowd. Tommy looked rather undecided. He knew well enough
that the boys were doing wrong, but he feared they would laugh at
him unless he took part too; but Master Sunshine could not stand
the sight.
"Come, Dick, make the boys stop teasing Billy," cried he, going up
to the big boy who was leading in the rude sport. "He has never
done you any harm."
Dick looked angrily around. "Listen to bow-legged Norton," he
answered rudely.
"Run along," jeered another; "you better go and play with the a-b-c
boys at the schoolhouse."
Master Sunshine could not bear to be teased; but neither had he
the heart to turn away when Billy's eyes were following him so
piteously. His mind was quite made up now, and his temper was
rising fast.
"If you can do without me, you can do without Billy too," he said
firmly, making his way through the group. "You can call me any
names you like, and throw mud if you want to; but I'm not going to
leave Billy till he can go safely home."
The boys looked at one another in amazement. Here was Fred Norton
dictating to them what they should and should not do,--a little
chap who had scarcely been a year at school.
For a moment they were too surprised to make any objection; and
Master Sunshine had actually elbowed his way through the crowd,
and, with Billy by the hand, was making his way back towards home
before they realized what was happening.
Then a rude lad threw a great handful of mud that spattered on
Master Sunshine's back, and another cried, "Look at his bow-legs."
Master Sunshine looked back at his tormentors, for the taunt was
harder to bear than the mud itself. The boys were quick to see
this, and a half dozen of them at once joined in the teasing
chorus: "Did you ever see such legs? Before I'd have crooked legs
like that?"
And then his first tormentor would set in with the taunt of "Bow-legged
Norton! bow-legged Norton!"
But somehow the fun was quite gone out of it now. A number of the
better-minded boys had left the group, and were walking quietly
along. Tommy was talking vigorously to them.
"Fred Norton is all right," he exclaimed; "he's as manly and
honest as he can be. He can't bear to see anything ill-treated,
not even a dog; and it is just like him to take Billy's part."
"He made me feel small somehow," said Ralph, the largest boy of
all. "I suppose I could have stopped the row if I'd thought, but I
was afraid the fellows would be angry at me for spoiling their
sport. I'll not let them tease him any more, though;" and at a
sharp word from him the boys ceased their rude fun.
Master Sunshine was quite late for school that morning, and when
he did arrive he was so flushed in the face, and so muddy in his
dress, that Mr. Sinclair the teacher guessed that something was
amiss; and a few quiet questions at recess brought out part of the
story from Tommy, who was but too delighted to sing his friend's
praises.
That afternoon when lessons were over, Mr. Sinclair gathered his
pupils about him. "Boys," he said, "something that happened to-day
makes me afraid that some of you do not know what manliness means;
and, if there is a boy among you who does not wish to grow into a
manly man, I would like him to leave the schoolroom now."
Tommy Dane turned around and looked very hard at Dick, who had
been the chief of Billy's persecutors; but the boy, though looking
very shame-faced, made no effort to move.
"Some of you," continued the master, "have been making Billy
Butler very unhappy. Do you think the boy has too much pleasure in
his life?"
Every boy there made a picture to himself of Billy's life, and
wondered what the master could mean. Billy's home was the worst in
the village, his parents were often unkind to him, his clothes
were always in rags, he had no friends to play with, no one ever
thought of asking him to a party or a picnic or even to play
quietly in the back yard. He had never even had a chum.
The teacher read their thoughts very easily. "Then," said he, "if
he has no pleasures, why do you not try giving him a few instead
of making his life a burden. A manly boy tries to do what good he
can to his fellow-creatures, and it seems that the manliest boy
among you is one of the youngest pupils."
The boys looked at Master Sunshine as he spoke, for they knew that
his words could have but one meaning. Some of them smiled as they
did so; but Dick looked away again quickly, as if there was
something in the sight that he could not bear.
Master Sunshine was sound asleep. His head, all a glitter with its
yellow curls, was cradled on his arm. There were bits of the dried
mud still clinging to the back of his coat. Even the boys who
smiled were deeply touched. They remembered then what a very
little boy he was, and they did not wonder that the excitement of
the morning and the work of the day had quite exhausted him.
There was something like a tear in Dick's hard gray eyes.
"Boys," continued the teacher, "tell me what is your idea of a
hero."
"A man who does what is right whether he likes to or not," said
Ralph, who was feeling much ashamed of his share in the morning's
doings.
"A man who defends the weak," said Tommy proudly. The teacher
nodded.
"You are both right," said he; "and I hope from this out to have
not one, but a whole roomful of heroes."
When the breaking-up of school aroused Master Sunshine, he rubbed
his eyes open and stared about wonderingly. He could not think
what had made him do such a silly thing as to go to sleep in
school.
The boys crowded around him as he said good-by to Mr. Sinclair and
started for home. Tommy grabbed his books, another lad gave him a
little penknife with a tortoise-shell handle, and a third offered
him a great, shiny, winter apple.
These delicate attentions were so unexpected that Master Sunshine
was quite bewildered, and he was even more puzzled and perhaps a
little frightened, when Dick caught him up upon his shoulder, and
carried him home in state.
It was all so new and so unexpected, and he was so tired, that he
did not ask why it was that the boys, led by Mr. Sinclair, gave
three rousing cheers for the "hero of Hill-top school" just as he
and his bearer went out of the school gate.
He half dozed again, even on his high perch; and it was not until
the shrill voices of the Wanderer and his Wife warned him, that he
realized that he was home at last and that another rainstorm was
drawing near.