. Little helpers . the church which theyattended, when, to his great sur-prise, Jim stepped quietly in, andsat down beside him. Jim was veryneatly dressed in his Sunday suit,but the naming necktie which heusually wore was replaced by asmall bow of black ribbon. His facehad a gentle and subdued expressionquite unusual to it, and Johnny feltsure, at once, that Taffy was gone. As the boys knelt side by side in the closing prayer, theirhands met in a warm, close grasp, and a smothered sob fromJim told how deeply his heart was touched. Taffy had died that evening, very peacefully, in his sleep, afe
. Little helpers . the church which theyattended, when, to his great sur-prise, Jim stepped quietly in, andsat down beside him. Jim was veryneatly dressed in his Sunday suit,but the naming necktie which heusually wore was replaced by asmall bow of black ribbon. His facehad a gentle and subdued expressionquite unusual to it, and Johnny feltsure, at once, that Taffy was gone. As the boys knelt side by side in the closing prayer, theirhands met in a warm, close grasp, and a smothered sob fromJim told how deeply his heart was touched. Taffy had died that evening, very peacefully, in his sleep, afew minutes after Jim came home from his work. And I somehow felt as if, maybe, Id get a little nearer tohim, if I was to come to church, said Jim, in a subdued voice,as he walked part of the way home with Mrs. Leslie, and Ithought, maybe, you wouldnt mind if I came to your pew, itseemed sort of lonesome everywhere. Mrs. Leslie made him very sure that she did not mind,and would not, no matter how often he came 156 LITTLE HELPERS. And he came regularly, after that. At first he sat with hisfriends; then he chose a sitting among the free seats in thechurch, and sat there, but he found that, in this way, he was aptto have a different place every Sunday, and this he did not made him feel as if he did not belong anywhere, he toldJohnny; so, as soon as he could command the money, he rentedhalf a pew for himself, and after that he nearly always broughtsome one with him. Once or twice it was the old woman whokept the eating-stand where he usually bought his lunch; some-times it was a wild, rather frightened-looking street Arab, some-times a fellow bootblack. He evidently enjoyed doing the honors of his half pew, butthere was a deeper and better motive under that; the soul thathas heard its own call1 is eager that other souls shouldhear, too. CHAPTER XV.
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