started it had just eleven dollars to her name--" And then he, too,
stopped abruptly and there was another long moment of silence.

After that he looked around at the reporters. "Well, it's too bad
you can't all have it, when it's so big a chance, but I guess it
falls logically to Raymond. And in writing it, just remember,
Raymond, that the biggest stories are not written about wars, or
about politics, or even murders. The biggest stories are written
about the things which draw human beings closer together. And the
chance to write them doesn't come every day, or every year, or every
lifetime. And I'll tell you, boys, all of you, when it seems
sometimes that the milk of human kindness has all turned sour, just
think back to the little story you heard this afternoon."

* * * * *

Slowly the sun slipped down behind the mountains; slowly the long
purple shadows deepened to black; and with the coming of the night
there settled over the everlasting hills, and over the soul of one
who had returned to them, that satisfying calm that men call peace.




IV

FRECKLES M'GRATH


Many visitors to the State-house made the mistake of looking upon