ing and
washing; and Joe, perforce, was left to the somewhat erratic and
decidedly unskillful ministrations of Betty. Betty was no worse, and no
better, than any other untaught, irresponsible twelve-year-old girl,
and it was not to be expected, perhaps, that she would care to spend
all the bright sunny hours shut up with her sorely afflicted and
somewhat fretful brother. True, at noon she never failed to appear and
prepare something that passed for a dinner for herself and Joe. But the
Glaspell larder was frequently almost as empty as were the hungry
stomachs that looked to it for refreshment; and it would have taken a
far more skillful cook than was the fly-away Betty to evolve anything
from it that was either palatable or satisfying.

With the coming of David into Joe's life all this was changed. First,
there were the music and the companionship. Joe's father had "played in
the band" in his youth, and (according to the Widow Glaspell) had been
a "powerful hand for music." It was from him, presumably, that Joe had
inherited his passion for melody and harmony; and it was no wonder that
David recognized so soon in the blind boy the spirit that made them
kin. At the first stroke of David's bow, indeed, the dingy walls about
them would crumble into nothingness, and together the two boys were off
in a fairy world of loveliness and joy.

Nor was listening always Joe's part. From "just touching" the
violin--his first longing plea--he came to drawing a timid bow across
the strings. In an incredibly short time, then, he was picking out bits
of melody; and by the end of a fortnight David had brought his father's
violin for Joe to practice on.

"I can't GIVE it to you--not for keeps," David had explained, a bit
tremulously, "because it was daddy's, you know; and when I see it, it
seems almost as if I was seeing him. But you may take it. Then you can
have it here to play on whenever you like."

After that, in Joe's own hands lay the power to transport himself into
another world, for with the violin for company he knew no loneliness.

Nor was the violin all that David brought to the house. There were the
doughnuts and the cookies. Very early in his visits David had
discovered, much to his surprise, that Joe and Betty were often hungry.

"But why don't you go down to the store and buy something?" he had
queried at once.

Upon being told that there was no money to buy with, David's first
impulse had been to bring several of t