--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - McLaughlin, Fred collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 28 number: 3 published: 1925-01 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Fred McLaughlin, “Bobby,” *Improvement Era 28, no. 3 (January 1925)*: 240–241." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2803unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2803unse start_page: 240 end_page: 241 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1925-01) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2803unse publication_year: 1925 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1925, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Bobby BOBBY By Fred McLaughlin Bobby found a great silver mesh-bag. He looked around to see if anyone had noticed him. The act was unconscious, for Bobby was honest. He carried the bag to a nearby area-way and opened it. It contained a roll of bills, a tiny powder-puff in a celluloid case, some change, a couple of keys, and a flat leather case which held a wonderful necklace of pearls. "Oh, gee, I got to find out who this belongs to!" He ran through one of his papers and found the item under "Lost and Found." It gave the address and offered a reward. Skinny came along. Skinny used a crutch, but he sold a lot of papers, and he was a regular fellow. Bobby gave Skinny his papers. "I found a bag full of money and things, Skinny, and the paper says a reward. I'm on my way." Skinny counted the gift papers and figured up twenty-two cents velvet. "Oh boy!" Bobby may have looked small, but he felt very important as he stood in the fine parlor and waited. The lady came in and took the bag from his outstretched hand. She got down on her knees and looked closely into the boy's face. Bobby was surprised to see tears in her eyes. He didn't know that the pearl necklace was a thing of great value. Bobby liked to look at her; she was almost a pretty as Mama. And Mama often had tears in her eyes too. "What is your name?" He liked her voice; it was soft and sweet — just like Mama's. "Bobby Turner," he said. She took out the necklace and held it lovingly against her cheek. She opened the roll of bills. She was going to count the money! Hot anger surged in Bobby's heart, for the blood of a long line of gentle- men flowed in his veins. She took two tens from the roll and put them into the boy's hand. "This is yours, Bobby." "Twenty dollars!" A lump rose in his throat. He tried to thank her, and couldn't. The electric train that he had watched, day after day, in the window of the big store down town, was his now. And Mama wouldn't have to cry because she couldn't get anything for Bobby's Christmas. There would be enough left to get a present for Mama, also. Just in time, too, for tomorrow was Christmas. "Don't you want to — to count it?" he said slowly. She laughed. It was a rich delicious lilt. She put an arm around his shoulders. "I don't have to count it, Bobby. I know a man when I see one. What are you going to buy?" BOBBY 241 "Electric train. It's got a red engine, and people in the cars — and a station and a bridge and a tunnel. Some train!" He wondered if he ought to get confidential. "And I'm going to get something for Mama, too. She's got nobody but me. She — she sews a good deal, and I sell papers after school; so we get along pretty well." "I'm going to send you home in the car,. Bobby. Wait; I'll give you a note to your mother." On the way home the chauffeur stopped at the big store and asked Bobby to watch the car while he did some shopping. He came out with an enormous box that nearly filled the rear seat. He left the box with Bqbby and his mother. Bobby exhibited the money, and his mother read the note. She held him for a moment, and called him "her man." "The note says for us to open the box tomorrow, Bobby." Her gray eyes were shining. "Maybe there is something for both of us." "I been thinking about this twenty dollars," said Bobby, with heavy resolution. "Guess I better not spend all this for a train. We can't afford it. The pretty lady called me a man. No man would waste all that on an electric train. You just take it, Mama, and spend it like you want to; and give me a dollar for an aeroplane. That's enough, I guess." His shoulders drooped, and his voice trembled a little, but he won through. Mama held him close again. That night, while Bobby slept, Mama worked for an hour or two with the pretty lady's present. When she had finished, she looked with misty eyes upon an electric train, with a red engine, and people in the cars — and a station and a bridge and a tunnel. Washington, D. C. The Sky of Utah A SONNET Above the lofty pinnacles of snow, How broad and vast the blue ethereal cope Extends its borders to the distant slope Where sky and earth merge in the rim below! Of such great views, as here before me rise, My eyes are powerless to grasp the scope; Sublime, the distances in grandeur ope, A sense of feeling that' transcends surprise — The feeling that inspired fair Sappho's heart 'Mid seas and mountains in her Grecian home; Or Petrarch won amid the peers of Rome Crowned with the laurel of poetic art. Here heaven opens wide domains unknown, And faith through inspiration gains a throne. Albuquerque, N. M. JOSEPH LONGKING TOWNSEND,