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hospital and exacting his promise that he would visit them in New York in the

near future.

It was a month later; spring was filling the southland with new, sweet life. The

joy of living was reflected in the song of birds and the opening of buds. Beside a

slow-moving stream a man squatted before a tiny fire. A battered tin can, half

filled with water stood close to the burning embers. Upon a sharpened stick the

man roasted a bit of meat, and as he watched it curling at the edges as the flame

licked it he spoke aloud though there was none to hear:

Just for a con I'd like to know (yes, he crossed over long ago; And he was right,

believe me, bo!) if somewhere in the South, Down where the clouds lie on the

sea, he found his sweet Penelope With buds of roses in her hair and kisses on

her mouth.

Which is what they will be singing about me one of these days," he commented.

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The Mucker