Tommy knew
that he had his mother to think about; she had been left in his care.
Tommy was only seven when his father, Tom Carter, was crushed between two
engines. Nobody seemed to know just how it happened, only the man who had
charge of the other engine had been drinking; anyway, it happened. They
took Tom Carter home on a stretcher. Just before he died, he said;
"Good-by, Tommy. Father trusts you to take care of mother and Sissy." After
that would Tommy say anything to his mother about patches or teasing, or
let her see tears?
There was another thing that Tommy had courage to do; that was to take
constant care of Sissy. All day Saturday and all day Sunday, and just as
much time as he could spare on school-days, Tommy gave to Sissy. It was he
who fed her, and washed her face a great many times a day, and coaxed her
to sleep, and took her to ride in her little cart, or walked very slowly
when she chose to toddle along by his side, and changed her dress when she
tumbled into the coal-box or sat down in a mud puddle. And he had been
known to wash out a dress and a nightgown for Sissy when his mother was
ill.
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