Does yer know where that land is?"
"I think I do, my boy, but you haven't told me yet who Jessie is."
"Jessie's an angel, but she's sick. She, lives up in a room in the
tenement, and I lives in the garret near by. She ain't got no father,
and her mother don't get much work, for she can't go out to work and
take care of Jessie, too. She cries a good deal when Jessie don't see
her, 'cause she thinks she is going to lose Jessie, but over in that
land of pure delight, Jessie says nobody is sick, and everybody who
goes there gets well right away, and, oh sir, I wants to take Jessie
there just as soon as I can. I takes her a flower every night, and
then I just sits and looks at her face, until my heart gets warmer and
warmer, and do yer think I could come out of such a place and then
swear and drink, and chew tobacco, and pitch pennies, and tell lies? I
tells Jessie how the boys calls me 'His Royal Highness,' and she tells
me I musn't mind it, and I musn't get mad, but just attend to my work.
And--and--and, oh sir, I wanted to tell somebody all this, for I always
tries to look bright when I goes in to see Jessie, and not let her know
I am fretting about anything; but I does want to take Jessie to the
land where flowers always bloom and people are always well.
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