David Lockwin—The People's Idol

by John McGovern

The man looks for help to Esther. "Esther," he says, "I have counted 140 pulsations."

"Is that bad for a child, David? I guess not."

"I am probably mistaken. I will try again."

The child lays the curly head against Lockwin's breast. The full vibration of the struggling lungs resounds through the man's frame.

"The pulse is even above 140. Oh! Esther, will he have to go through that again?"

"No, David, no. See, he's asleep. Put him here. You look like a ghost. Go right to bed. To-morrow will be a trying day. Davy is tired out. To be sure, he must be worse when he is tired."

"Does the doctor come at all in the night?"

"Why, no, of course not. It is a chronic case now, he says. It requires the same treatment."

The voice is soft consoling and sympathetic. The man is as tired as Davy.

"We ought not to have had the folks here," he says.