Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1846-05-22
MISCELLANEOUS.
THE TOUCHING R
BY T. S. ARTHUR.

. -
to the shop and buy me a pint of brandy"
AT the same time he handed her a quarter
of a dollar. The little girl took the money
and the bottle, and as she did so, looked at
her father in the face with an earnest, sad eN-
| preston. But he did not seem to observe it,
! although he perceived it, and felt it.; for he
understood its meaning. The little girl lin
gered, as if reluctant, for some reason, TO go
on her errand.
did you hear what l said :" the father
asked, angrily, and with a frowning brow, as
he observed this.
Jane glided from the room and went over
to the shop, hiding as she passed through the
street, the bottle under her apron. There she
obtained the liquor, and returned with it in a
few minutes. As she reached the bottle to
her father, she looked at him again with the
same sad, earnest look, which he observed.
1t annoyed and angered him.
What do you mean by looking at mo in
that way! Ha !" he said, in a loud. angry
tone.
Jane shrunk away, and passed into the
next room, where her mother lay sick. She
had been sick for some time, and as they
were poor, and her husband given to drink,
she had sorrow and p%rivation added to her
bodily sufTerinEs. As her little girl came in
she went up to the side of her bed, and, bend
ing over it, leaned her head upon her hand.
She did not make any remark, nor did her
mother speak 10 her, until she observed the
tears trickling through her fingers.
What is the matter, my dear I" she then
asked t%enderly.
The little girl raised her head endeayoring
TO dry up her tears as She did SO.
81 feel so bad, mother" she replied.
"And why do you feel bad, my child -
son, | always feel so bad, when father
sends me over to the shop for brandy. And
| had to 90 just low. | wanted to ask him
10 buy you some nice grapes and oranges
with the quarter of a dollar-they would
taste so good TO you-buthe seemed to know
what was going TO say, and looked at me
SO cross that | was afraid to speak. l wish
he wonld not drinl. any more brandy. 1t
makes him so cross; and then how many
nice things he might buy for you with the
money it takes for liquor"
The poor mother had no comfort to offer
her little girl, older in thought than IN years
for no comfort did she herself feel in view of
the circumstances that troubled the child
She only said-Iaying her hand upon her
head
"Try and not think about it, my dear; it
only troubles you, and your trouble cannot
make it any better"
But Jane could not help thinking about it,
try as hard as she would. She went to a
Sabbath School, in which a Temperance So
ciety had been formed, and every Sabbath
she heard the subject of incompetence dis
cussed, and its dreadful consequences detail
ed. But more than all this, she had the daily
experience of a drunkard's child. And in
this, how much of heart-touching expo
rience was involved how much of p~rivation
how much Of the anguish of a bruised spi-
rit. Who can know the weight that lies, like
a heavy burden, upon the heart of a drunk
ards child. None but that child-for lam
guage is too powerless to convey it.
On the next morning the father Of little
Jane went away to his work, and she was
left alone with her mother and her younger
sister. They were very poor, and could not
afford to employ any one 10 do the house
work, and so young as she was, while her
mother was sick, little Jane had everything
to do; the cooking and cleaning, and even
the washing and ironing-a hard task indeed
for her little hands. But she never murmur-
ed never seemed to think that she was
overburdened. How cheerfnlly would all
have BEEN done, if her fathers smiles had
fallen like sunshine upon her heart. But
tina, face, into which her eyes had looked SO
often and so anXiously, was ever hid in clouds
clouds arising from the consciousness that
he was abusing his family while seeking his
own base qualification, and from perce;ving
the evidences of his evil works stamped on
all things around him.
As Jane passed frequently through her
mothers room during the morning, pausinr
almost every time to ask if she wanted any
thing, she saw too plainly, that she was not
as well as on the day before-but she had a
high fever, indicated TO her by her hot skin
and constant request for cool water.
81 wish had an orange" the poor woman
said, as Jane came up to her bed for the
twentieth time. at would taste so good to
me-"
She had been thinking about an orange
all the morning and Notwithstanding her ec-
Tort to drive the thought from her mind. the
form of an orange would ever picture itself
before her, and It's grateful flavor even seemed
about TO thrill upon her taste. At last she
uttered her wish-not so much with the hope
OF having II grstiGed, as from an involuntary
Impulse to speak out her desire.
There was not a single cent in the house,
the father rarely trusted his wife with
monoy-he could not conGde in her iudicious
expenditure of it!
l. me go and buyyou an orange, moth
SAID Jane; they have oranges at the
~ have no change, my d ar, and if | had,
should not think it rightto spend four or
hye cents for an orange, when we have so
will do now w
Jane brought the poor sufferer a plass Of
cool water, and she drank it off eagerlv.-
Then she lay back upon her pillow with a
sigh, and her little pirl went nnt 10 nAnnl a