The Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1846-1852, 1847-10-01

lHat MT. iteunOt mas the receipt OF ant
just two sovereigns more in the specie
box-so ifa little schooling night"
"Might do more than the prison Of
law could do-turn guiltless sin into good
and if with work"
eyes, yes. interrupted Becky, pleased
with the Magistrates manner, and inter.
rupting his meaning in her own way; al
she were to turn out tidy and could teach
her to roast, and bake, and set his rooms
TO rights, snd--,"
"And ifyou could succeed in half"
climed in the magistrate, you'd shew
yourself to be q profunder lawyer than
either | who sit upon this bench, or your
master a Baron of the Exchequer. lie
who cures pice iSgreater than lie whO pun
isles IT,"
Becky did not understand halfthis, on
" I this much that nobody could be so great
as the judge, her master; so courtesying
less respectfully than she otherwise would
have done, she waited for the child to be
released from the dock, threw large silk
handkerchief from her pocket across its
shoulders, that il might look less like a
vagrant, and then reverting back to the
disposal of the two sovereigns in the spe.
Gle box, she took the child's hand, and
making her way TO the cab outside the
door, was followed by the wondering and
calculating barber.
To wash the child well by the kitchen
fire, to bake a cake for tea, to invite the
barber thereunto, to reach the child Hit
tie pictured cup from the closets topmost
shelf, were matters of course with Becky;
and much did she calculate. and more
did the barber, as between the ~ravenous-
ly eaten cake, and the sweetened tea, the
precocious, willful. neglected intellect
ofcrime told of its narrow he'll of human
life, which it believed was heaven
Long was the talk of the barber and
Becky whilst the babyhood of crime, not
disowned by nature, nestled to rest; and
as Mr.. Bottle was of a nervous tempera-
ment, and much given to count his spoons
and forks, and make particular inquiries
after his masters gold spectacles, it was
Judged wise to Keep the real truth from
him at least for the present; and moreo-
yer, as the police report would e sure to
appear in the Times of the morrow, it
would be advisable (though a sad sin in
the eyes of Becky not to post that paper
so some chance might lie ofthe matter es-
Gaping Thrashem's keen notice. 1t for
tunately did, beyond a mere report OF
words; but in her strongest trunk Becky
boarded up that paper.
1t was necessary TO give the child a
name before Mr.. Bottle came back. The
barber suggested many good ones; none,
however, pleasant to the ear of Becky.
But when in some few days the child's
young face began to look gratefully up
into her own, the thought struck Becky
that the great oil painting over the libra
ry Fireplace was the portrait of the judg.
e's mother, and her Christian name had
been Alice. "And might it not be beau.
tiful "said Becky to herself, "ifshe should
turn out a good child, and come to such
grand things as to mond the dear masters
shirts. or cook him an omelet as brown
as | do! Might it not be beautiful to heaI
that name he loved so well, called up ant
down the housed" So giving her ques
tons an affirmative answer, Becky called
the child Alice.
To say that the seven years teachings
! 81 -, ,yo, DLcn1,Al oil nt D,,oo ,no,1l lo
an injustice to the great teacher-nature
But populations from closet, and drawers
and jars, grew less, and before continued
ministry of good, the memory of vice ia.
ded like a shadow in the broadening sun;
and Alice, the unknown spawn Of a beg.
CARS lodging house, became a favorite
with old Joe, took and thrived by honest
Becky's teachings, and even at last be-
coming noticed by Mr.. Bednot, drew up.
on his learning many ways.
Years passed on, and Alice was seven
teen. Never had the Judge seen; neve
heard other. He had lived forty year;
in that house, yet never trod his owr
kitchen floor. Becky grew feeble; and
the stern old man at last noticing it, rung
her up, one night, into the library. He
spoke kindly, placed her in a chair anc
said she must have help. Becky's hear
faltered-the secret %ofyears was on hel
tongue.
II was afraid you would be angry, bu'
I've long been obliged to have
"Whom?"
"Oue who can cook your omelet beau
tifully; set a frill on your shirt, and almosr
place your room as we'll as | do-Alice.'
The old man looked up at the picture
his heart grew merciful at that name
He rang again the bell; he said a word Oh
two; and Alice-the bud the spawn o
iniquity-the atom of the foulest city
streets that society crushed, and that he
in his great wisdom disowned all regene
ration for save the gallows-stood before
him in her beauty and usefulness. The
magistrate said right-"Nobler is it tC
teach good to crime, than to tread it un
der foot" The heart of the poor servan'
had solved the great enigma of socia
wrong and social progress, ina more prac
tical way than the wisdom of the scholar
and the Judge,-j&r teach but Ignorance
and cell wiU diminishi That night the
old man smiled less upon these books
he took them down; he read them; anc
Alice from that hour fitted around hin
in her useful, humble duties, and surpass
ed poor Becky, because she had beef