Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1848-05-26


not have touched, but with unusual benevolenee,
the carpenter thrust them also towards him.
SO the widow was arousedb by Ihecheerful crack.
ingof fire on the hearth which. lfii gave fouh
lule heat, served TO illuminate the otherwise
cherries room. Joseph was before the fire,
looking quite cheerful and happy as he fed the
flame with handsfu Of crisp shayings.
'COme. mOther, We have a crust or two left
for breakfast, here it is, don't feel hungry after
our famous supper" said the boy approaching his
mother with some fragments Of bread.
The widow would have persuaded her son 10
eat, but he quietly laid the portion she gave him
on lIile deal table, saying that he was not hun.
cry, aud would 90 into the street 10 sec if any.
body wanted TO send him on an errand, or have
wood carried in. He kissed his mother before
going out, and besought her 10 lie still and cever
herself with the bed. clothes; but the child did
not guess how i'll bis parenIwas, how utterly bro
ken down aud slrengihless.
! Ii was a clear day, but intensely cold, the air
was full Of sharp biting frost, and The liue wind
that stirred along the streets was keen and sling.
/ ing rather than boislerous. Poor Joseph was
thinly clad, and the cold penetrated every pore
Of his body as he hurried along the icy pave.
men1, looking eagerly from side 10 side in search
Of something 10 do, but no pile Of wood glad
dened his eye, no liule mound of coal gave him
an excuse for ringing at some street door to beg
the privilege of carryingit in. But the boy had
suffered, and seen his mother suffer I'LL the reso-
luton Of manhood seemed springing up in his
bosom, his eye grew brighter and more deiermi.
ned as he walked on; his pale lips we're pressed
together, and he turned his face firmly against
the wind as if that were his fate, and his young
soul had found courage to brave il.
He went down TO the wharves in hope that
some traveller might employ him TO carry
band.box or portmanteau, but larger and more
hardened boys drove HIM away, and he was
more Than once in danger Of being crushed a.
mong the hackney-coachmen and cab-driyers
that lhronged The Ihoroughfare to every ferry
Still he would not be discouraged, though hun
cry and tortured with the cold he pressed for.
ward pleading for work ill night drew on, and
then, for the first time in his young life, 'beg-
ging for money, anything that would keep his
mother from perishing with want" AT night
fall he stood in Broadway, and asked for ''pen-
nies 10 buy bread for his poor mother" of the
passers by-it was an old story aud excited no
sympathy. Once that beautiful, earnest face,
thin and pale with famine, might have touched
heart Of stone, but il was too cold for men TO
pause long enough for more Than an impotenr
glance, and if the vein with which he pleaded
was sad and broken-hearted, they set it down as
part Of his profession, lacking somewhat in viii
ming humility, but very well for new beginner
and so they passed him by. den who riskec
thousands every night at the gambling table
withheld theirpenny from conscientious ScrupleS
They looked upon street beggars as mora
evil; women who were driving their husbands
to bankruptcy by extravaganza in dress and e.
quiPage, swept by the shivering boy, wrapped in
yelvels and costly furs, but they too had consci.
enlious scruples, or could not afford the penny
for which he supplicated. Some passed him
with averted faces and heard him not. Others
ordered him away as if wild animal had eros
sed his path: one or TWO paused as if to aid him
but it was difficult for such to find their purses
without being chilled through, so when the child
almost felt coin in his palm, and looked upon
them already with grateful eyes, they passed oil,
sitting the compassionate impulse that had al
most compelled them 10 kind act, by the COM
mon observation that after all this begging was
but a business. So they passed him one and all
ill the night came on, and when every limb was
chilled, and his very heart coldin his bosom, the
boy :rept toward home miserable, hungry and
exhausted.
The night wps colder even than the morning
a clear winiry sky bent over the city, studded
with myriads of golden stars, beautiful and
bright, but the boy shivered beneath them, and
it seemed as if they hung there 10 mock him
with thoughts of a warm fire which he must ne
yer see again. The shop windows too, with
their gliuering lights cleaning over piles of con.
dictionary and southern lruiIs-they had temp.
ted HIM a little while before, but now the gas
flames and the fruit seemed melting together in
a sea Of beautiful colorS that danced before his
eyes-st tempted him no longer, for he had
ceased 10 feel hungry as faintness and loathing
Of food crept over him; sensation seemed grad
ually dying from his limbs, and he was conscious
of but one wish and that was to lie down by his
mother and sleep. Sill he crept on, moving tc
and fro beneath The bright piIess stars, and the
yet more pitess throng that passed him by, ill
he mistook the way and stood quite alone in
public lumber-yard. 1t gave him no anxiety
for his limbs were already asleep, and his eye,
grew heavy. He sunk TO the earth with his face
turned upward to the stars. And when the beg
gar boy awoke he was in Heaven.
They were sitting at their breakfast table
Frances Henry and her parents-one day had
passed by since the sewing woman had sought
their house in that terrible storm: but she had
not called again as directed. So Frances cast
the subject from her mind, and smiled quietly
when she thought how much anxiety the Ti'
fling sum Of ten cents had cost her.
/; Mr.. Henry, who had been amusing himself
with the morning papers after his coffee, occa-
sionay read paragraph aloud: after running
over the amount of stocks he came to the coro-
, ner's inquests, and read on as if he had been
still immersed in the money market.
COrOner'S Inquests-An inquest was held al
; 81 street, on the body of a young lad, who
was found dead in woodward in the rear of 81.
Verdict, died of exposure and want. The bo.
DIV was removed tn the dead house