Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1851-07-02
THE WATCHER.

In a dark room, in ruined and wretched
house, in one of the most filthy districts of a
great city, mother sat watching her sleeping
babe The infant was lying on hard pallet on
the floor, and the mother was sitting beside il
on a broken chair, plying her needle with eager
haste, and occasionally pausing to look down at
her babe or to kiss it as it lay asleep. The child
was pale and sickly, and in the close, offensive
air of the room it seemed TO breathe painfully
and to inhale, with every pulse of its tender
heart, the insidious principles of death and dis
solution But not less pale and wan was the
mother, who sat there watching; her features
wore that blanched ,unearthly hue, ,whlea strange
upward light was playing in her eyes, which
spoke but too plainly that death was breathing
on her. The room was lonely-very lonely
for there were no pictures to adorn its walls,
scarcely any articles of common domestic use
within it it was bare, almost unfurnished dis
NAL, and cold. The mother was engaged in ma
king Shifts and the price which she received for
them averaged -pence-half- penny each; and
it is said that by extraordinary exertions for 20
hours out Of twenty four the sum of three shil-
lings may be earned weekly at such labor. Well
the pale care-worn suffering mother continued
to stitch, stitch, anXiously from hour to hour,
leaving off now and then to take her dying baby
III dIlllS 10 press IL iOlluly W UTcdSt
until the tide of her hearts affection came steal
ing forth in tears; and recollecting that the next
meal for herself and child must be earned by the
continued labor of her jaded hands, she placed
the infant on its bed, and again resumed her
work
Thus many hours had passed in silence bro
ken only bv the low moanining Of the child, as
it turned to and fro in the feeble expression of
lnnu n1 oh thn Cicrh, ,.f
the mother as she gazed anxously upon its fe-
vered face, and saw the stamp of want and mis-
cry there in an expression akin to the mbecili.
ty Of years. AT length the babe awoke, and the
mother took it tendery into her arms; she press
ed it to her breast and kissed the cold dew from
from its forehead. And now she began 20 pre-
pare her humble meal, she placed few sticks
of wood in the stove and lighted them, and plac-
ed an old broken kettle half filled with water up
on them; and then arranged two cups and sau-
GERS on a small tray, and took portion of a loaf
from shelf above While waiting for the wa
ter to boil she gave her child some food; and
she had scarcely begun to do this when heavy
and unsteady step was heard upon the threshold;
her heart leaped with fear, and she trembed like
moonlight shadow. A creature somewhat in
the sembance of man staggered into the room,
and threw himself down upon the pallet where
the child had just been sleeping.
"Charles, Charles, do not, for Gods sake treat
me thus" said the mother of the child, and she
sobbed loudly, and was stepped in tears.
The man scowled upon her from beneath the
broken brim of slouched hat and ina low fend-
ish growl, cursed her. His clothes had been re-
spectacle in their time, but now were tattered
and slovenly, and his face wore the savage wild
ness and vacancy of long-continued dissipation.
:" came home to ask you for money, so give
me what you've got, and let me 60, for havn't
done drinking yet" said he, while the dev-like
glare of his eyes seemed to pierce the poor moth
er to the soul.
81 spent my last penny to buy my child some
food, know not where to get another; you have
never wanted meal while could work, and
my poor fingers are wasted to the bone, by mid
night labor and the want of bread, and my poor
child is wasting away before my face, while you,
forgetting all the ties that bind father to his
offspring, or a husband to his wife, take the
very bread from me and my babe, to waste it in
drunkenness; oh, Charles, you loved me once,
but you are killing me now, and my poor dear
child"
"You bowling, canting hypocrite, give me
some money and let me CO." bawed the intoxi-
Gated brute, and with sweep of his hand, as he
sat upon the child's bed, he overturned the ta-
bic and scattered the miserable meal upon the
floor. The heart-broken wife rushed with her