The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1855-12-22
FROM the Ladies' National Magazine for December.
Fanny's "Twenty Dollars"


TONS" soliloquiscd Mrs. llapgood, as she
drew on her delicate hands q close.fitting
pair Of white kid gloves; and stepping to
the mirror, she re-adjusted her exquisite
bonnet. "What beauty she continued,
II cannot see how Charles could say that
twenty dollars was too much for such tri-
fe. Trihe indeed | wonder if the Jenkin.
ses will think it 4 trihe, when wear it at
Mrs. lie Claire's soiree tonight. Oh! TO
eclipse them once, only once in embroide-
ry."
The reader must not set Fanny Hapgood
down as wholly vain and fashionable wo-
man. The only daughter Of rich man she
had been fattered from childhood up. At
sixteen she had married prosperous mer-
chant, who had made her, for two years,
his darling. What wonder, then, il Fanny
had vet to learn some sad heart lessons from
the outer world
Fanny was SO eager to reach Upton's,
that she did not observe, on opening the
front door, that little child stood in her
way. A fall, and cry, and something rolled
down the costly steps and lay motionlcss on
the pavement.
"Oh what have donc' What hare |
done 2" she cried, atirighted, trembling all
ONcT, rs Suc INtDSiliLSh bOS Sidu III
rags, but beautiful even in his tatters, AZ the
object she had run against, and who lay now
apparently dead.
| Instantly the coveted collar was forgotten.
Shricking aloud for assistance, and careless
of her snowy gloves and spotiess dress, she
stopped down, and picked up the little suf.
ferer lie moaned as she lifted him, but did
not open his eyes and his face was covered
with blood.
"I have killed him." cried Fanny, and
with hor costly handkerchief, she wiped the
blood away. "God help me !" And she
burst into tears.
! The servants came rushing to the door, in
answer to her frenzcd ring the child was
carried up to spare chamber; and Fanny,
forgetting all about the sOiree and the Jen.
kinscs, sat down to nurse the sufferer, first
sending for the doctor.
The physician pronounced the child seri.
ously injured. A high fever, attended by
dclirum, set in. Four, five, six o'clock
came Fanny, her tears falling fast, would
permit no one to administer the medicines,
or watch by the bedside but herself When
| the clock struck seven, and Fanny knew
| that her husband would now soon be home,
she went stealthily TO the door, and put her
| finger to her lips, as lac came bounding up
| stairs, two steps at time. "llush :" she
| said, "come in here" And leading him TO
the bed, she whispered what had happened.
She had scarcely finished, when the little
sufferer awokc, free from delirium. At first
he looked frightened, and was about to cry;
but Fanny soothed him on her bosom and
he smiled up at her and was soon able to
] oil N. H., Gould ,pl,, c,n,E
/ indstnctly, however, on account Of his ex-
tremc childhood. But his eager listeners
gathered, from his broken language, that he
had been sent out to beg, early that morn
ing; that he had eaten nothing all the pre-.
ceding day that his bare feet had been
treading the icy streets for hours unsuccess-
fully and that he was about to knock at
the door; t. O. ask aims when the f"siy evil
"Father in Heaven, can this be posi-.
blc'" said Fanny, when the lisring, feeble
accents ceased.
"Not only possible, but probable, replied
her husband. "Ah! dearest, there are
scores in this great city just as destitute
"a know now, why you said twenty dol.
lars was too much for such trihc as a new
collar, when have enough already" said
Fanny, with bitter seli.rcproach bursting
into tears. "What good could | not do,
among these poor, with twenty dollars
1t was impossible to know, from the dc.
scription Of the child, where his widowed
mother lived 1t was somewhere in a Gel.
lar, and she was i'll abed; that much the
listeners learned; as also that his sister,
who was but little older than himself, had
sent him out to beg, she baying to STAY and
watch by her mother.
81 will but get a cup of tea" said Mr.
Hapcood, "and then 20 out and hunt for
them. Think how alarmed they will be
about him."
Hours passed, yet her husband did not
return; and meantime Fanny sat, holding
the weary head of the sufferer. soothing him
TO sleep. or watching beside him. At las,
near midnight Mr.. Hapcood returned.
81 have found them NJ las, " he said TAX.
inc off his wet oyercoat for il was sleetinp
violently without. "The mother has seen
better days, She was almost di .tractcd
when | entered the low damn cellar. where
there was not Bit of fire on Fanny we
don, know wbat suffering tberc ;s mill il,
is brought TO our yerv doors in this wav"
FANNY drew him to the fire and away from
the bed for the child had now fallen into a
sweet sleep. which was undisturbed by
dreams "Ie breathes naturally new" she
said, "tbc doctor was here at ten o'clock
and said that he was out of danger. Tell
me all about them"
They shared their tears, Fanny and her
husband, as the latter told the story of wi.
dowhood. sorrow. and dcs,itution, such
alas, os is furnished only too often bv our
great cities When the narrative was done.
Fauny was n changed being For the first
time in her life. she had been brought face
to face with real suffering: and she made a
resolution. whish she has since faithfully
kept,
The next dav the twenty dollars which
Fanny had designed for the collar. was laid
out for the beueiit of Mrs Waters. the mo.
ther of the injured child. A neat warmly
furnished room was procured; stove nut
up and the sick lady moved into it. Gro.
cercs were placed in the cupboard; coal in
~