Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1857-09-24
Gboite M(isttaalg.
From the Christian Keepsake, for lo4s.I
THE LAST PENNY.
BY T. S. ARTHUR.

portioned thereto. His skill went but littl
beyond halt-seles, heeltaps, and patches
Those, who willing to encourage Thomas
ventured to order from him new pair o
boots or shoes, never repeated the order
That would have been carrying their gooc
wishes for his pros sperity rather too far.
As intimated the income of Thomas Clair,
was not large. Industrious though he was
the amouat ea:ned proved SO small that hi
frugal wife always found it insufficient fol
an adequate supply of the wants of the fam
ilv, which consisted of her husband, hersel
and three children. 1t cannot be denied
however, that if Thomas had cared les
about his pipe and mug Of ale, the supply o
bread would have been more liberal. Bu
he had to work hard, and must have some
self indulgence. At least SO he very con.
clusively argued. This seif-indulgence cos
from two to .hree shillings every week, a
sum that would have purchased many COM
forts for the needy family.
Tie Oldest of Claire's children, girl ten
years of age, had been sickly from her birth.
She was a gentle. loving child, the favorite
of all in The house, and mUre especially oil
her father. Lit,le Lizzy would Come up into
the garret where Clare worked land sit with
him sometimes for hours. talking in strain
that caused him to wonder; aud sometimes
when she did no, feel as well as usual, lying
upon the floor and fixing upon him her large
bright eyes for almost as long a period.
Lizzy vas never so contented as when she
was with her father, and he never worked
so cheerfully as when she was near him.
Gradually, as month after month went by,
Lizzy wasted away with some disease, for
which the doctor could find no remedy. Her
cheeks became paler, her eyes larger and
brighter, and such a weakness fell upon her
slender limbs that they could with diff Ilty
sustain her weight She was no longer able
| to Chamber up the steep stairs into the gar
ret, or loft, where her father worked--yet
she was there as often as before Claire
had made for her little bed, raised a short
space from the floor, and here she lay, talk
ing to him or locking at him, as of old. He
rarely went up or down the garnet stairs
without having Lizzy in his arms. Usually
her head was lying upon his shoulder.
And thus the time went on, Claire, for all
the love he felt for his sick child-for all the
regard he entertained for his fumily-in-
duIging his beer and tobacco as usual, and
thus consuming, weekly, portion of their
income that would have brought to his chi.-
dren many comfort. No one but himself
had any luxuries. Not even TO- Lizzy's
weak appetite were daInties procured. Ii
was as much as the mother could do, out of
the weekly pittance she received, to get
enough coarse food for the table, and cover
the nakedness of her family.
To supply the pipe and mug of Claire,
from 2 to shiliings a week were required.
This sum he usually retained out of his earn
ings, and gave the balance, whether large
or small, to his frugal wife. No matter what
his income happened to be. the amount ne
cessary TO obtain these articles was rightly
deducted, and as certainly expended. With
out his beer, Claire really imagined that he
would not have strength sufficient to go
through with his weekly toil-how his wife
managed to get along without ever her reg
ular cup of good tea, it had never occurred
to him to ashland not to have had pipe
to smoke in the evening, or after each
meal, would nave been deprivation beyond
his ability to endure. So the two or three
shilings went regularly in the old way.
When the sixpence and pennies congrega-
ted in goodly numbers in the shoemaker's
pocket, his visits to the ale house were often
repeated, and his extra pipe smoked more
frequently. But, as his allowance for the
week diminished, and it required some
search ing in the capacious pockets, where
they hid themselves away, TO find the strag-
Cling coins, Claire found it necessary to
put some check upon his appetl;es. And So
it went on, week after week and month
after month The beer was drank and the
pipe smoked as usual, while the whole fam
lily bent under the weight of poverty that
was laid upon them.
Weaker and weaker grew little Lizzy.-
| From the coarse food that was daily set be-
lore her, her weak stomach turned, and she
hardly took sufficient nourishment to keep
life in her attenuated frame.
"Poor child!' said the mother one. morn
ing, 'she canno. live if she doesn't eat. But
coarse bread and potatoes and buttermlk 60
against her weak stomach. All! me! If we
only had little that the rich waste!'
There is curse In povertyn replied
Claire, with a bitterness that was unusual
to him, as he turned his eyes upon his child,
who had pushed the food away that had
been before her, and was looking at it with
an expression of disappointment on her wan
face. "A curse in poverty" he repeated,
why should my child die for want of
nourishing food, while the children of the
rich have every luxury!'
In the mind ot Claire, there was usually
a dead calm. He plodded on from day to
day eating his potatoes and buttermilk, or
whatever came before him, and working
steadily through the hours allotted to labor.
his hopes or fears in life rarely exciting him
to an expression of discomfort. But he
loved Lizzy better than any earthly thing,
and to see her turn with loathing from her
coarse food, the best he was able to procure
for her, aroused his sluggish nature into re-
bellion against his lot. But, he saw no rem
edy.
Cant we get something little better for
Lizzy,' he said, as he pushed his plate aside,
his appetite for once gone before his meal
was half eaten.
Not unless you can earn more, replied
the wife. 'Cut and carve and manage as
will, it's as much as | can do to get CON-
mon fosd.'
Claire pushed himself back from the table,
and without saying a word more, went up to
his shop in the garrett, and sat down to
work. There was troubled and despond-
ent feeling about his heart. He did not
light his pipe as usual, for he had smoked
up the last of his tobacco on the evening
before. But he had penny left, and with
that, as soon as he had finished mel nding a
pair of boots and taken them home, he
meant to get new supply of the fragrant