Litchfield enquirer., 1858-11-25


 in New York, is from the pen of Charles L. Brace, Secretary of the Children Aid Society Clinton Hall Astor Place, New York. It might be good plan TOT some man or woman, able to gratify longing to do good, to communicate with MT. Brace, and through him befriend and educate some one of the pool voyagers who get wrecked at their very start in life
 Some two years ago young English girl, of perhaps fifteen years, with refined manners and pretty though pale face, presented her self at our Office, and nervously asked for some place in a family in the country. She told the usual story ot poverty, and we only observed that her hands were very thin and bony, and her cheeks hollow, and that on be- ing assigned to an excellent home by Mir. Ma cy, her eyes filled with sudden tears of thank fitness. Something was given her to eat, which she received quietly, and on the next day went to the place. .....
 Lately, on revisit to the city, we learned the particulars of her history. She had been in England in good circumstances, as her man. ncr and language showed, had come over after the death of her father and the wasting of his property, to seek her fortune, as do so many others, in America She sought at once to enter some trade, and to earn living for her self Each day her means were being exhaust ed, and she was at length forced to pawn all the ornaments and relics of better times. She Was reduced finally to living in small attic-room of tenement house, sleeping on some straw in one corner. Hour after hour through the weary day her little feet were traversing the 'stre, ts, as she followed advertisements and looked for chance to work.
 At last she reached the point in which every available means had been sacrificed, every pen ny spent, and hunger stared her in tine face. She describes her feelings then most touching ly. One day she could get through quite com fortably without anything to eat, the second, she says, she crouched herself in bed-and, do you know, sir, what found the best to stop the hunger? "Why, drunk 1raler, and then prayed, and somehow 1 always felt better aud stronger after it P The third day, when it seemed as if she could not hold out much longer she would go faintly down stairs to q woman she knew in one of the lower rooms, and this woman would offer her something to eat, which she would take carelessly, no one ever suspecting that the poor creature was being saved from starvation.
 III tE Ol lllC ouC SIcW oO "Cdh oHC could scarcely walk, and as thin, she says, as any skeleton. She was attacked, too, with ter r.ble headaches, and some days, she was sure, she was delirious, for she now remembers how she seemed sometimes to see angels and spirits in the little room, bringing her food !
 Once or twice she determined to beg, though she felt as if she would rather die and she went into store, and said gaspingly, she was hungry" The people were very kind, and sat her in chair, and gave her food, and once, she recollects, cup of tea.
 Then, as she lay on her heap of straw, think ing of the dear old English home and the com fort there, the mother and the days that were gone, she would sometimes say, What have done to deserve this ? Why should God pick me out to make me suffer so? Why should be so deserted?
 One day sue had gone down into the lower room, and sat there weak and despairing, when a gentleman entered, whom she describes as very grand and wealthy in his appearance. He spoke to her kindly said he had watched her go in and out, and said she must be in msfor- tune that he had so much admired her-yes, aud loved her She answered, gasplng with wea ness, Why do you come here to insult me because am poor v
 Then, as she describes it, he replied that he did not mean to insult htr, that he truly loved her--and in various phrases he offered to her to live in splendid home with him--but not as his wife.
 The poor girl, crouched down with her head in her hands, confesses that for moment the thought crossed Ter mind-What if she should do this :? No cue will know it. Here is com fort and home-an escepe at length aud on the other side, long, weary struggle aud starvation But in the midst of this--she a- most believes it was real--there seemed to come up before her figure of her mother she saw the face and the warning gesture al- most as distinctly as she ever saw any one. She seemed to call her away-and then she thought of all she had ever told her of Heaven and of God, and she started up, and said with sobs and gasps-one may be sure eloquently, for she tells the story now with eyes flowing with tears, and with tones that thrill the heart
 "I know l am poor--I have nothing-I have no home and no friends-1 am starving but if you should give me all the money of New York, heaped ten times over, would not do this thing Why do you come here to tempt me and insult me because am poor 7" and she almost fell down gasping, but she says she saw the man start back with face ghastly pale, saying, My God What a sin you have saved me from p
 That day she heard accidentally of the So- ciety to hel children, and resolved to go there and try for last chance. If she failed there the ouly thing left for her seemed to be self destruction or death We know the happy result
 The simple truthfulness and pathos of this girls story cannot in any way be represented ever look upon in this world, what can surpass that where this poor, weak, starving girl, de- serted of men, and seemingly almost abandoned by God, spurns from her the greatest of all and deliberately chooses starva- tion rather than disbonor or wrong Per