The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-05-26

greasy doughnuts to some hsfd-working hun
CRY fellow, in whose ostrich stsnach they could
do no harm, and rewarded he, With some Of his
thousand-and-one beautiful stt ICES of all times
and chimes. She soon grew v. fond of perch
ing on a table, by his loom and when she
came crying to him with l. 9ken-legged kit
ten, which some boys had idrried, and he
mended it, he bound her to hiel for life while
the poor ardent lover of grace md beauty, sur
rounded with all ugliness and brutality, himself
became attached more than e knew to this
one choice little morsel Of Il loneliness and
innocence of infancy.
When she fell sick, and cssee no more, he
really pinned for her. The vhooping- cough
with which she began was sus,eeded by lung
fever. She sank under it ds< by day. One
morning when her mother, aftas long watching
and short exhausted sleep, strang up to look
at her, she found her in a torpo from which she
could in no way rouse her. se sent for her
physician. He had gone to- sisit a patient
twenty miles off. She rememf red how, in the
first DAYS of her child's Illness ae little voice,
which she might never hear az 10, had pleaded
that May might be allowed to 70 and see her
good prison-doctor." Catchinsst a straw, Mrs.
Rodrick sent for him.
Herman came out, and cros-sd the street to
her house in his chain, and :rrison uniform.
How strange it was TO be without the walls !!
He had hoped that he never seplld be in that
guise; but all that was forgsssen now. He
stood by the little bed The prisoner and the
] jailer's wife trembed with onezs Fear. He called
his little favorite's name. He-kissed her tiny
hand. There was no motion $50 answer. She
looked like death. She breatGed, and that was
all. The subtle soul might be sven now sliding
through the frail clay casket : and who could
hold it in? Her mother starry him in the face
with her horrorstruck, hopele4s eyes and he
looked back in hers. He had xiready heard all
that had been done for the child. 1t had been
well done. Medicine could q. no more. A
sudden thought struck him. HE had some
where read of the powerful effa as of sunlight in
certain cases. Turning again. from the child
he asked whether there was my room in the
house into which the sun wsS then shining.
There was.
is there fire there?"
No there could be-"
Let one be made"
As soon as the chamber could be prepared,
he gathered the dropping snos;@ drop gently up
in his aims, carried her out Sf her darkened
room with careful gliding ster2 and held her
in the warm, blessed light, spe;e ag encourage
ment to her breathless mother,, AT the end of
half hour, she opened her litt.4, languid eyes,
like a human flower as she gas and feebly
pushed her hand up through a-rr wrappings to
tondle his cheek. 1t was one = those delicious
moments which repay physician for years of
toll and struggles often unsuc 9ssful, with dis
ease and death.
Mrs. Rodrick was a woman 4 words to the
purpose, if not few. In fact, was rumored
that the Captain, by being morS IAN ordinarily
tyrannical abroad, merely brotec:t up the aver
age of manly wifulness beinE1 pore than or
dinarily submissive at home. - However that
may be, his energetic love waSfd only to see
their little sip wine glass. I'll OF hot broth,
administered by Herman, and ;, off comforta-
bly, to sleep, before she watetr5n her spouse,
who, giving up all for lost, was -Aking an extra
glass to drive away care. She..tformed him of
what had happened, adding, wi flashing eye
and trembling lip, that that y. ng man should
never put his healing hands to- shuttle again,
nor go clanking a chain about 5 heels, like an
angel of mercy, into sick folks Spoms or she's
know why" =
The Captain thereupon cosssalted with his
colleague and Herman was foshwith unchain-
ed and appointed steward ofs<te hospital, to
the great benefit of all parties co.serned-name-
ly, of the wardens, for they save by it the sala-
~ which they we're otherwise tsund to pay to
a physician for the penitentia :; of the sick,
for they were no longer locked p in their cells
to live or die, the case mig be, by them
selves in the dark and of Her IAN, for he was
: raised by it, according to his motions, to the
very summit of possible penne gal prosperity.
His loom had become very ksome to him.
A burdensome system of tasks Srk had lately
; been introduced into the wors hops. A re-
ward was first offered to any v tkmen who, at
their different crafts, would &C zJmplish within
, a given time larger amounts an usual. As
soon as any one, by accomps z'ang larger
> amount than USUAL had provedz4 possible to do
so, the same amount within the--mme time was
adopted as the regular task TO- all his fellow.
, workmen of the same craft, and sacted of them
on pain of punishment; and 9ther reward
was offered again to any one w could exceed
it. Hermans weekly stint had aus heightened
to over four hundred yards of r5gging week.
He had lately been forced to- hurry through
more than eighty yards day. Il
, He did not spare himself, when his promotion
had made him in manner BIS own master
again and perhaps his new work, as he did it,
was little lighter than his old but it was in it.
self more profitable and to him most interest
> ing. 1t was, besides, accompanied with per-
: quisites and privileges. If he was up all night
!, as he had often been BEFORE as volunteer
watcher in one cell or another, he could now often
sleep in the day, and could at any rate have the
satisfaction of collecting together all who need
!, ed his attention, and taking care of them al
once, He had a comparatively comfortable
cell, on the south side of the building, opening
into the hospital, and out of the way of the mid
night cries of the guard-room, to himself He
was also allowed to burn lamp, and read in
the evening, if he would; but he could not,
, much this indulgence came too late.
He had been unable, in his first months OF
monotomy and vacuity, to resist the temptation
, which assailed him, to read few pages every
, night, when the moon shone in upon the wall Of
his cell, sub hue maligDd, standing on tiptoe on
his bed, and holding his book up, often at arms
length, TO catch the struggling rays. He prom
, ised himself that he would abandon the practice
the moment he perceived that it injured his
naturally very strong eyes and ne did so; but
they never recovered from the strain. His
bodily constitution was in all respects of that
deceptive and treacherous kind, which does its
utmost without tagging, and, ike generous
steed, gives little signs of suffering until all its
strength is spent; and unwholesome food and
air. sudden and great change If climate and
habits, and all the influences of ssedentary and
afflicted life, had been imperceptibly wearing
month, in all sorts of ways Perhaps it was
unlucky for him, under the circumstances, that
his health, from his childhood up to the period
of his arrest, had been so perfect to require
no direct attention so that he was almost ut
tery out of the habit of paying any direct at
tention to it. His conscientious observance of
the Archangel Michael's "rule of Not too
Much :" the sort of religious selfdenying, but
not selfmurdering, simplicity which ran through
all his life, showing itself even in his early
hours and temperate meals, and the manly out:
ofdoor sports, with all of which be had deserved
to preserve up to four-score his "body's health
and hardness, to render Gghtsome, clear, and
= II 81 H.