The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-10-05
Selected story.
Tommy Tucker and his Fiddle.

eyes.
ed, looked into another car, came back, gave
his little fiddle shove On his shoulder, and
walked in.
Hi, little Tommy Tucker
Plays for his supper"
shouted young exquisite lounging ON tne
platform in tan colored coat and lavender hiu
gloves. u r.,
80, kids, you're there, are you? wen, "a
rather play for it, than loaf for IT, nau' Saiu
Tommy, stoutly. o,..a o,onoo ana,
tho ton of his paper, at the sound OF this pc
t;t djdlooue. and the old lady smiled benign |
iv. tbe man in the corner neither looked nor |
smiled.
Nobody would have thought to look at that
man in the corner, that he was at that very
moment deserving a wife and five children
Yet that Is precisely what he was dong.
A villain? 0, no, that is not the word. A
brute?. Not by any means. Weak, unfortu-
nate, discouraged, and selfish as weak, unior-
tunate and discouraged people are apt to be;
that was the amount of it. His panoramas
never paid him for the use of his halls. His
travelling tin-type saloon had trunded him
Into sherifi7s hands, His petroleum specu-
ulations had crashed like bubble. His black
and gold sign, -. Harmon, Photographer"
had swung now for nearly year over the
dentists rooms, and he had had the patronage
of precisely six old women and three babies
He had drfted to the theatre in the evenings,
he did not care now to remember how
many fimes,--the fellows asked him, and it
made him forget his troubles; the next morn
ing his empty purse would cape at him, and
Armies mouth would culver. A man must
have bis glass too, on Sundays, and-well-
perhaps little oftener. He had not always
been fit to work after it and Annie's mouth
would culver. 1t will be seen at once that it
rlxy hax.1 n
mouth should culver. "Confound it! Why
couldn't she scold, or cry? These still women
aggravate fellow beyond reason"
Wen, then, the children had been sick scar
letlna, measles, who0ping cough mumps, he
was sure he did not know What not; every
one OF them, from the baby up. There was
medicine, and there were doctors bills, and
there was sitting up with them at night
their mother usually did that. Then she must
needs pale down herself like poorly finished
photograph; all her color and rounslness and
sparkle gone; and if ever man liked to have
pretty vile about it was he Moreover, she
had cough, and her shoulders had grown
round, STOPPING so much over the heavy baby
and her breath came short, and she had a way
OF being tired. Then she never stirred out Of
the h0use-he found out about that one day:
she had no bonnet, and her shawl had been
cut up into blankets for the crib. The chill
dren had stopped going to school; "they could
not buy the new arithmetic" their mother
said half under her breath Yesterday there
was nothing for dinner but johnny cake, not
a large one at that. Tomorrow the saloon
rents were due. Annie talked about pawn
ing one OF the bureaus. Annie had had great
purple rings under her eyes for six weeks.
lie would not bear the purple rings and
quiyerng mouth any longer. He hated the
slght OF her, for the sight OF her stung him.
He hated the corn-cake and the untauobt
children. He hated the whole dreary, drag
glng, needy home The ruin of it dooged him
like a ghost, and he should be the ruin of il
as long as he stayed in it. Once fairly rid OF him.
his scoding and drinking, his wasting and
falling, Annie would send the children to
work. and find ways to ve Perbaps he
should make golden fortune, and come back
to her some summer day with silk dress and
servants, and make it all up; in theory this
was about what he expected 10 do. But ifhis
luck went Westward with him, and the silk
dress never turned up, why. she would forget
him, and be better off, and that would be the
last of it.
So here he was, ticketed and started, fairly
bound for Colorado, sitting with his hat over
his eyes, and thinking about it.
H-tl-m. ASLEEP" pronounced Tommy,
with his keen glance into the corner Guess
III wake him up"
lie laid his cheek down on his little fiddle
You don't know how Tommy loved that lit
le hddle-and struck up gay rollicking
tune:
Il care for nobody and nobody cares for me- .
The mani in the corner sat quite still. When
1t was over he shrugged his shoulders.
when folks are asleep they don't hist their
shouders-not as general thing" observed
Tommy. "We'll try another"
Tommy tried another. Nobody knows what
possessed the little fellow, the little fellow
himself least of all; but he tried this:
We've lived and loved together,
Through many changing year."
II was new tune and he wanted practice.
perhaps.
The train Jared and started SLOWLY: the
eloyed exquisite, waiting hackmen, baggage
masters, coffee counter and station walls slid
pack engine house, and prison towers and
iapyrlnths oil tracks slipped by; humber and
shipping took their place with clear spaces be-
tween, where sea and sky shone through The
speed OF the train Increased with a sickening
sway: old wharves shot past, with the
green water sucking at their piers the civ |
shifted by and out OF sight.
We've lived and loved together"
played Tommy, i'm little p!aintiye wall
"Confound the boyw Harmon pushed ,p
his hat with jerk, and looked out OF the /
window: The night was coming on A dull
sunset lay low on the water burning like a
bale-nre through the snaky trail of smoke that |
went writhing past the car windows. Against |
lonely signal houses and little deserted beach |
es the water was splashing dreariIy, and play
ing monotonous bases to Tommy's wall:
Through many a changing year"
1t was nuisance, this nusic in the cars.
why didn't somebody stop it? What did the |
child mean by playing that! They had left tbe
city far behind now. He wondered how far
he pushed up the window iercely, venting
the passion OF the music on the first thing that |
came III MS way as men will, and thrust his
mead out to look back. Through the undu-
atlng smoke, out in the pale glimaer from
the SKY he could see low, red tongue of land.
covered with the twinkle of lighted homes
somewhere there, in among the ouiyering
warmth was our
W What was that boy about now? Not |,
.Home, Sweet Homer" But that was what
Tommy was about. Wv"
Iheg were lighting the lamps now ia the
eaI. harmon looked at the conductors face.
- .ie Slckiy Yellow flare struck on il With a
curious sensation. He wondered il he had a
Wne a.id five childred; ii he eyer thought of
running away from them; what he would
think OF man who dds what she would
think. She-ah, she had is all to find out
yet.
There's no place like home"
said Tommy's little fiddle.
Now this fiddle of Tommy's NAV have had
crack OF so in it, and L cannot assert that
Tommy never struck a false note; bnt the
man in the corner was not fastidious as a mu-
steal critic; and it's fact that his hat went
slowly down over his face again, and that his
face went slowly down upon his arm.
Thore, in the lighted home out upon the
flats, that had drifted by forever, she sat wait
Ing now. 1t was about time for him to be in
TO supper; she was beginning to wonder lit
tie where he was; she was keeping the tea
hot, and telling the children not to touch
their fathers pickles; she had set the table
and drawn the chairs: his pipe lay filed ON
the shelf over the stove. Her face in the light
was worn and white, the dark rings very dark.
She was trying to hush the boys, teasing for
their supper begging them to wait few min
ttes, only few minutes, he would surely be
here then, She would put the baby down
presently, and stand at the window. with her
hands-Annie's hands were not once 50 thin
watching.
Inc children would eat their sumner: the
I'd sapie would stand untouched, with his chair
III 1ts place; still she would 60 to the window.
anu stand watching, watching. o, the long
llsno lhat she must stand watching. and the |
days, and the years ''''
Home, sweet home"
played Tommy
Home" 'e VI o"ee'
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