Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1867-10-18
M A.rso II 8.
Tommy Tucker and His Fiddle

There were but three persons in the car
merchant. deep in his newspaper, an ole
lady with two bandboxcs, man in the
corner with his hat pulled over his eyes.
Tommy opened the door, peeped in. hes
itated, looked into another car; came back
gave his little fiddle shove Oh his shoulder
and walked in.
.lIi little ro,nmy Tucker
Plays for his supper
shonted a Young exquisite lounging on the
platform i'll tan cOlorcd coat and Lavender
kid gloves.
10. kids, you're there, are You - Well
I'd rather play for it than LOAD for it'll had,
said Tommy. stouiiy.
The mcrcl lamt Sho. a careless glance over
the top of his paper, at the sound OF this
petit dialogue, and the old lady smiled be
nignlv; the man in the corner neither look
ed nor sniled.
Nab,dy would have thought, to lock at
tlIa. man in III. corner, thas he was al
lat very moment deserving wife and five
children Yet that is precisely what he
was doing
A villain! o. no, that is not the word
\ brute! Not by any means. Weak
unfortunate, disconraY"l and ."lf.h :"
nv.h. unfortunate ana discouraged people
are apt to be; that was the amount of it.
His ptnorar.4as never paid him for the use
of his halls His travelling tintype saloon
had trumdlcd hun into shcrirs hands
His petroleum spcculatious had crashed
like bubble. Ills hlack and gold sign, j,
Harmon, Photographer. had swung now
for nearly year over the dentists rooms.
aud ne had had the patronage of precisely
six old women and three babies. He had
d,ittcd to the theatre III evenings-he did
not care how many timts-the fellows
asked him. and it made him forget his
trout les; the next mornin. his empty
purse would cape at him, aud Annie's
mouth would quiver. a man must have
his glass too. ON Sundays, weil--per-
hans little oftencr He haG net always
been fit to 90 to work afterit; and Annie's
mouth would qniycr 1t will be seen at
once that 1t was exceedingly hard on man
that his wife's mouth shonld quivcr. "COn
found it. Why couldn't she scold, or cry!
These still women aggravate Il fellow be-
yond all reason
Well. then, the children had been sick,
measles, whooping cough, scarlatna,
mumps, he was sure he did not know what
not, every cue of them from the babyi up.
There was medicine, and there were the
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 photographs;
all her color, and roundness, and sparkle
gone; and if ever a man liked to have Il
pretty wife about i; was he. Moreover she
had cough, and her shoulders had grown
round, STOPPING over the heavy baby, and
her breath came short, and she had way
of being tired Then she never stirred
out that one day; she had 10 bonnet. and
her shawl had been cut up into blankets
for the crib The children 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
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 hear the purple rings and
quivcring mouth any longer. lie hated
the sigh, of her, for the sight stung him.
He hated the cnrncake and the untaught
children. lie hated the whole dreary,
dragging, needy home. The ruin OF it
doggcd him like ghost, and he should be
the ruin of it as long as he stayed in it.
Once fairly rid of him. his seuldng and
drinking, his wasting and failing, Annie
would send the children to work, and find
ways to live. She had energy and inven-
ton, plenty of it, in her young. fresh
days. before he came across her life TO drag
her down. Perhap. he should make a gol-
den fortune, and come back to her some
summer day with silk dress and servants,
and make it all up; in theory this was
nhout what he expected to do. But it his
I'll 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 fairly
bound for Colorado. sitting with his hat
over his eyes, and thinking about it.
.H-m.in IN. Asleep" pronounced Tom
my, with his keen glance into the corner
"Gaess Ill wake him up
lie lall his cheek on his little fiddle-you
don't know how Tommy loved that little
fiddle and struck up gay, rolliokIns
tune;
Il care for nobody, and nobody cares for me-