Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1870-01-05
OUR SATURDAY NIGHT,
wEALrn NJ aAnaar.

WIN Anc Withcuuesb VI lhc great city
and dropped n robe of snow like 4
mantle Of charity over the streets
alleys and homes of those whose
records need Gods charity to cover
Mans charity covers only in part
But the beautiful snow came over all
hiding all the dark and the filth from
sight. And so in robe Of purity will
the earth be clad, till, in the city, it be
stamped to dirt and blackness as tho
lives Of thousands are blackoned. Out
in the country il will rest till spring
till melted by Gods warm winds and
gentle rains-then will disappear, TO
be followed by the beautiful green,
which reminds us of the beautiful
Eternal Life to which we shall awaken
when the winter of life here be over.
Tonight carriage called for us
just as we were sitting TO partake of
our evening meal. Said the servant
"A lady in a carriage at the door
wishes to see you"
A lady in carriagc-alone-at this
hour We will 90 and see who has
arrived, and welcome her in.
<"Will you 90 with me on an errand
of mercy to-nightY ] know not what
other gentleman to ask to accompany
me-"
"Certainly, soon as we find hat and
overcoat."
Down Fourth avenue TO Tenth
street, East on Tenth street to First
avenue. Then TO the right, and we
stop before crazy-looking wooden
tenement house. Up to the fourth
floor, past dirt, dogs, filth, and air
thick with a hundred offensive vapofs.
The smell of onions, boiling fat, burn
ing woolen or leather, and fumes from
general filth and hasty cooking with
out conveniences, come from the vari-
Gus rooms as we climb up the worn
stairs to the fourth story, extreme
rear room to the right.
Here We are-step in No one
will hurt you. The room is just
twelve feet square, as we measured.
IL is seven feet from floor TO ceiling
One door, one window. On the floor
is an old brownish mattress filled with
corn-husks A dirty blanket on the
mattrcss--a pale, wan, wasting man
on the blanket was tossing in the
agonies Of death. No need for a
physician there, except for the one
who was notso near released from care
and sorrow A pale, worn, weary
haltclad woman of forty years, SAT
holding the head of man three years
her senior, as her skeleton hand
smoothed the dcath.damp from bis
brow. In all the room not piece Of
ice, cup of cold water, twenty dol
lars worth OF furniture and clothing,
nor a single ounce Of food.
The hours went by like a procession
Of heavily-laden sleighs on bare
ground. The sickening smells from
below filled the room. There were
curses, laughs, obscenity on the stairs
and in the street Angry voices Of
parents scolding children came to US
at times, Tor the walls of tenement
houses for the poor are not very thick
Bnt we needed no sound, nor did 9th.
crs, except when we returned from a
drug store few blocks away
AT 10 o'clock the poor man opened
his eyes, looked so lovingly, plead.
ingly, prayerfnlly into the face of her
whose tears fell upon his fevered
brow-he slowly reached out one a
his wan, wasted hands till ,o7vrh her
help, it rested on the sJsom hall
revealed through her tori dress. but
whether to rest it there. or 20 hide
the breast 80 dear to him, we could
not tell Then be drew, moro by look
than strength, her tear wet face 10 his
there was n halfarticula,ed, moving
sound, as if speech, too, was dying
there was a kiss--a deepening still
ness-we felt for his pulse-it was
gone, and with il the soul of one SUI
ferer, but not tho greatest, for she
was left behind Other tears than
hers tell there that night. And they
are falling in other homes and better
ones in many place tonight We
found, while the lady with us watched
with the weeping widow, two "broth.
ers' who look to the East for light
and with them did but simple duty,
and left them TO watch whilo VIC took
the rest they said we must have.
That little room had its history-a
romance Of reality There love, sick.
ness, poverty, aud death, had strug.
gled for the mastery. There, for five
years and two months had the
patilht wife, whose five children were
dead, toiled and cared fcr a husband
who was palsied from IN accident
resulting from dissipation. he was
brought to that room wh n they occn.
pied three rooms on ihnt floor and
tha. one was dignided with the uamr
Of parlor' lie was brought there on
a rude cot, his legs paralyzed by O
fall from stairway.
Little by little his furniture. th,
gift Of his mother, was sold On,
room, then the other, was given M
Then oil the comforts went III,
children begged, while the woman
nurscd with all wife's iondnoss th,
object Of her anxious care. Tho it'll,
ones died from exposure, and wer,
buried by charity. She took the
needle for support, but ono little nee
die in the hands Of a sicl,ly, weak
broken. hearted, over-worked woman
V..-'no -E.acu Tor the oopA wolves
! that howled at her door YIN eaur y
hide room or door, but wahi, sex
ness, starvation, and death, win find
its way-ever where Christian low,
fails to rest its eye or open its heart
Said the woman, between sobs, a.
&c sat by the ono window looking
out over the river, as his life had gon,
out oper there
"Ol what shall | dog 80 | did 81
love him - lie was all | had &
love. . If | could only have don,
moro for him. But-l-couldn't
NH IIc waa so qood IN mo cir as III,