The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-08-11
HOYT & CO., Proprietors.

} poorer, shabbier and more dlssolute- LOOKING
but the same confirmed and drreclalmaDle
drunkard The boys had, long agoo, run wild
in the streets, and left him; the girl alone re-
mained, but she worked hard, and words OF
3 blows could always procure him something for
; the tavern. So he went on In the OLD course,
and merry life he led.
! One night, as early as ten oclock-tor the
girl had been sick for many days, and there
was. consequently, little to spend st the public
, house-he bent his steps homeward, bethinking
himself that if he would have her able to earn
; money, it would be as well to apply to the par
) ish surgeon, or at all events to take the trou-
; BILE of inquiring what allied her, which he had
not vet thought it worth while to do. 1t was
wet December night; the wind blew piercing
cold, and the rain poured heavily down. He
begged few halfpence from a passer-by, and
having bought small loaf (for it was his in
terest to keep the girl alive if he could), he
shuffled onward as fast as the wind and rain
would let him.
AT the back of Fleet street, andl lying be-
tween it and the water-side, are several mean
and narrow courts, which form portion of
Whitcfriars it was to one of those that he di-
rected his steps.
The alley into which he turned might for
filth and misery have competed with the dark
est corner of this ancient sanctuary in its dir
tiest and mosJ lawless time. The houses, va
rying from two stories in height to four, were
stained with every indescribable hue that long
exposure to the weather, damp and rottenness
can impart to tenements composed originally
of the toughest and coarsest materials. The
windows were patched with paper, and stuffed
with the foulest rags the doors were falling
from their hinges ); poles, with lines on which
to dry clothes, projected from every easement
and sounds of quarreling or drunkenness is
sued from every room.
The solitary oil lamp in the center of the
court had been blown out, either by violence
of the wind or the act of some inhabitant who
had excellent reasons for objecting to his resi-
dence being rendered too conspicuous; and the
only light which fell upon the broken and un-
even pavement was derived from candles that
here and there twinkled in the rooms OF such
of the more fortunate residents as could afford
to indulge i'll so expensive luxury. A gutter
ran down the center of the alley-all the slug
gish odors of which had been called forth by
| the rain and as the wind whistled through the
old houses, the doors and shutters creaked upon
their hinges, and the windows shook in their
frames, with violence which every moment
seemed to threaten the destruction of the whole
place.
The man whom we have followed into this
den walked on in the darkness, sometimes stun
bling into the gutter, and at Others into some
branch repositories of the garbage which had
been formed by the rain, until ne reached the
last house in the court. The door, or rather
what was left of it, stood aiar, for the conven-
ience Of the numerous lodgers: and he pro-
ceeded to grope his way up the old and broken
stair, to the attic story.
He was within a step or two of his room
door, when it opened. and girl, whose mise
rable and emaciated appearance was only to
be equalled by that of the candle which she
shaded with her hand, peeped anxious out into
the darkness.
as tnat you, father?" said the girl.
"Who else should it be?" replied the man
grufly. "What are you trembling att It's
little enough that Ive had to drink to-day, for
there's no drink without money, and no money
without work. What the devils the matter
with the girl?"
"I am not, we'll, father-not at all we'll, !"
said the girl, bursting into tears.
"Ah !'' replied The man, in tone OF person
who is compelled to admit very unpleasant
fact, to which he would rather remain blind, if
he could. "You must get better somehow, for
we must have money. You must 60 to the
parish doctor, and make him give you some
medicine. They're paid for it, damn 'em.
What are you standing before the door for
Let me come in, can't you?"
Father" whispered the girl, shutting the
door behind her, and placing herself before it,
civilian has come back"
"Who?" said the man with start.
Hush replied the girl, William brother
William"
"And what does he want?" said the man,
with an effort at omposure-"money meat?
drink? He's come to the wrong shop for that,
if he does. Give me the candle-giye me the
candle, fool amt going to hurt him." He
snatched the candle from her hand, and walked
into the room.
Sitting on an old box, with his head resting
on his hand, and his eyes fixed on wretched
cinder fire that was smoldering on the hearth,
was young man of about two-and-twenty,
mserably clad in an old coarse jacket and
trowsers He started up when his father en-
tered
"Fasten the door, Mary" said the young man
hastily-"fasten the door. You look as II you
didn't know me, father. It's long enough since
you drove me from home; you may we'll forget
me-"
"And what do YOU want here, now ?" said the
father, seating himself on stool, on the other
side of the fireplace. "What doyou want here,
now ?"
shelter" replied the son, "I'm in trouble;
that's enough If Pm caught [ shall swing ;
that's certain Caught shall be, unless stop
here that's as certain. And there's an end Of
it."
"You mean to say you've been robbing or
numbering, then7" said the father:
eyes do" replied the son. "Does it sur
prise you, father7" He looked steadily in the
mans face, but he withdrew his eyes, and bent
them on the ground.
"Wheres your brothers?" he said, after a
long pause
"Where they'll never trouble you" replied his
son; "John's gone to America, and Henry's
dead"
"Dead !" said the father, with shudder,
which even he could not repress.
'Dead p' replied the young man. "He died
He staggered back, caught him, and his blood