Smyrna times., 1872-03-20
The Story of Lucy.

o,,J "oO "eeA' IN nelghbOring CITY. a suddor
Gnu came to little domestic drama for 49,
;tS o purpose TO make room here. We believ,
Iare,a Ian'ls pears more nearly on the lives q
no.;S Glass ol our readers than even tbt
national debt or the choice of onr NV. 1ueI tnt
dent. u our next Presi
ABOUT twenty years ago, a girI-bobr u,o,
porn TO a carpenter and his wife who had S%| Sa'
tLy uoys sl already swarmlng and squabblinc ahon>
the three-roOmed house. The babv sb@nroi ~ ~
iaIe OF solitary girls among brothers Sho ,nn rn'
tue something rare and unwontpd which y"
never come into their common life beforn sh'
was the bit OF porcelain among rougb cro,L or,
in:. tGT Iather and the bigger boys dubbed he,
AN m,'iI ey' Huy' carried her out proudly ON Sun
ooou. Coy ai'eIioohS, |hen their own clothes were
coarse and patched enough; bur sba noua.
lacked bit of embroidery or featbar IN m0he, he,
cap She, unlike myriads of other cbiIdrnn
was porn to no lnexOrable inheritance of novar,I
OF art or crime. The carpenter was y hard
moTAlhg' honest, domestic old man. whoCo
nl9hesC ambition was to give each of his bovc
steady trade, that they might never neeJ -
CaKe 10 shlfty ways to earn meal" For Tncv
OF course, he hoped for something better III,
wlie was thrifty Scotch Irishwoman. who had
ilVeu e III one house at service for fifteen wears
pelEre ner marriage, and could command a
..Ei .ttEo Saiary at any time now as housekeener
~ "lIls In the old country" she said, were
TI 1Ts ~ Iork Irom the time they could walk
Ihey did not need to drudge so here Tboro
were were chances for them in a free countrr ;;
one never passed rich mans daughter. deli
ccately dressed, that she did not think of these
chances; chances that numbered not onlv
easy IVlng and refinement, but eouipages. vel
vets, diamonds. Education placed iii man ~,
level: Her mothers heart was sore and ten
der. Why should not her little girl enter into
that nlgh unknown world of luxury from which
S.l sne had been shut out? God had made no
me SO iull OF blessings that it ought not to be
Possiole 70 Lucy with her loving blue eyes and
GI @oIuerIui Drlght hair 1t was quite true that
Uoa had made no life of happv womanbood
which was not possible to the child She had
a practical, nimble intellect, was frank earnest
anectlOnate; bushes and tears came quickly
signs OF delicate nature and tender con.
science, Denttlng to servant as a queen. both
OF them being Gods children. One would
have said the girl was born to he in time
pure maiden, loving wife, a faithful mother
one went to school years after her brothers
were at work, but learned little more than IN
read ana write; whatever ability she had
aSSureiy did not lie In the path of book
Ahowleagei the boys bought her cheap piano
at auction, on which she strummed a few streot
airs. People who noticed the girl readiness
time she was making some provision for her.
ana offered to take her into their houSes as
servant. But menial work was certainty
Mhlch 10 Lucy vague chances was an insult
Even drudgery at home was spared her that
she might run with her school companions. or
read the cheap papers of the day. Gradually
the hne dellcacy faded out of her face her
voice grew loud the quick step dragged lazily:
i became matter OF course for her to watch
her old father work for her while she sat idle,
At last the turn came the elder brothers mar
rleu; the old man and his wife died; deformed
brother kept the house with Lucy. but il was
necessary that she should earn her own living
There were half a-dozen homes open to her.
where she would have had light work, which
would have lifted her for her duties when she
married, high wages, and the protection and
secluslon of a refined Christian family. Bu.
this girl, whose Master was born in a stable.
was indignant at being asked to take the place
OF servant She went into a mill. The
wages were good. She had her ambition.
VelVets and diamonds made the lady. She
could at least taunt in Terry and Milton gold.
She had the Imagination of other Young girls
the zest for love, adventure. No knighfs or
gentlemen came about the mill, or lovers to the
house. but there was the chance compliment
from young men on the streets; the encounter
on the street-cars going home at night.
The story is told. There came day when
the deformed BROTHER who had watched over
her since she was baby with sorer tender
ness because no other woman could ever be
near or dear to him, cursed her and drove her
from the door. She went gladly. The street
lIte suited her now for the change in the girl
did not begin in dress or face or voice it
worked out from within. Year by year her
training had corrupted soul and brain. 1t
mattered little when the symptoms of decay
showed themselves to the world. For years
she has tested the street life. Last week it
ended. In the bright sunlight bloated,
hlthy woman crept out of the prison van into
the stone archway of the city prison, and the
iron gates with their heavy clang shut on her,
not to open for two years. Lucy =,
sentenced for grand larceny" Whether. when
they open, her ruined body will be there to drag
itself out into the sunlight again, matters lit,
tie. 1t may live until old age But Lucy,
honest, unsefsh, pure in thought, died long
ago. lfit had been only to sleep with her m, ther
on yonder hillside we might have made the
grass green above her, knowing that the child
would come again. But she, still living, went
down into grave from which there is no place
of resurrection, though we seek it carefully and
with tears. Perhaps it is story without a
moral least it has none, if mothers do not
lind 1t for themselves.-N y Tribune.