St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1872-03-29
The Story of Lucy.

About twenty years ago, "A girlbaby
was born to IL carpenter and his wife
who had five boys already swarmng and
Squabblmg about the three rOomcd
house. The baby shared the fate OF
solitary girls among brothers She was
the something rare and unwonted which
had never come into their common life
before: she was the hit of porcelain
among rough crockcry; her father and
the bigger boys dubbed her little
lady :" carried her out proudly on Sun
day afternoons, when their own clothes
were coarse and patched enough: but
she never lacked Il bit of embroidery or
IL feather in her cap. She. unlike myr-
lads of other children, was born to no
incXorablc Inheritance of poverty or
dirt or crime. The carpenter was IL
hard working, honest. domestic old man
whose highest ambition WAS to give each
of his boys IL steady trade. THAT they
might never need to take to shifty ways
to earn il meal" For Lucy, of course.
he hoped for something better. His
wife WAS Il thrifty Scotchlri>h woman,
who had lived i'll one house at service.
for fifteen years before her marriage.
and could command il high salary at
any time now as houSckecper. "Girls
i'll the old country" she said. "wcrc set
| to work from the time they could walk
They did not need to drudge So here
! There were chances for them III IL free
country. She never passed Il rich
mans daughter, delicately dressed. that
she did not think OF these "chanccS :"
chances that numbered not only easy
living and refinement, but cquipagcs.
velvets, diamonds. Education placed
all men on il level. Her mothers heart
was sore and tender. Why should not
her little girl enter into that high un-
known world of luxury from which she
had been shut out! God had made no
life so full of blessings that it ought not
to he possible to Lucy with her loving
blue eyes and wonderful bright hair
Ii was quite true that God had made no
| life of happy womanhOod which WAS not
possible to the child. She had prac-
teal. nimble intellect. was frank. earn
est. atfectionate; hlushcS and tears came
quickly, signs of Il delicate nature and
tender conscience. hctittiug to Il servant
as ii queen, both of them being Gods
children. One would have said the girl
was born To be i'll time Il pure maiden.
Il loving wife. IL faithful mother
She went to school wears after her
brothers were at work. but learned little
more than to read and write: whatever
ability she had. ;,Ssurcdly did not lie in
the path of book knowledge" the boys
bought her Il cheap piano at auction. on
which she tlummcd Il few street airs
People who noticed the girls readiness
and winning manner. told her mother
it was time she was making some pro
vision for her, and offered to take her
INTO their houses as Il servant. But
menial work waS IL certainty which to
LucN'S 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 fine dclicacy
faded ont of her face: her voice grew
l"ud; the quick step dragged laZily: it
became II matter of course for her To
| watch her old father work for her while
she sat idle. At last the turn came the
elder hr"thcrS married: the old man
and his wife died IL dcformcd brother
/ kept the house with Lucy. hut il WAS
u..cc>>rrl that She should earn her own
living. There were half dozen homes
open Ia her. where She would have had
light work. which would have fitted her
ior her duties when She married. high
wages. and the protection and >cclu>iom
of Il refined Christian family. But this
| giIl. whose Master WAS born i'll IL stable.
WAS indignant at being asked to take
the place of Il servant. She went into
Il mill. The wages were good. She
had her ambition. NclNctS and dla-
mnrId> made the lady. She could at
least Haunt III Terry and Milton gold
/ She had the Imagination of other Young
| girls the Zcst for love. adventure. No
knights OF 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 ears going home at night.
The story is told. There came Il day
when the dcl"Imed brother. who had
Watched over her since she was Il baby
with II ~nrcr tenderness hccIuISc no other
woman could ever hc 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: il worked ont from within
Year 10y year her training had corrupted
soul and brain. 1t mattcrcd little " hen
the symptoms of decay showed them
selves tn the world. For wears she has
tested the street life Last week it
ended. In the bright sunlight Il bloatcd
filthy woman crept ont 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 ont into the sunlight again
matters little. 1t may live until old
age. But Lucy, honest. unscltiSh, pure
in thought, died long ago. If it had
been only to sleep with her mothor 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 IA story without il
moral at least it has none, if mothers
do not find it for themselves. .-Ner York
Tribune.
MORE REVISION REQUIsITE.-7O the
Editors Of the Ereniny Post: | see 10y
the daily journals that Il respectable
Hebrew has taken exception to Web
ster and WOrcester's use of the word
| -.