The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1873-09-04
-a
THE ATTIC sLODGER.

THE ATTIC sLODGER.
The tailor lived on the second floor
and did his best to make his living fol-
his wife and four children.
Down stairs the small tobacconist
lived in state of perpetual anxiety
about the tailOris rent, which he gen.
orally gave up piecemeal and with
groans, as people give up their teeth,
not because he did not wish to pay
all his bills, but because of shortness
of funds, common to many people.
Up in the attic lived a single lodg-
er, of whom no one knew anything.
His name was Smith, but what did
that tell when it was SO common. He
was lean and had hollow cheeks and
anxious eyes. What his business was
or if he had any no one knew. Per-
haps he wore stockings. The poor
apotnecary of &c Romeo and Juliet
put him in mind of his attic lodger,
when, being presented with tickets
by theatrical lodger, he went to
spend an evening with Shakespeare.
"He amt like it in the face, though, /"
thought Mrs. Tobacconist his
clothes fit too good Mr.. Smith, that's
all. sil41ala 81 sGha aa
1t was an acute remark. Mr.. Smiths
clothes did fit him too good, inasmuch
as they were few sizes too small for
him. AS for business hesseemed to
have none. At noon he went out for
q loaf of bread and pitcher of beer.
At twelve o'clock he disappeared till
midnight, when he let himself in with
latch key and Wenttto bed without
a candle. 9al1 ite5 9di becra
sand for all be told nybody about
himself" said the tobacconist's wife,
che might nave been a ghost
iai"But he's civil spoken" said the
tailor's wife, to whom he always said,
-sExease nae, ma'am," when he found
her afoat Oh the staircase, in a puddle
of soap and water, which always made
the black boards blaeker than before,
and was obliged to wade through the
food with bread and beer. And the
tailor's wife, who had lived at service
in her youth, even ventured to hint to
her husband that she thought Mr..
Smith gentleman. However, this
fancy the tailor crushed with curse.
aGentlemen don't Wear any such coat
as that, Sally" aeEi -7 SO --s
Poor little tailor, he sat cross-legged
on his board and stitched, and meas
uFed men by their coats. If he had
m easured or even mended more coats
it would have been better for him and
his brood. Times seemed to grow
worse, custom less, the money harder
to get. When the little man read in
his morning paper of men who shot
or took laudanum he won
dered whether they had four children
with hearty appeGites and prospect
of having nothing to eat for several
days. No thought of killing himself;
besides, he had been told by his cler-
gyman that suicide was wieked-hut
he couldn't help thinking. And the
civil lodger in the attic, how did he
fare? One might when Sally, who
had been mending and ironing and
patching the family rags all day, was
economically using nup the fire by
cooking a loaf of bread in the stove
oven, she heard the lodger coming in.
He went up stairs and paced the. floor
he came out on tho entry and creaked
the stairs. He seemed asrestless as a
Gagged tiger, and he behaved so for
three nights, instead of retiring at
once, as the tailor's family knew he
generally did by the creaking and !
of his bedstead. rs
"What can all hinll?1 said Sally, as
she took her bread outlof the oven |
and pFicked it with a straw, finding
It done.a & What can all him? I hope |
be amt sick oruothinga-he is so civil, |
poor dearp q JIu49 as ii slF
Then Sally listened again. a.!fsf
81 declare he's coming down" she |
said. He must be sick, and there he /
is knocking-law!n ~ b35sa3GoJ oil
Then she opened the door, sshe
The lid of the stove was of, and the I
red light flashed on o hungry face, /
with hollow checks and sunken eyes. |
The gaunt hand stretched itself out /
md a voice said family:
'tMadame, 1 know you have a kind /
heart. I am so hungry, It's three /
lays since l ate anything and r
ion't want to die y Z, 2ai 7faTttAA
/. s'Law:'I should think not, "said the |
woman. 'sWhy, law me, Pm SO sor
"! And I suppose you can't get \
OBJ I? Law, why, do take it, / Amt \
got nothing else. You see we are
pretty poor ourselves -and there, oh |
aw J" She was, trembling, she did |
not know why. She was thinking to |
"It's like a play It makes
me want to cry" no ,'faH attt
Then he took the warm bread she
had given him in his hands, tearing
bits from it and eating it. u-tt5
al didn't thank YOU" he said.-
Thank you! Thank youp' and went I
away. ~ e''s Roitt .'l iiia Esaf
Sally sat down, trembling stiH.
To be out of a job and to be hum
cry were no rare things and no tragic /
things in her experience; but this
man had stirred her soul, somehow |
her, and She said, CT
hadn't any business to give away a I
loaf of bread; but there, now, l |
couldn't help it, . h94f5f lle
Then Sally went to- bed and sleptt !
and dreamed of the hoIlow-cheeked
famished lodger of the attic 1
There was more bread to make next !
day, and I am not sure but that she
made an extra loaf, in expectation of
smother call from her neighbor but,
he did not come, and in the course of
time Sally had enough to think of |
leaving her own room. Mat. |
ters did not !presper with the family. !
Little Lena had the scarlet fever and |
Law for lOnU time Mt 6anth'a door. |