The Idaho world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1864-1918, 1873-04-24
IDAHO WORLD.
THE a ATTIC L0DGER.

MS WIG anu 4OuA
Down stairs the small tobacconis1
lived m d state of perpetual anxiety
ah6rt the tailor's rent, which he gener
ally gave up piecemeal and with groans
as people give up their teeth, not be
cause he!did not wish to pay az Hf
bills but because Of shortness OF funds
common to many people.
Up in the attic lived single lodger
of whom no one knew anything. HIS
name was Smith; but. what Ibid that
tell when it was so common? He was
lean and had hollow cheeks and anxious
ewes. What his business was, or II he
had any no one knew. Perhaps he
wore stockings. The poor apothecary
of "Romeo, and Juliet" put him in mind
of his attic lodger, when, being pre-.
sented with tickets by a theatrical
lodger, he went to spend an evening
with Shakespeare.
"He amt like it in the face, though,
thought,Mrs. iTobacconist; his clothes
ftStoo good Mr.. Smith, that's all. y" Q y
It was an acute remark. Mr.. Smiths
clothes did fit him too good, inasmuch
as they were few sizes, toe, small for
him.Asifor business, he seemed to have
none. At noon he went out for loaf OF
bread and pitcher Of beer At twelve
o'clock he disappeared till midnight,
when he let himself in with latch-key
and went to bed without candle.
"And for all he told anybody about
HIMSELF said the tobacconists wife,
he might have been ghost
"But he's civil spoken" said the
tailor's wife, to whom he always said
Excuse me, ma'am," when he found
her afoat on the staircase, in puddle
of soap and water, which always made
the black boards blacker than before,
and was obliged to wade. through the
flood 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
a gentleman. However, this fancy the
tailor crushed with a curse, "Gentle-
men don't wear any such coats as that.
Sally ---- .r...--.
Poor little tailor, he sat cross-legged
on his board and stitched, and measured
men by their coats. If he had meas
ured 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 morn
ing paper Of men who shot themselves
and took laudanum, he wondered wheth-
er they had four children with hearty
appetites and prospect of having
nothing to eat for several days. No
thought of killing himself; besides, he
had been told by his clergyman that
suicide was wicked-but he couldn't
help thinking. And the civil lodgcr in
the attic, how did he fare? One night
when Sally, who had been mending and
ironing and patching the family rags
all day, was economically using up the
fire by cooking a loaf of bread in the
stove oven, she heard the ledger COM
ing in. He went up stairs and paced
the floor; he came out on the entry and
creaked the stairs. He seemed as rest
less as 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 snap
ping of his bedstead
What can all him?" said Sally, as
she took her bread out of the oven and
pricked it with straw, finding it done.
"What can all him? l hope he amt
sick or nothing-he is so civil, poor
dear.n
Then Sally listened again.
II declare! he's coming down. she
said. He must be sick, and there he is
knocking-law!"
Then she opened the door.
The lid Of the stove was off, and the
red light flashed on a hungry face, with
hollow cheeks and sunken eyes.
The gaunt hand stretched itself out,
and voice said faintly: a a
MADAM, know you have kind
heart. l am SO hungry It's three
days since eat anything, and don't
want to die"
"Law! I should think not" said the
woman. "Why, law me, Pm SO sorry!
And suppose you can't get q job?
Law Why, do take it.: ain'tgot moth
ing else. You see we are pretty poor
ourselves there, oh law!0 She
was trembling, she did not know why.
She was thinking to herself" It's like
q play Itmakea me want ia cruu y