The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1873-04-04
THE ATTIC LODGER.

The tailor lived ON the second floor,
! and did his best to make his living for
his wife and four children.
Down stairs the small tObaccOnist
lived in a state Of perpetual anxiety
about the tailOr's rent, which he gener-
ally 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 the shortness
Of funds, common to many people
Up i'll the attic lived the single LODI
ger, 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 anX-
iOus eyes. What his business was, or
If he had any, no one knew. Perhaps
he wore stockings. The poor apothe-
cary of Romeo and Juliet put him
in mind of his attic lOdger, when, be
ing presented with tickets by a theatri-
cal lodger, he went to spend an even
ing with Shakespeare.
He amt like it i'll the face, though" :"
thought Mrs. Tobacconist; his clothes
is too good, Mr.. Smith, that's all"
1t was an acute remark. Mr.. Smiths
clothes did not fit him too good, mas
much as they were a few sizes too small
for him. As for business, he seemed
to have none. At noon he went out
for loaf of bread and a pitcher of
beer At twelve o'clock he disap-
pcarcd till midnight, when he let him
self in with a latch-key, and went to
bed without a candle.
~ f.r- oil hn told anThnlN- q hpnt
himself" said the tobaccOnist's wife,
he might have been a ghost"
But he's civil spoken" said the
tailor's wife, to whom he always said,
Excuse me ma'am," when he found
her afloat on the staircase, i'll a puddle
of soap and water, which always made
the blackbOards 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 Il gentleman. However this
fancy the tailor crushed it with a curse,
"Gcntlemen don't wear any such coat
rs that, Sally"
Poor little tailor, he sat crOSs-legged
on his board and stitched, and mea-
sured men by their coats. If he had
measured 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 i'll
his morning paper of men who shot
! themselves or took laudanum, he Won
, dered whether they had four children
with hearty appetites, and a prospect
| of having nothing to eat for several
/ davs. No thought of killing himself
besides he had been told by his cler-
. gvman that suicide was wicked but
/ he couldn't help thinking. And the
civil lodger in the attic, how did he
fare? One night when Sally, who had
been mending and ironing and patch
ing the family rags all day, was eco
nOmically Y using up the fire by cooking
a loaf of bread in the stove oven, she
heard the IOdger come in. He went
up stairs and paced the tlOOr-he came
out on the entry and creaked the stairs
/ He seemed as restless as a Gagged tiger
and he had behaved so for three nights,
instead Of retiring at once, as the tail
or's family knew he generally did by
the creaIling and swapping of his bed
stead.
What can all him 2" said Sally, as
she took her bread out of the oven anC
pricked it with straw, finding it done
What can all him? l hope he AIM
sick or nothing-he is 50 civil, poor
dear"
Then Sally listened again.
81 declare he's coming down." she
said. "He must be sick, and there hC
is knocking-law! ~
Then she opened the door.
The lid of the stove was off, and the
red light flashed on hungry face
with hollow checks and sunken eyes
The gaunt hand stretched itself out
and a voice said family:
Madame, | know you have a kinC
heart. | am so hungry. It's thre,
days since l ate anything, and L
don't want to die"
Law! | should think not" salt
the woman "Why, law me, Pm 81
sorry! And suppose you can't ge
a job? Law, why, do take it. L ain
got nothing else. You see we ar
/ pretty poor oufSeINe Neo-itllot Cllel c-OH
lawu' She was trembling, she did no
know why. She was thinking to her
self: 'It's like play. 1t makes IN
want to cry"
Then he took the warm bread sh
had given him in his hands, tearin!
bits from it and eating it.
Il didn't thank you," he said
"Thanl1 you! thank YOU" and wen
away. .u
Sally sat down, trembling still,
To be out Of job and to be hun
grv were no rare things and no tragi
things in her experience; but this MAJ
had stirred her soul, somehow fright
ened her, and she said, q hadn't an,
business to give away loaf of bread
but there, now, | couldn't help it."
-, Nod 4 Il,