The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1874-01-29

-Hfs. COrRie Lales 81. .Io}ia-
A Romance of the Street.
A group of ragged girls were play
| ing on the side walk of Baxter street,
half blocking the way with their bois-
ferrous antics. DR. Henry Cotton, a
young physician attached to q chari-
table institution in the neighborhood,
found it almost impossible to push his
way through the crowd of boydens.
Uncouth faces and rough words greet
ed him, as with no very gentle hands
he made for himself passage through
their midst. One of the girls, bOlder
even than her noisy companions,
caught at his coat and pulled him
half round. He looked st the girl,
whose temeri:y excited his surprise.
She was about twelve or thirteen
years old, and as ragged and dirty as
any of the lot; yet her beauty shown
through her dirt and rags. Her
cheeks We're round and dimpled, her
lips full and red, her eyes and bair
black as midnight, and her form ap-
PaAChllJ hOnuC4luilg pCilCCb. LII
Cotton passed on few steps, but the
girls beauty excited his interest, and
ne called her. At first she was dis
posed to run away, but finally she
went up to him, taking care to keep
just out of arms reach.
"What is your name, my girl ?'
asked the young man.
"Rosa Garden" she replied.
"Where do you live ??
with Nanny Ginger, down there
in the rag cellsr-she's my aunt. she
is.
"Well, Rosa" said he, as he started
to go, "yOu are too pretty and bright
witted TO live in this place and with
these hard people. Wouldnit you
like to go to school, and be a lady
when you grow up?"
ROsa's idea of the lady was associa-
ted with fine clothes, and so she re-
piled affirmatiyely, without the
slightest hesitation.
"Then I'll tell you what to do Rosa, p
added Henry; "wash your face. comb
your hair, and-dO you know where
the Girls Refuge is ?"
"Yes, guess So"
"HOu go up there, ring the bell, and
ask for Mrs. Brown. Tell her that
you want 10 live there aud learn to be
lady;n and he went on about his
business, leaving the girl with her
noisy companions.
But Rosa had no Ie ish for rOmping.
What the young man had said to her,
kept running in her head, and she
soon went to her squaiid home think
ing it over and over.
Rosa received little but bad usage
and short rations from NANNY Gin
ger" who only kept the girl for the
work she could squeeze out of her.
Her present life was so miserable
that no change could well have been
made for the worse and so she was in
clined to follow the strangers advice.
That night she dreamed OF being a
fine lady, dressed in silk, and with
plenty TO eat, and upon waking in the
morning sue no longer hesitated.
After exciting "Mammy Ginger's
wonder by washing her face and
cOmbing her hair as well as she could
with her fingers, Rosa slipped out and
went to the Girls Refuge, an institu-
tion for the care and education of or
phan and pauper girls. Ringing the
bell, she inquired for Mrs. Brown, as
the stranger had told her to do, and
at last reached the presence of the
matron of the institution.
"Well, little girl" said Mrs. Brown,
"what do you want >"
az want to learn to be lady,
The odd reply, coupled with the
girls striking beauty, won the atten.
ton of the matron, and Rosa soon
found herself an inmate of the insti-
tuition.
Eight years rolled by, bringing DR..
Henry Cotton to the age of thirty.
Eight eventful years to the country
ana to him. for they comprised the
bloody years OF the great rebellion.
At the first breaking out of the hos
tilities he entered the army as an as
sistant surgeon, and served through
out the entire struggle. at the close,
like thousands upon thousands of
others, he found himself completely
unsettled in habits and disposition.
With few hundred dollars saved from
bis pay, he returned to New York, TO
find that his friends had been scatter
ed. Nobody knew him and he had
not q relative in the world.
"But l have a profession" he said
to himself, perfected by years of
practical army experience / will es-
tablish myself, and prosperity will
bring friendsI around me again.
Naturally buoyant and hopeful he
prepared to recommence life, with
good spirits and bright anticipations
for the future. He hired respectable
offs -foc
able uptown street, furnished it plain
ly, and displayed sign denoting his
calling. Days passed and no patron
age came. He saw his dollars going
out with none coming in.
81 must economize," he concluded
L will give up my boarding place to
begin with"
After this the lounge in his Office
was his bed, and the cheap restaurant
got his patronage. Still these meas
ures only checked the drain upon his
store. The few professional calls that
he had were mainly from those too
poor or too dishonest to pay, and his
income did not one-half meet his
closely curt4iled expenses. He grew
down-hearted and discouraged.
Month after month passed, and at
last his money was ali gone. What
should he do? The idea of giving up
his profession was distasteful, and he
clung to hope until actual want came
in the shape of unappeased hunger.
Then one by one he pawned his fine
surgical instruments getting but a
small fraction of their real value.
Articles of clothing followed until he
found himself utterly unprovided to
meet the cold weather that was com.
ing on.
Finally, convinced that ne must
abandon his profession, he studied
the "want" columns of the neWspa-
pers, and spent two entire days in try
ing in vain to get employment. The
last of these Two days he ate nothing,
and previous short allowance had en-
feebled him. When night came he
staggered YEARLY to his Office to find
that after repeated warnings, the land
lord had taken possession and locked
the door.
With his brain whirling and his
limbs tottering with weakness, Dr.
Cotton wandered, he scarcely knew
where. Hunger and fatigue were do
ing their work. He had walked sew
ersI blocks when his eyes fell upon a
carriage standing at the curb. 4
coachman in livery sat upon the box.
and the door stood open. Just then
lady came out of an adjacent house,
and walked toward the vehicle. The
famished man saw that she carried
norkyef hoot fn f1er hand. The de-