Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1874-02-03
The Tiger Curse.


as Iu"e love as can animate the
bielst o t. most delicate lady in the
land. Over-shadowing these bright
streaks of light was dark line.
When she was mere babe, after
wards when she was a child, after
wards when she was a woman, she
frequently suffered the pangs of
hunger; she often knew what it
was to want crust of bread
Fiom these sufferings came the
singular and mournful idea that
she was within her ravenous crea-
ture which she called tiger, and
which when she was hungry, tore
at her entrails for food. This tiger
had been the terror of her life,
and it was with her an agonising
belief that she had endowed her
child with the tiger curse: / can
find no other term Of expression.
From this belief nothing could
drive her. Talk to her of its folly,
of its impossibility, and you talked
to stone. Her one unfailing an
swer was. "Ah, I know yon can't.
feel it, and my baby feels it also"
l learnt the story of this tiger from
her own lips. found her waiting
for me one morning at the corner
of the street in which / lived. 1t
was while Tom Beadle was under
going his term Of Imprisonment.
l stopped and spoke to her, and she
asked might she say something to
me. Yes, l answered, l could
spare her few moments; and l
led the way to my rooms.
ut was Mr.. Virtue as told me
to come to you, sir" she said; "he
amt 30 ard on me as he was"
81 am glad you are friends
again." I said. "Will you have
some bread-and-butter 2"
"Yes, if you please, sir"
cut some bread and butter for
y her and her child, and / dissolve
> some preserved milk in warm wat.
d er for her. She watched with keer
e interest the process of making
n this milk, and when she tasted il
y said, with touch of humor OF
# which she was quite unconscious
IS "They won't want no more moth,
y ers by-and-by, sir, what with sich
y milk as this, and feedin' bottles,
! and pramberlaters 70
Is While she was eating and giving
5, her child to eat, she reverted to
o Jimmy Virtue.
v "You see, sir, he was mad with
me cause wouldn't give up Tom !;
e hut / couldn't do that, sir, arter all
f we've gone through. We growed
: up together, sir. If you knowed
: all Toms done for me, you'd Won
0 der 'ow any body could ave the
a cart to arks me to give i'm up.
Y Tom as stuck to me through
|, thick and thin, and I'll stick to i'm
, as long as ever l live I've 'eerd
, talk of sich things as cart strings.
"Well, sir, my cart strings d
, break if l was to lose i'm. Leave
Tom! Give i'm up now! No, sir
it wouldn't be natural, and what
, amt natural can't be good"
Blade o Grass cut straight into
the core of many difficulties with
unconsciously uttered trueism.
When she and her child had eaten
all l had set before them, she
opened the business she had come
upon. Then 1T was that l heard
the history of the tiger.
"It's inside O me, sir; / was
born with it. When / was little
there was q talk o. cutting me
open, and takin' the tiger out but
they didn't do it, sir. Per'aps it d
been better for me if they 'ad."
attempted to reason her out of
her fancy; but l soon saw how
useless were my arguments. She
shook her head with rad determi-
nation, and smiled piteously.
at don't stand to reason as you
can understand it, sir. You amt
got tiger in your inside l ave,
and it goes tearin' up and down
inside o. me eatin' me up, sir, till
I'm fit to drop down dead. 1t was
beginning this mornin', sir, afore i
seed YOU"
"Did you have any breakfast,
my poor girl :"
mot much sir /; q slice Of bread
and some water tween me and I
baby. You see, sir, Toms not ere, |
and I've 'ad some bad days lately"
"You don't feel the tiger now |"