The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-10-26
j | M :.

we belonged TO Tue surplus popuid-
tion, Jim and1, butsWe did not know 1T.
The big world into which we came was
crowded to oyerflowing with just such
puny, unwaahed, ill-ted little wretches
as We were; butlwe didn't know 1t, aud
SO we came unconscious into the sun
less, teeming alley, where countless
others like ourselves herded. We didn't
know we were problem, Jim and l; we
didn't know that we and our kind were
battling the wisdom Of statesmen, Jim
and !; but il we had known all about 1t
doubt ii we could have occupied the
situation more philosophically. we
slept as quietly in the undel ground cell
liar, down whose ooZy steps the ram ana
ruin OF years made slippery passage, or
bestowed ourselves as naturally, II need
be, under some stranded wayslde cart,
as if it were precisely the thing heaven
ihad adapted us Tor from the beginning.
! Jim was older and bigger than /: a
tall, likely lad, fifteen Of these harden
| ing and toughening years had made nlm
keen and sharp as terrier. and just the
lad to look after a forlorn Waif or lit
tie girl like myself. And Jim, after he
had blacked boots all day, or sold news
papers of an afternoon, was sure to look
after me, and we took supper together
otit of the same bowl of porridge.
|
to wish he was my brother, though,
sometimes, just because was so proud
of him.
The old men that kept the cellar, you
see, had picked Jim up from somewhere
when his folks died, and picked me up
from somewhere when my folks died.
and so we had somehow fallen together
) all along.
Just down beyond the jog of our alley,
where it turned sort OF gray corner,
and was darker and dirtier than ever
lust there stood an old gray church with
: clock in the toWer-an old, OLD mossy
church, and an old, old clock mat passed
its withered hands over its Wlzened
lace, and looked sleepy through them
down into our alley on one side, and
: INTO a busy, noisy .thoroughtare on the
other. This old clock had dozed there
. tiIl it's head was all on one SIDE, ana
l Won couldn't be sure whether it told The
, rivnt time or not; but OF summer after
| noon. when it was getting quite dusk
!, down in our alley, d red ray from the
= setting sun used to settle for a minute
I RIGHT down on the face OF the sleepy old
/, clock: then it would seem 70 rouse up
: out of a pleasant dream, ana stflKe the
hour as sharp as neea pc, ano tneh
knew it was time to look out Tor Jim.
: ia see him turn the corner, with his
old straw hat on, and his patcheC
= shoes, or barefoot maybe. for that mat
. ter. and we'd sot of Tor a STROLL to
q gether-a stroll to the WharYes.
d We generally haunted the wharves
f. Tim and [. When we Went a-pleasuring
rhey were SO grand, the wharYes; st
Ii husy. the wharves; SO altogether differ
e ent from our alley, with the snlps crowd
8 inp round them, and the tlutterlng nag
N here and there on the masGs, ana th
- busy sailors getting i'll trelghts. Some
l, times jim would get job Tor half al
is hour. and leave me lurking among tn
# cotton bales, OF sitting solitary III SOM
safe corner till he came BACK. lie al
~ wavs came back. And then sometime
e we would linger about there till might
,e fall. Then the wharf was solemn an
- silent. and you could hear the waite
~ rushing up against the great beams III
III derneath, and see here and there Ugh
Of cleaning from some lone lantern anon
tue shrouds, and the gray water stretch
ing beyond, we knew not whittier; an
Il if Jim and l had owned 1t all, we coul
lie not nave loved it better.
q But one day jim got a job that laste
!, longer than usual, ana grew scare
and uneasy as night came on and b
to didn't come back. Wandering from th
~ place where he mad set me, shy ana fea
1s some as u water rat, but as determines
-, | looked Tor him everywhere, but in valr
III then | went back to my post, Tor hadn
/; he said, as he always SAID: "Dort
le afraid, Jenny; III come back, for sur
,a YOU know" And then l. waited an
w waited, till finally l lell asleep amor
d. the bales and barrels, and forgot N
ne troubles.
as In the morning a forlorn and desola
-, little creature enough, l learned fro
~ some compassionate 'longshoreman tn
ty the great ship where Jim had bee
ST. at WORK had sailed away with hi
ed aboard, A wild and passionate bur
of weeping greeted this news, and
III pitiful Ihr0ng Of people gathered abol
cy me, freight men and sailors mostly, b
,Ie among them suddenly appeared Il
quiet lace of a Quaker lady, who was d.
tributing books among the sailors. IN
told her my tale, and seeing me utter
-, triendIess, she wiped my tear-stain
face with her white handkerchief, a.
ut took me away. had no friends, | W
as no better than masterless dog, a.
is worth tar less. But she took me tt
as, great clean, bare, and quiet place.
vs. Institution they called it-where the
NJ were many others as homeless al
sh wretched as L. And there they wash
on me and made me SO clean and fresh th
d. | thought the real me, the ragged, re
'y- eyed, unkempt surplus atom OF human
le- ty that had been me, was gone away oV
,al the seas with jim, and this rosy-cheek
'g- child was another me, newly come il
'p- the world.
Then one day there came grand a
-: stately lady, who took me away to Ii
" with her, and be her own little girl L
ID. lady wore shining silks and lived il
u splendid house, and had lad in v
~ vet Jacket who was about as big as jill
~ 1t was all like a strange bright drea
w if could have only forgotten Jim. b
=" | could not.
IN ~ Jim was surplus population no longe
a. perhaps he was drowned; his ragg
!, Jacket and crownless hat might be buri
;, now away down under the sea. NoBo
~ about me now wore patched shoes,
y, trowsers out at the knees, and nobod
'li. it seemed to me, not even Louis, W
o': was SO kind to me, not even he, had
lat le, eye as bright and soft as Jim's, or ha
'n' as warm. And SO 1 never forgot Ji
but always in my heart of hearts
,ol. seemed listening and waiting for him.
nd Sometimes / used to lure Louis dov
RS. Ito the wAarves, and always whel
IN walked by myself my steps turn