Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-03-17
''GiI."


NJ. Quad.
A ragged, sad-eyed boy, aged nine
OF ten, stopped me on the street the
other day and said:
81 haven't had anything to eat this
whole day! Won't you please give
me ten cents?"
gave it to him. I'd have given
him the money if it had been neces-
sary to pawn my hat.
"Do youlet imposters swindle you
in that manner?" inquired an ac-
quaintance.
A journalist who has knocked
around for dozen years has seen
every phase of human life. Men, wo-
men, and children have swindled
him, or sought to; people have lied
to him; his money has been given to
whining, lying vagrants who told
direful tales of distress, and he ought
TO be able to correctly read human
nature.
cpl bet that boy is a professional
beggar," continued my friend, chuck
ling at the idea of my being swindled.
None of us care for the loss of a
shinplaster on the street, while every
one feels vexcd and annoyed at the
idea of beng swindled out of a sin
gle penny. I could not say that the
boy was not a swindler, and yet I
would have divided my last shilling
with him.
"Why?"
l told my friend why, and I will
tell you.
One day last year, when the wind
blew the snow over the house roofs
and around the corners in binding
clouds, and when the frosty air cut
ones face like knife, boy came up
to me as I waited for the car. He
was thlnly clad, his face betrayed
hunger and suffering, and in mourn
full voice he pleaded:
"I'm cold and hungry"
"Why don't you go home?" ask
ed.
al haven't any!"
"Haven't you any relatives?
"Not one!"
"How long have you been here?"
"Three weeks"
The boy spoke in that growl which
professional beggars assume. | be-
lieved, too, that l had seen his face
on the streets time and again. l
! hardened nv heart and said:
"Boy! know you, and if I catch
you asking any one for money again
I'll have you arrested"
He moved away quickly. Iargued
that this proved guilt, forgetting that
q homeless, friendless waif might
evince fear when entirely innocent.
Five hours later, when night had
come, and the wind had grown to
fierce gale, the boy halted me again
as I plunged through the snowdrifts.
l did not see him until he called out:
"Mister! I'm almost starved, and
I'll freeze to death if can't get some
place to sleep"
The same thin, ragged clothes,
hardly comfortable enough for June
weather-the same whine to his voice.
felt like giving him money, but the
fear that he had been sent out by his
parents to beg restrained and anger
ed me. Catching HIM by the arm, l
yelled out:
"See here, boy, if you don't own
up that you are lying to me I'll take
you to the station!"
Through the binding storm saw
his face grow paler, and he cried back:
"Don't take NEEDN'T! Yes, |
was lying!"
released him and he hurried away
while walked on, fiattering myself
that I had played sharp game and
done the generous public good turn.
An hour later, when the night had
grown still wilder and colder, some
one knocked at my door. 1t was a
timid knock, and I wondered who
could have sent child abroad on
such a night. When l opened the
door that same boy was on the step,
his face was blue with cold, his whole
form shlvering, and a look of desper-
alton in his eyes.
"Please, Mister )" he began, but
stopped when recognizing me.
l was puzzled to know why he
should have followed me home-why
he had selected me for q. victim and
trailed me so persistently. might
have argued that the storm had driv-
Ell people off the streets, and that the
freezing, starving boy had in his des-
peration called at the house, but l
didn't. Had it been any other boy,
or any other person asking charity, l
would have given promptly and free
ly. But | was angry at his trailing
me - angered that he thought he
could swindle M, and l grabbed at
him and inquired:
"Boy, what is your name?"
"He leaped back, and, standing
where the furious storm almost buri-
ed him from sight, he answered.:
"Gil!"
81 know you, sir!" shouted, and
he moved without another word.
May the Lord forgive me for that
nights work! But you might have
acted the same. When morning came,
after night so bitter that policemen
were frozen on their beats, 1opened
the front door to find that boy dead
on the steps-frozen to death! | knew
as the dead, white face looked up at
me through the snow, that l had
wronged him with my suspicious, but
it was too late thcn-then angels had
opened to him a gate leading to 4
place wLere the human heart and its
unworthy THOUGHTS can never enter