The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-04-07

Fairy.
Old Stafford is fast disappearing be-
meath the levelling hands of the i'm
provement commissioners and it ii
little to be regretted, since some of the
vilest slums it has ever been my lot tc
walk into-and they are many-were in
that borough. Down by the river il
used to be worst of all. In the hot sum-
mer and autumn months, when the
Irwell had half-dried up in its shallow
bed, and vast banks of deposited filth
lay exposed to the broiling heat of the
sun, tie stencil emanating from that hot
bed of disease was something frightful.
1t is slightly better now but all the
efforts of the commissioners can only
make it a little less nasty, since it can
never be nor can it ever deserve the
name of a river it is only an open
sewer.
1t is with one of these riverside streets
that we have to deal. It was called Sun
nyview. Oh, mockery of name The
only view was in front /: wretched tum-
ble-down wall, scarcely breast high be-
low that the river and across that black
stream the gloomy blank front of an old
spinning-mill. Sannyview, indeed 1t
was very little sun they got there, for
the row of houses rejoicing in that name
was built up on each side by the huge
mill that cast dark shade upon the hab-
itations lying between them. The
houses were novels; the ground
in front was puddle in wet weather
and drying ground for the scanty
clothes of the inhabitants in dry. Not
a door shut true /; not window could
boast hasp, and many pane of glass
was wanting and its place taken by a
bundle of rags or piece of paper or
left gaping. The roofs let in the rain !;
the walls rained tears when the cold,
damp autumn days were ON. The floors
were cracked flags the stairs were all
broken aud worn the plaster had left
the walls, and the bare bricks showed
through. They were not fit for human
beings to live in I; and yet each of these
tenements held two or three families,
one for each room generally the same
room being bedroom, kitchen, and sit
ting room all in one.
The inhabitants of this place were
dirty they were ragged, they were pow
erty-stricken for the most part, and often
SCdIC6 W 1.-Two Ou DuO bilcy
were cheerful, and even gay in general,
and took life as they found it, bravely,
and apparently ignorant of there being
any anerit in cleanliness and godliness,
for am afraid few ever went to church
or chapel. Sunnyview was of course
overrun with children, as such places
nearly always are. There was one family,
however, rather different from the rest.
They were poor, it is true, but they
were clean. The husband in this case
was not drunkard, as nearly every one
else in the row was nor was his wife as
slatternly and idle or as fond of gossip
as her neighbors.
The one room they inhabited was clean
and tidy, and though by reason of the
husbands infrmity-he having lost an
arm, and thereby being rendered unfit
for his trade, that of machine-turner-
they were not rich, yet they always had
something to eat end drink, and often
little for their less thrifty neighbors.
This couple had one child, a little girl
of about six years of age, with fiaxen hair
and soft blue eyes, with the softest and
most winning expression in them 1 ever
beheld. She was the pet and idol of the
whole of that poor street. She was not,
like most of the other children, dirty and
rough, but quiet and sedate, with that
air of wisdom that we see sometimes in
children, and which the old women call
cold fashioned ;" sure sign, they say, of
an early death.
The men used to bring her toys home
when they received their wages on
Saturday and many little ribbon or
other knick-knack had the mothers
brought home from Saturday nights
marketing, with which to deck out little
Fairy" as they called her, on the Sun
day. Poor and tawdry, most of them,
and of no great value but it is not value
we look at in gifts 1t not the heart
of the giver 7
The way became acquainted with Fairy
was this. 1 was parish doctor for the
district in which she lived, and my avo-
cations, as you may guess, frequently led
noe into the dirtiest and worst parts OF
the place one of these was Sunnyview.
There was an epidemic of scarlet fever al
that time, and it was in the streets along
the riverside that it ragged with the great
est virulence and spread the fastest. IL
soon reached Sunnyview. Nearly every
child in the row had it, and among the
rest little Fairy was seized.
/ never had better or more obedieni
patient than that little child. She used
to listen With such an air of preternatura
wisdom to what / said, and they told me
afterward that whenever they wished Il
give her anything she used to ask, "Di6
doctor lay / must have it 2" and unless
they could answer "Yes" she would mo-
take it. Fairy got over this illness
Though many others in the street died
and was running about much as usua
in few weeks.
Through Sunnyview was short GU
for me from one part of my district tC
another, and thus it often happened tina
saw my bright-haired little friend.
THAT is my DOCTOR" she would say
when she saw me coming, to her play
mates, and leaving them, would run tc
meet me. used to bring her sweets il
my pockets sometimes, and when she
had received hem she would walk will
me 10 the end of the row, prattling il
her grave. womanish way, as we wen
along. Arrived there, she always said
"Good-by, my doctor" and then turned
round and reioined her playmates.
soon got 10 look out for her whenever
took that route, and always felt bette
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