New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-04-30
BARBARA'S OUTING.
BIZ NEsTA LA NOVICE.

-NcW OEicdu1s aPii -, io'"
BARBARA'S OUTING.
'.Pd 20 right fl to the the-ayter, would
She was sitting on the doorstep Of 10
house, No. 3 Skeggs alley; child of twelv
according to the parish registry; but sue
a child! Hardly big enough in body f,
seven, and with a face Of seventy; shar
and lined with sunken cheeks and pihche
mouth, and eyes weird and hollow as
baby spt ctre. Mulready might have painte
that little, shrunken figure, mere twist
rags hanging loosely over the bOny frame
the email, skeleton hands supporting th
sharp chin; the naked, chapped, and mud
encrusted feet dangling in the quite
wherein disported themselves some of he
cOngeners-children of the night side O
London-cbildren born in the slime, nurse,
in hunger, bred to sin-children to whom
Jail is lively variety, and the school bOart
an awful and horrible Nemesis.
Barbara in particular regarded this lat
ter institution with holy horror, witnessed
by sundry fresh and livid bruises on her at
tenuated person; for during the past fort
night the school board had swooped dow
on Skeggs alley, and had carried off M
heroine and some thirty Of her playmate
to steam and smother in big school room
there to idle and sauabble, to grow sicl
with hunger, and heavy with sleep, an(
finally to be turned out into the raw
damp fog, wild for mischief and famishin.
for food, whooping, shrieking, and fighting
respectable people, pursued by outraged
policemen, and finally drifting home t.
their several dens and nests among the BY
streets and alleys.
Barbara's mother. or rat her the person
who did duty for mother, her original pa
rent being deceased, had at first stOutly re-
fused to allow ''her CURL to go to any O.
they drafted schules whatsumdever." This
worthy lady earned her living by washing
at laundry some two miles of, and hay-
ing, within the last fourteen months, pre-
scented Mr.. Butts, Barbara's father, with q
son and heir, she not unreasonably required
the assistance of her step daughter in look
ing after that infant hope. This opinion.
however, was in no wise shared by the all
sapient heads at the school board; and Mrs,
Butts, having been twice summoned to an
swer for her contumacy before the nearest
magistrate, and falling to show why her
husband, described as ''able-bodied jour
neyman carpenter" shOald not support his
family, was twice fined and ultimately
obliged to succumb.
RatiOns in consequence ran short at No,
3, and Mrs Butts, Considering Barbara as
muIeting that young lady of her supper,
and giving her sundry supplemental
thrashings into the bargain.
Barbara ought to have been used to
thrashings. Indeed, l think she was; for
although she howled and shrieked plenti-
fully during Incorporation, and though her
wretched little body was tatooed like a
New Zealand chiefs with black and blue,
few tears made their appearance; and two
hnr oh 81
would generally be seen dandling baby
rather bigger than herself, and chattering
glibly to some Of the neIghboring fry who
had been drawn by pleasing curiosity to
the scene of castigation.
To be deprived of supper, however, was
very different and far more un-
pleasant. 1t is really astonishing, consider
ing how shriveled those small etomachs
must become from fasting, that an immense
capacity for hunger should still be left in
them; or that the hotan comforting aroma
from bakers shop should be
capable of inspiring such an intense poig.
nancy of anguish in the little nostrils, which
yet sniff and eniff as though condemned by
zone internal power to the tortures of a
Jew Tantalus. Barbara has often gone
upperless before; but that was in company.
md generally because Mr.. Butts had con.
umed the family supper in drink. To |
NOW that there was some supper at home, |
nd given none Of it, was far worse ex- |
,erience.
And yet "some'hing to eat" was not with |
Barbara the sumnietnt bOnnDt of all earthly |
esires.
Long ag0-befOre Barbara's entry into |
his little heaven below"-Mrs. Butts No.
had filled the subordinate position of q |
fairy" at the Grecian Theatre. Mr..
,utts, not having at that time wholly con-
ecrated himself to the arduous task of
Importing the Green Lion at the corner,
las deyOtipg portion of his time to car.
entry, and had got employment behind
he scenes of the same theatre as Miss
arah jerks, or Elvina Desmond, as that
ranlatis persone. In the course of this
Employment he inadvertently set his
cot on a trap, went through, and
roke his leg, as he said-bruised it, as
hose about him declared. Unsympathiz-
lg OnloOhers, indeed, asserted that there
Ias hardly anything the matter, proffered
glass Of brandy and water, and suggested
Sat MIR. Butts only required nights rest |
Dc as right as trivet. Sarah jerks,
owever, was more compassionate. From |
1e depths of what appeared to be her stays
lat coin hired a cab to convey Mr.. Butts to
Is dwelling. Further, when the injured
g turned out to be so bruised and swelIed
5 to entail Mr.. Butts 'laying up, for sew.
ral days, Sarah mulcted herself of badly ,
eeded breakfasts, and went without her
unday dinner, in order to supply the suf. !
rer with sundry comforts, which he would
therwise nave been obliged to forego.
Sympathy is seldom wasted even in this ,
orld. Mr.. Butts had at that time a very
1T corner in his heart, and Sarah jerks
I'd found the key to it, Three weeks after
70 leg was well she exchanged her maiden ,
sme for chat Of Butts. Three years later
% resigned that in favor of tombstone,
I'd retired into permanent sec}usicn under I
e scds of Kensal Green. For more than
'elve months previous to that event she
d seeded from the boards of the Grecian
consequence Of Mr.. Butts having con- &
nted TO aid commercial prosperity by
ming strike and becoming merely
,epiDg partner in the domestic firm in 4
eggs alley. AT that time Barbara was /
II mere baby, but having been on one q
casion carried 70 the theatre BY her d
,ther, and left in charge Of a neighbours b
y at the pit door, she remem- Fl
red till her dying day q vision of
place all dazzle and glitter, Of strange, I
ming beings floating in the air, and hun. n
in baby eves-of upturned