The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-05-30
A MOTHER OF SEVENTEEN.
Mrs. Kelley's Maternal Pride Owe: Nine
r teen Years OF Wedlock.

bANN wv l"Ns S~S>S
New York. Now that the weather has
grown warm, they occupy the sidewalks
to an extent that makes walking difficult
to anybody who is in u hurry. The
tenement houses in that neighborhood
are tall and crowded, and each is packed
with enough of humanity to supply a
fair-sized village. The interiors are
dark, and, in many cases, noisome. 1t is
no wonder, therefore, That the children
swarm out of these houses into the un-
shine. A writer in the New York SIM
cam across u remarkably large group Of
them in front of No. As Washington
street, and stopped, not so much to
watch them as because he could not pass
without stepping on them or making a
detour III the mud that covered the
pavement. A police officer who stood
by said: "Look'ee youngsters-you
mustn't block up the sidewalk > at which
they scattered, but instantly came to-
gether again, a little further on, to
scramble over an apple that had fallen
from svender's wagon.
Where do they all come FROM" was
a question put to the officer.
"Well, these houses average twenty
families apiece" was the answer,
land the families average-I won't
guess how many children. Why, sir, Il
woman up there in forty-fve has just
had her seventeenth child"
"The seventeenth 2"
"Fact, sir; and I don't believe she's
more than thirty-fve years old, either.
At that rate, you see, we must expect
to tumble over children in the street
around here"
you're sure about the number-it's
really her seventeenth
$50 they say !; but go up and see for
yourself. Her names Kelley, and she
lives in the fourth floor front. She's
proud of the baby, and will be glad to
talk with you"
The writer went through the narrow
passages and up the s~tairways of the
tenement house, and wrapped at a door
in the fourth story. An old lady adj
mitted him to a room that was scantily
furnished, but clean and pleasant. He
asked if Mrs. Kelley lived there, end for
an answer was pointed to a bed, on which
lay prepped up Oh pillows a comely
Irish woman who did not seem to be
older than the officer had said. Her face
was round and ruddy, her complexion
was that Of entire contentment, and she
seemed in the best OF physical and mental
health. A baby lay at her side, looking
intently at its tiny fists, as though trying
to make up its mind whether it had ever
seen them before. The visitor at once
established himself on a basis of well
come by saying that it was q fine child,
which was the truth. He asked how old
it was, and Mrs. Kelley said: "Four
days, sir"
"And it is your twelfth ?" he ven
tured to say, deeming it imprudent to
risk mentioning, the number that the
officer had stated. -
ooh, sir,". and Mrs. .Keliey's face,
and brogue that refuses to be represent
ed in print, indicated mild resentment /;
"this is my seventeenth"
"Ma'am, you have good reason to be
proud she looked assent-"of being
the mother Of such a family she
smiled, and drew the babe closer-"at
your time of life"
"I'm not very old, that's tire, sir"
"Not much over thirty, certainly"
"Thirty-seven, sir"
"And how old is your oldest?"
"Nineteen. was just eighteen years
and three months old when he was born"
The old woman who had admitted the
visitor then gave information with q
pride Of manner that told, before she
had impaired the knowledge in words,
that she was Mrs. Kelley's mother, and
that. she took. to herself a part Of the
merit of Mrs. kclley's achievement. The
facts that sheimparted, without stopping
much to take breath, were as follows :
The husband, Patrick Kelley, is q labor
er, about ten years older than his wife,
and he brought his family to this coun-
try from Ireland in 1866. They had
child been married year when their first
was born; next came three girls at inter-
walls OF about fifteen months next, after
a year and a half, boy twins !; next, two
girls and a boy, with intervening periods
not much varying from a year and a
quarter; next, another pair of twins,
but girls, after a lapse of Q little over a
year !; and the six other births were less
than eighteen months apart. All were
healthy as babies, yet fourteen died
early-of call kinds of Diseases" the
old woman said, but not Of constitutional
disorders, she was sure The survivors
are the first born and the two youngest.
The four-days-old infant began to
squat, but was easily pacifed by the
mother, who laughingly said: "Oh, sir,
I know how to deal with 'em /; the mother
of seventeen ought to. Oh, the bother
of EN-"
"You will be rewarded one of these
days by having q grown-up family
abundantly able to take care of you"
"Faith, they don't live to do that.
Except the oldest-a fine young man,
sir-them that's left is too young to be
of any use.."
"WeIl," you are young yet yourself,
and"I hope that those remaining will
grow up"
"Indeed, so do l., sir. But I expect
to have more"
Have you any particular number
fixed in your mind, ma'am?"
ooh, I don't know. It's some time
now since I've had twins, and I don't
know why I shouldn't again. I'd be
c%ontentedif I had twenty-five altogether.
Don't you think anybody ought to be
contented with that size of a family?"
"I do"
The truth of Mrs. Kelley's assertions
rs to her children was sustained by the
family record, in varied pepmanship, on
creased and yellowed paper. This docu-
ment, kept in q Bible of much newer ap
pearance, bore entries of the marriage of
Patrick and Bridget Kelley in 1857, of
the births Of seventeen children to them
in nineteen years. and of the deaths of
fourteen.
The writer again congratulated Mrs.
Kelley, frightened the baby to the
verge Of commissions by q well-meant at
tempt to play with it, and withdrew.
On his way out he met the officer, who
remarked "Didn't I tell you SO ?"
"You told the truth. I've seer the
mother and her seventeenth child. Now,
I'd like to see the father"