Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1877-12-18


King!
jim.
We belonged to the surplus population,
Jim and I, but we did not know it. The
big world into which we came was
crowded to overfoving with just such
puny, unwashed, iii fed little wretches
as we were: but We didn't know it, and
so we came unconscious into the sunless
teening alley where countless others
like ourselves her,le.i. We didn't know
we were a problem, Jim and / {; we
didn't know that we and our Sind were
battling the wisdein f Statesmen, jim
and I &: but if we had known all about it
7 doubt if we coull have occupied the
situation more phlnsophically. We
slept as quietly in the underground eel
lar, down whose oozv steps the rain and
ruin of years made slippery passage: or
bestowed ourselves as naturally, if need
be, under some stranded waysida cart,
as if it were precisely the thing heaven
had adapted US for from the beginning.
Jim was older. and bigger than I; a
tall, likely lad; fifteen of these harden
ing and toughening years had made him
keen and sharp as terrier, and just the
lad to look after q fnrIorn waif Of a little
girl like myself. And Jim, after he had
blacked boots all day. or sold newspapers
of an afternoon. was sure TO look after
me. and we took supper together ont of
the same bowl of porridge
Jim wasn't nv brother, oh no! 7
used to wish he was my brother, though,
sometimes, lust because 7 was SO nroud
of him.
The old man that kent the cellar Won
see. had pick ed Jim 1p r-om somewhere
when his folks died and picked me up
from somewhere hen nv folks died and
so we had somehow fallen together all
alone.
Just down beyond the Jog ofour alley.
where it turned a SOFT Of gray corner
and was darker and ,iirtier than ever
lust there stood an ni., rray church. with
q clock in the tower-an old old mossv
church. and an old. old clock that had
passed its withered hands over its wien
ed face and look ed sleasiIy tirough
them down into l,pr ;sIis~y en--syfits side,
and into busy. noisy thoroughfare on
the other. The old clock had dozed
there till its head was all on one side,
and you could not be sure whether it
told the right story or not but of a sum-
mer afternoon, when it was getting quite
dusk down in our alley, red ray from
the setting sun used to settle for a mi
mute right down ON the face of the sleepv
old CLOCK then it would seem to rouse
up out of q pleasant dream and strike
the hour as sharp as need be, and then
I knew 1t was time to look out for jim
I'd seen him turn the corner with his
old straw hat on and his patched shoes,
or barefoot. maybe, for that matter, and
we'd set off for stroll together-a stroll
to the wharves.
We generally hunted the wharves,
Jim and T, when we vent pleesuriIs;.
They were grand. the wharves so busy;
so altogether different from our alley,
with the ships crowded round them and
the fiutterlng hags here and there on
the masts, and the busy sailors getting
in freigh,s. Sometimes Jim would get
a job for half an hour, and leave me
lurking among the cotton bales or sitting
solitary in some corner. till he come
back. He always came back. And then
sometimes We would linger abodt there
till nightfall. Then the wharf was solemn
and silent; you could hear the water
rushing up against ths beams unger.
meath, and see here and there light
cleaning from some lone lantern among
the shrouds, and the gray water stretch
ing beyond, we knew not whittier; and
if Jim and had owned it all we could
not have loved it better.
But, one day, Jim got a JOB that last
ed longer than usual, end ! grew scared
and uneasy as night came on, and be
didn't come back. Wandering from the
place where he bad set me, shy and fear
some as Water-rat, but as dalerMinsd.
I looked for him everywhere, but in
vain then / went back TO my post. for
hadn't he said, as he always said, Don't
be afraid, Jenny; III come back, Tor
sure, you know" AND then /! waited
and waited, till finally fell asleep
among the bales and barrels and forget
my troubles.
In the morning, forlorn and deselate
little creature enough | learned from
some passionate '!OngshoremeD that
the ship where jim nad Deen ai work
had sailed away with him on board. A
wild and passionate burst OF weeping
greeted. this news, and a pitIful throng
of people gathered about me-frelght
men and sailors mostly, but among them
suddenly appeared the quiet face OF
Quaker lady WHO was distributing books
among the sailors. They told her my
tale, and seeing me utterly friendless,
she wiped my tear-sfaiped lace with hel
white handkerchlef and TOOK me away.
| had no friends. was no better than
masterless dog, and worth lar less
But she took me TO great, clean, bare
and quiet place-an lnstltutlon tney
called it-where there were many oth,
ers as homeless and wretched as l. Ana
there they washed me, and MADE me SO
clean and fresh that thought the real
me, the ragged, red eyed, unkempt sur
plus atom OF humanity that had been