The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1877-01-27
BOYS IN THE RELFRY.

Lno boabOus 0lIl0I1uS lClCleS. uluSeu
the caves and cutters, and every tWig
and tree was cased in crystal. Man.
sions whose windows were draped with
costly curtains and filed with tropical
flowers, lighted up by blazing fires,
looked imposing and cheerful; plain
houses looked neat aud homelike, but
the novels of the poor looked bleak
enough that snowy day. Down by the
wharf lay long line Of steamboats,
floating palaces ofZinc white, and gild-
any and glass with foundations of iron,
and fire, and steam-upon the rolling
water. There we're the Reindeer, the
Eclipse, the Tribune, the Lady Frank
lin, and many more. A row of shaky,
tumble-down houses fronted these, hig h
upon the wharf-an odd contrast. The
cellars OF the houses and shingles
swung out for signs, painted with lam :
black, "Hot Coffee, Ham and Eggs"
"Corn Bread, Bacon and Beans" A
ters, Mince Pies, Tom and jerry" Low,
OLD porcnes, guarded by bannfsters and
rails hung ouL over the fronts Of these
tenemenLs, decorated with broken tea
pots aud cheese boxes, spades, saws,
rusty guns, and what not, in artless'
confusion.
In a front room of the most decent
looking house i'll the row, dignitied by
the historic name, "Boar's Head Tav-
ern," lay woman, dying. Poor Mrs.
Carroll had fought against hunger and
cold, and grasping landlo ord, for years,
to keep her Two little boys awe. But
she had not thought OF herself; how pow
| erty had frosted ner roses, and turned
her curls all TOO soon from jet to SILVER.
she lost hope and strength, and now,
beside the filckering glow OF the dying
emDers, she too was dying. Her little
boys, Lawrence and Edward, stood be-
side ner wondering why She looked 50
| white, and why her eyes mad grown so
large and her hands 81 cold.
| Larry stirred up Ine fire and laid an
other shingle ON, for 1T was growing
dark; he gave his mother a drink Of Wa
Ter and was going 10 tell her how many
\ boxes of matches ne mad sold that day.
| BuL she took a coughing spell, and when
| she spoke again she SAID: Larry, dear,
lake off my wedding ring and put 1t III
your breast pocke, and when you nave
| to leave This sell IL and buy q comfort
and blanket to keep you and Ned warm.
| BE honest, good boys, ana God viii bless
you and give you a home" she
sank back exhausted, gave a ntCie sign
that loosed ner cnalns, and waited ner
10 the angels.
| The orphans had loved their kind
mother very mnch; they sobbed aloud
when she could speak 10 the IN no more.
| After the funeral the Landlord came 10
see what ne could find. They had mol
SO much as pig TO pay The rent with
SO, Of course, in justice to himself, be
carried U Ii Lhe scanJ furniture, and put
ON the window ITO Let" The boys
were now in the COLI, vide word alone.
Larry kept his Inheritance in uis pUcKet,
lor what GOOD would there be IN bed.
clothes without bed? He would be in
the strange condition of the beggars in
that lar-otf city, where the law was that
every one should give them penny; but
no man would sell them anything tC
eat, and when the beggars starved tC
death the donors came and got back the
pennies.
For The first few days the boys wan.
dered about, receiving little charity
| from the poor. At night they slept un'
der veranuahs or door ,teps, or wherev.
| er they could get out OF Inc worlds way
One Sunday morning as Larry stoou
with his hands, III his pockets, staring
The dark luture in the lace, brighl
Thought seemed to strike him; he Whis
perez it To Ned.
Granny Rue kept penny shol
around The next square. Tue creakiul
little door Was timiuly opened, when d
bell tinkled, ana a tierce little shaggy
dog sprang from under the counter and
barkeu iurlOus.y at Larry as ne entered
He briefly stalled to the penny merchant
his plan lor luture living ior himself
and an increase Of fortune for her.
In Granny's small head the bump o.
caution was very large. A lecturinp
phrenologist would nave paid her any
price tor ner skull. She knew Larry, and
mad known his mother well. Sue took
out her snuh-boX, which was solid sill
yer, and Contained a vanilla bean
tapped the lid, opened it, took pinch
anu drew from her vast pocket a greal
checked handkerchief. she set her lit.
tie drawn up eyes dlrCctly Oh Larry, fol
the screens behind which she shIelde
ILuem when wide open were mounted or
her cap, and took her snuff slowly anu
comfortably, with creaklhg noise thai
| caused Larry TO look arounu toward The
door. He thought customer was Ell
tering, but it was only The snuff ascend
ing toward granny's brain.
The poor, with Kind OF instinct, gen
orally ask help from the poor, ana gen
orally snow their sagacity. But the lit
tie smoGy shop, snun, anu smell OF driel
| herrIngs, and handling OF pennies only
mad shriyeled and dried the charity,
she ever mad any, out of Lhe old woman'l
heart.
"Well, Larry" said she, at length
| "Pll fill yer basket, and il We make goot
sales every day, az night PHI give ye ;
loaf OF bread"
Larry thought this was muniicent. Al
long as Ned and be had u loaf, and door
steps to sleep under, they could ge
along. The bright face and pleasan
voice of the orphan boy put many dol
lar in the old Woman's I'LL, and Kept liz
in the two little brothers.
Ned, in the meantime, began to plcl
up odIs and ends. He hunted in from
OF coffee-houses, through heaps of oys
| ter SHELLS, thrown out by colored wait
ers, and sometimes, III his land fisheries
found enough unopened for mess. liz
scraped the empty hogsheads. by the gro
Gerry stores for someJning to butter his
bread with. These growing boys haC
craving stomachs, that teazed them fol
food, the same as their better-Lo-do neigh
| bors. ...
But after while their sleeping apart
ments became known. Sharp servant
girls and cross-grained gentlemen or
dered them from their rests with d cuff
or threat to send them to the work
house. The poor fellows lived ON like
toads-they hardly knew how or why
only they lived. They saw the greaI
| citv in ali its tiphta and shadas Larry