Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-03-24
the careful love and tender patience that

= " Ef-zs
can make q home any where
For Polly raised her head painfully
with CHEEKY, patient smile, and tried to
speak; and Mrs. O 'FIannighan rose hasti-
ly, and dropped long forgotten courtsey
to the doctor, for she was not as ignorant
as Dick, and she knew the great man by
sight.
He NODDED to her kindly, and took the
place she had left vacant by the bed,
feeling the Pickering pulse gravely, while
he asked her many questions about Polly.
that she answered with tears in her ewes.
Then the doctor laid the wasted hand
down tenderly and said, Rest and quiet
and patience, Miss Polly and you'll do.'
But the children?" faltered Polly.
"Oh, never mind the children" said
the doctor; "we1l look after them, and
you're to think of no one but yourself.
And while you can't earn money, Miss
Folly" he added, in his gentle way, as if
ne were telling her the most natural thing
IN the world, "I'll take care of the house
hold expenses for you, and Mrs. O'Flan-
nlghan here shall be your nurse, if she
Thank you," said Polly, accepting the
goodness as quietly as he offered it.. 81
was wondering about the children; but
Dlckle earns bit with his backing, and
baby,s getting deal less trouble with his
teeth.'
THOSE were strange days 10 Polly, and
dark times came among them-times of
racklng pain and feverish thirst, of de-
llrlum and misery and horried dreams
out OF which she Wakened one February
morning into lite of stiffness, of utter
content; when her sight was dim. and
the hum of life in the alley came as from
afar off to her feeble ears; and she could
not speak to Dick when he came and sat
on the bed beside her and told her how
beautiful 1t was out-of- doors
The doctor staid with her whole hour
that day, and gave her beef tea and
brandy every little while, and spoke gen
tly to her, and read to her out oil the torn
Bible about the streets of gold and the
water of the River of Life; and he kissed
her when he went away, and said, ''God
bless you, Polly" for he thought himself
that by the next morning she would
know more about the city of God than the
Revelation could teacher her.
But Polly surprised them all. The
crisis passed safely over, and the wave of
life that had ebbed away, and left only
the wasted body that they all loved and
tended, swept slowly landward again, and
Polly Yves safe. The doctor told her so
one day, kneeling by the bed. and smooth
ing back the short rough locks from the
gentle face; and Polly said, "Thank YOU
Sr,--God won't forget all we owe you
the boys and me; I'm one OF the least of
these" she said, smiling family, 'sand l
think, Sir, you did it to the Lord
And then the doctor went home, and
talked to his sister for an hour of the
gratitude of this so-called ungrateful
world, and of the good that lies dormant
Groves Alley" he said, 'the worst place
in London; and Mrs. O'Flannighan, that
the very police are afraid of, sitting up
night and day with a little child who is
down with fever, and all the neighbors
coming In now and then to bring her bits
OF things, and oranges, or pictures, or to
take the baby out for an airing! Depend
upon it, if we went deep enough, we
should find q stratum Of good every
where"
And his sister thought, though she did
not say If, for the doctor hated to be
praised, that you would not have to 90
very deep for the stratum of good in some
people.
| showed you Polly first on glorious
July day, clinging to the ratings in Gros-
venor Square, with all her family around
her; | show her to you, for the last time
on sunny April afternoon, when she had
crept out into the Park for her first walk,
and was standing with the boys, close Dy
the Marble Arch, watching the grand
carriages sweep in and out, with their
burdens of smiling faces. that looked as
happy as faces are apt to do in the spring
Polly was weak and tired; and what
with the dizziness and the Pickering sun
shine and the noise, she was standing in
kind of dream, half forgetting the boys
who had made holiday of Polly's first
day, and were perfectly happy.
Out OF the dream, however, and out of
the gloom Of the overshadowing archway
came a pretty Victoria, with dainty
chestnut, arching its neck proudly, as it
was drawn up against the ratings on the
opposite side.
Polly hardly saw the carriage, however,
and hardly noticed the horse, for she was
looking intently at face in the carriage
the face that had stood out distinctly
in her mind through tnine weary months,
in sunny frame, against background
gloom and misery--the face of the lady
who had ridden into Grosvenor Sqnare on
that hot July day. With a cry that Dick
did not hear, she stopped her head and
darted swiftly under the ratings into the
road. She heard the clear ring of hoois
close beside her, a smothered exclama-
tian, and a CHATTER on the road, as horse
was reined sharply up on her right hand
but when she glanced up with frightened,
wistful eyes, and saw it was the doctor,
she nodded her head, treasured; and he,
looking after her, saw her dart between
the lines of carriages, and spring up on to
the steps of the Victoria.
The lady in it was lerning back talking
to young man on the other side, and
she paused abruptly as Polly's eager face
came on to a level with her own, and
turned toward her: while the young man
put up an eyeglass, the better to suppress
the audacious beggar, just as Polly
brought her hand out of her rocket. and |