Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1879-03-07

grub that tastes of the nut it feeds and
fattens on. the dirt and squalor and power
ty of the place seemed to grow into the
hearts aud minds and natures OF its PEG
pie, and to rub out all capacity for enjoy
ing what was better and purer than them
selves. And vet even here, brutal and de
graded as were the many, in the few, ter
ribly small as that minority was, might
be found high and noble instincts, that
pushed themselves up through the poison
GUS soil, and CROPPED painfully upwards
and EDWARDS to the light Even here, as
everywhere, might be found instances
(rarc, perhaps, but still there,) of brave
patience, endurance and heroism under
great stress Of suffering and misery and
wrong.-Then, too, although in most Of
those poor se,ni-savage breasts vice and
sin had nearly elbowed out any virtue
that nature might have originally planted,
it must not be overlooked that great as
the sin was,ssso great was the suffering;
and who shall say, if these poor souls had
been born into the clover of this life as re-
garded their physical and moral surround
ings, what fair and delicate and beautiful
blossoms might net have expanded and
doomed in their natures!
Mile-end was very old as we'll as very
dirty place. and one particular house in its
principal street stood forward into the
road several feet begond it's neighbors, its
upper story quite oyerhangjng the base
ment. This house was SO old that it al
most tottered when the wind blew-as it
often did at Mile-end- in spite of the
wooden props, themselves rotten now, with
which it had been buttressed up. But in
spite, or perhaps because of its age and
discomfort and dilapidation, twas beauti-
fully mellowed and harmonious in the tone
Of its coloring. Tufts Of vivid green moss
and yellow and gray lichen at intervals car
peted and softened the red tiles, and hardy
wall-fowers filed up the gaps left by de-
parted bricks and mortar, thus throwing
over the actual decay and rettenness a
glamorous .Ye]1 Of picturesque beauty
Within, thi1house was cruelty old and cold
and comfortleSs: the beauty of decay was
all Out side, and only It's stern reality ex-
listed within the frajl and draughty walls.
There were ten rooms inthis house, which
gave shelter to seven families. The noise
and brawling were incessant, never seem
ing to stop night or day, for when at last
the sickly children were asleep the night
was made hideous by the drunken bias
phemies and low quarrels of the degraded
men and women, and the reeking air was
thick and heavy with gin and tobacco and
disease. In one Of these roolns-it was in
the projecting upper story, which through
an unusually wide window commanded a
view all up ard down the street-lay on a
straw pallet on the floor, barely covered
with an old patchwork quilt, a boy of about
fourteen, who, Judging from his, constant
cough, Iabored breathing, and enacia-
ted limbs, YVES In the last stages of con-
sumption. Beside him on, the marrow bed
lay girl a few years older than her bro b.
err. fast asleep. Size was pale ana thin and
dirty; but there was rare. beauty IN the
firrn. soft curves of the mouth and chin,
and in the low, broad brow, up from which
was swept thick, tangled mass of curly
brown hair. Tears glistened on the long
brown lashes, and the eyebrows were knit
topether in a painful frown, which sud
denly relaxed as the sick boy watched her
with tired sunken eyes, and sudden
glowing smile lighted up her face.
':She can allus dream and escape to the
beautiful wcrld she tells me about" he
muttered. with wlstful, impatient sigh ;
land can never even sleep"
Yes, she was dreaming, but not so deep
ly but that the movement and sigh OF her
brother woke her. ''Whaten's the trouble,
Harry, dear? Be ye worse tonight"
ooh, no. he said, and sighed again.
81 was Just a-wonderin' where ye was, ye
smiled so, and I longed to be there too"
"Oh, Harry, was way off, out o. sight
o. houses an streets an such like, all
alone in the valley; an all the trees an the
flowers an the river spak to me to give
me comfort
"Ah! the valley" said the sick boy:
s'that's where want to go, as [ used to-
fore was took bad. If | could sleep
p'rap's could go too" Here he was in
terrupted by terrible fit Of coughing,
which only left him strength to gasp feeb-
ly for water
A cracked cup without a handle stood
on the window sill and IN it was little
water. The girl rose to get it, but as she
was handing it to her brother the door
opened and their father staggered in. For
an instant he looked at his children, and
in drunken fit of senseless passion struck
the girl savage buffet, which made her
reel. and shattered the cup into fragments
in her hands.
The girls brow flushed crimson with an
ger and pain, apd her brown eyes flashed
fire. you miserable, drunken brute ~
she said.
ssNone o. yer SARGE, gal, or I'll kill yer!''
and he glared at her dangerously, with
arm uplifted to strike.
s'Faither! faither!'' commanded rather
than implored the sick boy, sitting up with
an effort, and holding out a thin, pale
hand between them, while hectic red
blazed in his cheeks and vivid light shone
in his sunken blue eyes. s'Don't yer strike
her, or God will strike yo!' There was a
strange, almost unearthly look in the boys
spiritualized, suffering face, that awed the
man into temporary soberness.
AS he paused with arm uplifted, looking
at his son, an expression of shame and un-
certainty crossed his features; he hung his
head, avoided the boys intense eyes, and
his arm slowly dropped by his side.