Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1879-09-17
The Last Sixpence.

/ l know, mother dear, you wonld not fee
happy if You could not contribute your nit
said the pale-faced girl of twenty. pressing
into her aged companions hands the six
pence which constituted all the monetar,
wealth they possessed. There's quit
enough bread and butter and tea for break
fast in the morning, and if | get up yer,
early, as ! mean TO do. | shall have finishe,
Mrs. Smiths dress by three o'clock, anC
she's sure to pay me directly | take it t,
her. ="
But we've no candle or firing in thu
Eouse."
Don't you trouble about that; when W,
come back from church it'll be quite tim,
for hard-working folks like us TO go to bed
50 that we shan't want light, and -oul
landlady will lend us a shovelful of Goals
for tomorrow; so don't say anything more,
but take the sixpence and come along, for
the church bells have almost ceased
For few seconds the aged woman hesi-
tated between her charitable inctinations
and solicitude for the orphan girl who call
ed her mother; bu: looking earnestly into
her companions face, and finding written
there the same desire that predominated
within her own breast, she placed the coin
in her pocket.
Without word more on either side, the
two females quilted the room they occu-
pied, and proceeded through the narrow
streets teeming with human beings to the
church, whittier the bells had invited them.
To nearly every depth it is said there is a
deeper still: but Mrs. Willis and her pro
tege, Lucy Marks, were certainly among
the poorest in that very poor district.
Adversely makes us acquainted with
strange companions, and Alfred Willis,
when he quilted England two years previ-
ously TO seek his fortune in Australia, little
dreamt that the comfortable home in which
he had left his mother and bethrOthed wife
would have been so soon broken up, and
that by slow but sure degrees they would
have sunk to the poverty they now exper-
fenced.
From the age of fourteen Lucy had been
able to earn her own living, so ihat when
Alfred, after losing nearly all his capital
gaye up the grocery business he had been
deluded into taking, his only anxiety was
a provision for his mother The 81, 500 he
had left when he was clear of his business
he, in too confiding moment, lent to a
man in whsm he trusted to the utmost,
with directions that the interest therefrOm
must be paid to his mother; but ere Al
fred had reached his journeys end his friend
was a bankrupt, and Mrs Willis was pen
niless.
Troubles seldom comes singly, so just at
this time Lucy was seized with rheumatic
fever. and for SIX months was unable to
touch her needle.
They were alone in the world, for Lucy
was an orphan, and Mrs. Willis, whilst
having no relatives of her own, knew moth
ing of her late husbands family, who years
before had founded home in another
and.
Rapidly their few worldly possessions
were disposed of, until at last they were
glad to find shelter in the small-the very
room they now occupied
They had heard several times from the
much loved Alfred; but owing to the IN
certainty of his movements they had not
been able to reply, 50 that he knew moth
inc of the misfortunes that had befallen
them. His last letter was bright, cheer
full epistle, full of hope, announcing tina
he was now far better circumstanced than
when he left England; that me intended
returning home by the Juno, the next
steamer leaving Melbourne.
To crown their sorrows, month before
his expected return news came that the
Juno had foundered in mid -Ocean-some
dozen men. among whom Alfred Willis was
not included, alone surviving to tell the sad
tale
What a sweet relief was it to enter the
mortal of Gods house, and leave behind
them the crowded streets and the mob o1
Iistless Ioiterers and frivolous pleasure-seek-
ersl Outside all was noise, hustle and
confusion: within, peaceful calm, broken
only by the silvery tones of the aged minis
ter. as in simple earnest language he pieau-
ed cause very dear to his heart.
The Sunday service was the one relaAa-
,ion Mrs. Willis and her adopted enjoyed
wet or fine they were never absent and an
occasions such as the present, when reiiei
for certain purposes in connection Win
their religion was asked for the 'piaIe was
never handed :to them in VAIN Never
however. in their recent experiences oi
noverty had their circumstances been 50
low as now. Lucy for the past month mao
been unable to perform her usual quan'iy
of work, so that the wage-fund npon "mcn
the two women solely relied had dlmllisiieu
to a corresponding extent, until their sOie
coin was the sixpence the diSpo-