Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1879-12-11


"Did you get out to church," askeC
Clara.
"0h, mol This weather gives me tn,
rheumatism so can scarcely come down
to my meals"
Here was an opening. One word lee
to another, and Clara found that the poo
woman was so disabled by pain that hel
work was delayed or suspended, her daily
bread precarious, and besides being pool
she was also frlendless and no Longer
young Here, indeed, she found evil, but
finding it forgot her own miseries in con.
soing another's. 1t was not much tc
bring Miss Allen into her room where her
one Sunday evening luxury, a small fire,
filled an open CRATE, and where an easy
rocker rested the half.cnppled limbs of the
suffering woman. She rested here for an
hour or two, told the young glrl her sad
story of loss, and pitied Cara's loneliness,
and then crept up to her own bed, cheered
and helped.
eth seem so good" she said, "to think
that you are right under me. shall not
feel half so lonesome"
"knock on the floor, then, if you are Ill
in the night and want me-" Clara answer.
ed. 81 shall be glad to help you If | can, "
and she went back to her room full Of
plans to make Miss Allen more comforta.
BILE; she would carry her up one of the
flannel sheets she had brought from Fal.
mouth, and paste one of he windows with
strips of paper about the sash-edges, it
was so near her bed. She went to rest in
quite another temper from that of the
morning; though she didnot know it. The
next day had its own work, the dull rou.
tine of school, the recurring lesson, the
stupid children. One was absent. "Do
any of YOU know where Sally Blair is to-
dayP" she asked.
please IN she's down with u broke leg, "
said boy who lived next door to the
Blairs. So after school Clara went down in
to Elm street, and hunted up the house.
1t was an old brown tenement, where four
families lived, but inquiries enough led
her to the back room on the second story,
and opening the door to a gruff--"Come
in, she found Sally stretched on a cot in
the corner, her ha!fparalyzed father
in chair by the fire smoking clay pipe,
her mother at the washtub by the window,
two dirty babies tumhling on the floor
and the whole room filled with that indie.
scrlbable Odor Of dirt, grease, frying, soap
suds and tobacco, that is so often the only
atmosphere the poor know. Mrs. Blair
wiped her hands on her apron and set a
chair; the man nodded and laid down his
pipe; the twins looked up in surprise, and
Sally began to cry.
Certainly Clara had found evil here.
Sally was glad to see her, however, that
she felt it repaid her coming, and the twins
ceased their noisy play while she sat there
talking gently and tenderly to the child
who had become a burden instead Of
help to that poverty-stricken family.
When she at last left them, promising to
come again, and picked her way back
through the filthy, toggy streets to her
boarding house, Just within the door she
met the table girl coming out of the din
ing room with some tea and toast on a
waiter; 1t was for Miss Allen, and Clara
volunteered to take it up. She found her
friend quite helpless and very teariully
glad to see kind face. Clara made her
more comfortable in few minutes, and
scarcely observed that her own tea was
cold and her butter soft because she came
late to her supper. Her Bible that night
seemed to tell another story to her heart;
her little room, full of the home tokens
and touches she had brought with her,
seemed no longer sad. She was filled
with the contrast between its appliances
and comforts and the four bear walls, the
wooden chairs, the uneasy bed above her
and the grlmY, oppressive poverty of the
BIairs home. She did not even remem-
Der to pour out her own sorrows in her
prayers, she felt such an earnest desire
that these others should be helped and
comtorted.
Now she had two new interests in bcr
life, and the days seemed too short; She
could make Sally warm sack out of one
she had to spare, and little woolen dresses
for the twins from a skirt that had ont
lived its usefulness as far as She was con.
cerned; also out Of her scant earnings
orange or A few crackers. Then tbrre was ~"
y y" i;s;i o" 'a"CN',s, ~ inul E lHcfc was
u ualIy WISH 70 pay MISS Allen, a book
from thn Ine iree lioTaIy 70 reau 70 her when
tLc i, room Wts %, hoI 700 Golo iosit IN hover
perhaps that some Kindly scholar had
Drought hGr, 10 light up the invallds
ROOM or y Iresh piece OF toast which she
perSu"ueu 'iie COOK 10 Iet nor make her
SetI. ,, m
20 the Gays Went on towards Thanks,
giyinE' Ena H other peop'e pes de Elara mad
hcr Nrs % ntond o VIII, MI 80 I,.a in ptSSseu
tLa ntrS' 81 fti'Vy"u, tn oL, m"Iso iiISGanu wts
G"o So. p%,sT. ht -, viI o.LlUn, ntu taAei ~ 70
ho"o I, "" lnr n nv"' neF ooy wenC 10 % EiIc ScHGo
~ ~ I, OtL'% m;sI IJ%cuel, N'" ilhcu MISS
-. e. wy" L TuJ 'fh oiI'husi'e'n' L hils noun
~, Wv, h',' m"eIncu iI'r s"u; uul'Cnte Itce
GrG,o ,,n tio nc oTlom' o anu now tnut thtnEs
s;.iS S4 I,iiii une" neai, Slle 'uo9SnI vi the
Sitn SntMi wiCn h.lnu.y provision; i ana went on
oauuHy ,'ioonoI u seo neT. G'aTn ~ wtIS WY 81 her
PeItscu Htiu gu urp'iseu, anu snow inpathy.
oosIsi ssn sc.s, as W. 10 " thanksgiving,
49,, Ae Aae,ygyi you 20? g?lhH IN nome Stead.
my r uenr' saiu aiIs; ei A"I haven't any
o'MM ia Eyes IL; and the words had
nome, NOME! sue Led when gentle kiss touch.
oG"itoe'y oI csshead.
I" ,inelI,r neI little soull" said the motherly Wis.
;.r. "Yon are then the very person |
wanted to see. You must come and take
,our Thanksgiving dinner with us; John
" thinks Miss King is "iust bullv."
forgive the slang, dear, it is Johnny's
,reasest compliment; and YOU ought to
;now Mr.. Armstead since Won attend his
,hurcb. | shall expect you right after
eryice, don t forget"
And vitb onotbor lis. sbo tool loove
M IittIo % tb;n,, % ~ Jo nHrbans mb hnt % riv;no I
a liV''O U''tHN w ~ ~ pN'rrtP'i "e 6NhS