Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-05-30
undressing Little Ned.

Undressing Little Ned.
Detroit Free Press
Where is Whisky Bill, who used
to drive that old white horse in front
Of a twenty-five cent express wagon?'
repeated the man in tones of surprise.
" Yes"
well, now, it's a curious case,1 he
slowly continued. We all thought
he'd gone to the dogs, for sure, for he
was drinking pint of whisky a day,
but few months ago he braced right
up, stopped drinking, and now | hear
he's in good business aud saving
money. II beats all, for the last time
| saw him he seemed half under
ground" "
When you go home at night and
find that all is well with your own
flesh and blood do you go to sleep
reasoning that the rest of the world
must care for itself? Do you ever
shut your eyes and call up the hun
dreds of faces you have met during
the day, and wonder if the paleness Of
death will cover any of them before
the morrow? When you have been
attracted to face, even if it be a
strangers, do you let it drop from
memory with your dreams, or do you
call it up again and again as night
comes down, and hope it may lose
none Of its brightness in the whirling
mists of time?
So Whisky Bill was hunted down,
An inquiry here and there finally
traced him to little brown cottage
on by-street. He sat on the step in
the twilight, a burly, broad shouldered
man Of fifty, and in the house three or
four children gathered around the
lamp to look over q picture book,
"Yes, they used to call me Whisky
Bill down town. he replied, as he
moved along and made room, but it's
weeks since l heard the name, No
wonder they think me dead, for | We
not set eyes on the old crowd for
months, and | don't want to for months
to come" e gf
"They tell me you have quit drink
ling. One could see that BY your face.
Il hope so | haven't touched a
drop since February. Before that
was half drunk day in and day out,
and more Of brute than man.
don t mind saying that my wife's death
set me to thinking, but didn't stop
my liquor. God forgive me, but | was
drunk when she died, half-drunk at
| the grave, and lmeant to go on a reg
| ular spree that night 1t was low
down, sir, but was no better than a
brute those days e1o
"And so you left your motherless
children at home and went out and
| got drunk2" a r
"No. | said | meant to, but didn't.
The poor things were crying all day,
and after coming home from the
burial thought to get en- tucked
away in bed before | wentOu Drunk
or sober | never struck one Of EN- 8
blow, and they never ran from me
when | staggered home. There's four
of EN- in there and the youngest ism t
quite four years yet. | got the elder
ones in bed all right and then came
little Ned. lie had cried himself to
| sleep and he called for mother as soon
| as | woke him. Until that night |
never had that boy on my knee, to say
nothing of putting him to bed. and
you can guess these big fingers made
slowwork with the hooks and buttons.
Every minute he kept saying that his
mother didn't do thatway, and mother
done this way, aud the big children
we're hiding their heads under the
quilts to drown their sobs. When |
4 had his clothes off and his nightgown
on was ashamed and put him down,
and when the oldest saw tears in my
! eyes and jumped out of bed and put
i her arms around my neck ! dropped
the name Of Whisky Bill right then
and forever 1l L- m D
Aud little Ned ~
Mebbe I'd have weakened but
| for him." replied the man, as he
wiped his eyes. after / got the
ehild's nightgown on, what did he do
but kneel right down beside me and
wait for me to say the Lords prayer
to him. Why, sir, you might have
| knocked me down with feather !!
There was, mother and father to
| him, and couldn't say four words of
that prayer to save my life He
waited and waited for me to begin, as
his mother always had, and the big
children were waiting, and when |
took him in my arms and kissed him,
! | called heaven to witness that my
| life should change from that hour
| And so it did, sir, and I've been try
ing hard to lead a sober, honest life,
| God helping me, no one shall call me
| Whisky Bill again. uI. I..
The four little children, little Ned
| in his nightgown, came out for a
goodnight kiss, aud the boy ouddled
in his fathers arms for a moment and
said
" Good night, pa good night,
| everybody in the world-good- night,
ma, up in heaven-and don't put out
the light TIL we get to sleepP
That was neat, says the Boston
Courier-the remark Of young law