The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-01-01

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sorts Of questions concerning his life,
where he came from, who his parents
were, what he had done to get in there,
how much money he had, and dozens of
of others, until Nat, who had begun by
answering very civilly, became inpatient,
and insisted upon getting down from the
beach. To this the noisy crowd object
ed, declaring he must sing them a song
first and upon his replying that he could
not sing, they swore he should stand on
the bench until he learned 70 sing, and
several of the large. boys were appointed
his teachers. They began by ordering
him to repeat after them string of pro-
fame and vulgar rhymes. This he firmly
refused to do, and then the boys called
him hypocrite and parson, and de-
elared they must search him for his
prayer book; and before Nat could guess
at their intentions, they had dragged
him from the bench and stripped off his
clothes, which they divided among sew
eral ragged boys, taking their many-col-
ored rags to reclothe Nat. In vain the
poor child struggled and fought. They
were too many for him, and kicked and
cuffed him until he finally sank exhaust
ed to the floor. ... .t,.
"Look out, felIersp' cried large boy;
"don't kill the chap or it'll be- the worse
for you" ... -.y
"No, it won't either" said another big
boy. "Who'd miss him, I'd like to
know? And it amt SO very hard to die
a material death in this hole, is it. A
dead-house amt much worse, Pm sure"
30, you're particular" rejoined the
other; "but l say, boys" he added, adj
dressing the group, who surrounded Nat,
"if old Buttons comes and sees how you
have treated that young gentleman you'll
get it heavy, Pll bet. Now take my adj
vice and put him through the hole, and
then if he dies, nobody knows it, and
nobody's to blame, do you see~
They did see, and they at once. pro-
ceeded to act upon the advice. The
"hole' was small opening near the
floor, leading to an unused cell, and made
by the loosening of several bricks in the
wall, the work probably of some dissatis-
fed tenant of the cell. The boys had
discovered that the bricks could be taken
out and replaced at pleasure, and they
had Of course investigated the place with
which it communicated, and therefore
knew perfectly well what they were do
ing when they dragged their almost
senseless victim to the wall, and pushed
him, head first, through the wall.
If they did not mean to commit muir
der, they were at least entirely indiffer-
ent as to the fate of the child they thus
cruelty tortured; and in all that crowd
there was not one to raise his voice in
in pleading and in pity, but the shouting
and cursing and singing went on as if the
act just committed was an ordinary
episode in the lives of those wretched
outcasts.
While all this was going on, Charles,
Henry and Albert were entertaining
some young guests invited to spend the
Christmas Eve with them, and were hav-
ing merry time, little troubled by the
absence Of their cousin or the cause for
it. Henry had been little blue at
first but his father comforted him by the
assurance that when his Uncle Ben came
to know the facts, he would certainly
make good his loss to him. Little Susie
was very sad. She had been kept with
her mother, aud only knew that Nat had
been sent away, but where no one would
tell her. But she felt sure her dear play
mate was unhappy, and this made her
unhappy too. In vain she tried to tell
the truth to her mother and father.
Neither would listen to her. The even
ing was half spent when loud ring was
heard at the door bell, and the next
movement the parlor door was thrown
open, stout, elderly gentleman entered,
and an exclamation from Mr.. Harrison
told everybody that it was Uncle Ben
who had arrived so unexpectedly. Warm
were the greetings showered upon him,
and he was soon seated, in the midst of
relatives and friends from whom he had
been separated so many years. Susie
sat on his knee, while the three boys
clustered around him. But as he looked
kindly upon them, he suddenly asked:
"But where is the other one-poor
Harry's boy? Why isn't he here%
Sudden silence fell upon the gronp
and Susie looked eagerly into her uncle's
face. After moment Mr.. Harrison
spoke.
II am very sorry to say, brother" he
said, "that Nat is very bad boy" /.
"Noy no, papa" interrupted Susie
but look from her father silenced her.
"In spite of all our care and kind
ness" continued Mr.. Harrison, che has
shown the most ungrateful spirit, joined
to the worst propensities."
Poor Susie was. choking to speak, but
she had to sit still and listen to her
fathers 'highly-colored account of the
mornings transaction, and hear him ex-
press his great grief that he had felt it
his duty to turn Nat over to the law.
Uncle Ben listened attentively, only
glancing keenly from time to time to the
three boys, making one Of them at least
feel very uncomfortable. When Mr..
Harrison had finished, bis brother arose
and said: y-'' s@
saTRia ia parv sarinus hrnthor and 7