The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1880-09-02

the prlSOn ~ ie1OIucu Huu alCefeu
man, prepared to undergo his punish
ment with philosophical cheerfulness.
II was present at the last interview
with his wife and child and it was very
affec ting.
"Good bye and God bless you Jennie!"
he exclaimed kissing her and the baby
on her bosom. I'll bravely work out
the years sentence, and, when I come
out, III do as you've long begged of me
I'll turn honest, and work for YOU
and the little one with these arms like a
good man. Keep away from the MA
| Tor and the miserable band we've been
herding with. Don't let them hunt YOU
down, as doubtless they'd try to do,
and I'll make it sunny and good for
you when | come out"
''And with Il last weeping embrace he
was off for prison, while she slipped
quietly out of the court and disappear
ed
"But the internal major pursued the
wife as remorselessly as he had betray-
ed the husband. Acting under his
secret orders, the gang Stunned, hound
cd and maltreated her. and finally turn
ed her out of the wretched Five Points
rookery which she had occupied with
number of them.
"She was without money and reputa-
ton, miserably sick, and the weather
was snowy and cold. Nevertheless she
made a hard fight for it, occupying any
shelter that she could beg, day after
day, and night after night, and seeking
ceaselessly and persistently, to obtain
honest employment.
"But it was in vain. She had no
character, by way Of recommendation,
to start with, so the major and his
creatures gave her one. At every shop,
store, factory or household that she
applied to for work, it was but to find
that she had been forestalled by infor-
nation, secretly supplied, concerning
her criminal antecedants, which effec-
tually set to naught her claims and sup
plcations.
cat last she was desperate, hopeless,
without a friend, and in this pitiable
plight was found one evening crouch
ing under one of the high stoops in the
neighborhood of the Central Park, by a
policeman, who gruffly ordered her
away, and advised her to seek a nights
lodgingat the nearest station house.
"But she gave no heed to his advice
}-perhaps being half-crazed with her
suffering but, Wrapping her baby still
more tightly under her poor, thin
shawl, limped away through the fast
falling snow, and entered the park.
"Out in the snow, under the bare
trees, i'll among the leafess, rustling
shrubs, away up through the hillocks,
she wonder in the lifeless, deserted
park, which then must have seemed Il
wilderness, indeed, but more accept
able, more inviting, than the peopled
but heartless streets, from which she
Jared, with hunger in her body and
despairing misery in her soul. No one
could interfere with her there, OF hunt
her down, or bid her to move on, or
laugh at her, or tarnt her with her past
wickedness and present friendless-
ness.
''Faster and faster fell the binding
snow, but it seemed to touch the earth
softly and tenderly, affording her the
covering and shelter humanity had re-
fused. 1t was bitter cold, and she tore
her shawl into strips to more thorough
ly cover up her child, while rendering
her own poor shoulders defenceless to
the shivering wind.
''Then she huddled closely against
a rock to keep Of the drift, and cud-
died up about the child as near as she
could creep. And then, after the
storm had slackened, the moon came
out and looked pityingly on the forlorn
pair.
''The drift whirled faster and faster
over them to complete its work; and
then at last poor Jenny, the worlds
forsaken waif, fell asleep forever under
the soft, white mantle of the snow,
which, like Charity's covers each year
such multitudes of sin.
''The Park policemen found her on
the following morning, at a spot about
two hundred yards north Of the Sew
enth avenue entrance, frozen stiff.
No stone ever marked her grave, and
a four line newspaper paragraph, with
a side-heading, Unknown Woman
Found Dead in Central Park was
the only notice taken of her death.
'The child was found still alive and
moving on the pulseless BOSOM that
would nourish it no more; but it also
died on the third day thereafter from
the effects of the exposure, and that
was the last of them.
Scarcely week after this event,
Harnden was set at liberty, and it
CHANGED that I was the first acquaint-
ance he met upon his return to the
city. I should have mentioned that I
had known him from his boyhood, had
deplored his evil courses, rejoiced in
his promised reform, and was now anx-
ious that he should not be tempted to
60 back upon his good resolutions, while
dreaded the effect that would be pro-
duced nnon him hv the news Of his