Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1880-01-15

LITTLE AMY.

LOOK mere, little one where are
you going? You should not be on
the street alone
Little Amy looked into the moth.
erly face of the questioner, but she
did not answer. She was bashful
little thing, only four years old. She
scarcely looked three, she was so
little.
Is is growing dark continued
the kind neighbor. 1T will be night
soon, and then You will get lost.
Run home, that's good girl
4 is going after my papa, said the
child.
ooh no, you can't find him. Soc
how full the streets are. The horses
will run over you. Let me lead you
home to your mother. Your papa
will come pretty soon.'
She took the little cold hand in
hers. but the child pulled it away,
and pushing past her, ran rapidly
| down the street.
'Ah well,' said the woman, TAX
ing up heavy basket of clothes
that she had set down on the side
valid while speaking to little Amy,
i have no time to run after her.
She must take her chance. | hope
she'll como to no harm, for-There |
she's gone into Meg OUTLAWS rum
hole. She's after her father-the
drinking wretch Letting his fami-
ly starve, and be earning more than
any man on the street!'
The woman was right - little
Amy was looking for her father !;
and,young as she was, mere baby,
she knew where to look for him.
He was sitting before the fire 10
the low drinking house, half stupe
fed with the liquor he had taken
since finishing his days work. He
was large, strongly-built man, With
an easy, careless manner, and dis.
position almost hopelessly obliging.
We say bopelessly, because it was
this same amiable trait of character
which made him an easy prey to
the liquor.seIler.
The rum seller, in this case, was
a big, noisy Irish woman, with a
very red face and very dirty cap.
She had loud, harsh voice, which
was not at all melowed by her fire..
quent visits to the demijohn. There
were a number of men and women
in the room, going through the va
rious stages of intoxication some
silly, some sullen, some quarrelsome.
But the man before the fire, little
Amy's father, eat apart from the
rest, land did not seem to see or hear
any thing about him.
Don't 60 to Shape there, my man,
said the landlady, giving him a
rough push, 'Ye'll be pitohin' on the
stove next. Move, an and ye're
alive, till set off the kittle."
Little Amy stole noiselessly into
the room and crept up between her
fathers knees just as the huge din>
ner.pot was set on the hearth. The
cover was half of, and the child, who
had eaten nothing all day, gazed
hungrIly into it, with an intense
longing for some of the contents. A
large head of cabbage was simmer
ing on the top, sending its appetiz.
ing odor ont into the room, and CIV
ing o pleasant reminder to the for.
tunate idlers who happened to have
| INV amman. nf fha oxpp ~ y,art a l. n
of. They began to leave for their
various homes, but little Amy's faith
er did not stir. He knew that all
his earnings-and they were not
small-were spent in that vile room,
and that the cupboard at home was
empty. So he sat still.
Little Amy leaned over his knee
to get little nearer to the dinner
pot, and then she reached out her
poor little hand, and with her tiny
fingers picked bit of the cabbage.
A heavy blow from the woman's
strong hand would have sent her
headloDg to the hearth, if her father
had not caught her.
III tache ye to stale, ye beggar's
brat, screamed the woman, catch.
ing bold of Amy's arm, and shaking
her in spite of her fathers hold on
her.
| He started up from his seat with
q defiant look on his face that she
bad never seen there before. The
mans soul was aroused.
Let the child alone be said
sTouch Der again, if you dare. Car
ye no see that the lassie is starving
the day p
| AN who is to be blamed for tina,
same, Terrence Maloney Who 5ul
ourself, ye born fool?'
.You say true, Meg Quillan,' said
the man, reaching for his hat, ant
buttoning his coat as be spoke. IAN