Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-05-02
THE FAMILY IN THE ATTIC.

@You feel bit worrit, don'tyou, Miss
Hettie; at any rate you look SO; sit
down there on the settee and I'll get
you little corral. don't care what
temperance folks say about it, I believe
IN little wine for the stomach's sake"
and the kind old lady went in the di-
rection of the pantry for the bottle.
please don't, Mrs. Lynn; 1 am not in
want of anything to take; only need
little rest, that is all. There, my head
feels more comfortable already" Hettie
said, laying it on the sofa-pillow.
well, you lie there till you get clear
rested, and I'll go off into the kitchen,
where won't disturb you"
"Thank you, but you need not go on
my ACCOUNT still, Hettie was very glad
to be alone, and such luxury was sell
dom allowed her. On this particular
evening Mrs. hymns boarders were all
away, except Hettie, and, now that she
was alone, her thoughts went rambling
back to the days of her childhood, when
she and her little sister gathered wild
flowers in the meadow grass, drove the
old white and speckled COW to pasture,
and went arm in arm to and from the
little red school house, which was about
a mile from her fathers farm. Oh, what
halcyon days, and how could they have
been otherwise. with such fond father.
mother, and sister to love her, and share
in all her pleasures; but now they were
all dead, and she left to earn her own
living with her needle, her only home
that of boarder in seoond-class city
boarding house. Yet, Hettie was still
young, not having seen 25 years, but
the sad experiences she had passed
through caused her to both look and feel
much older than she really was. When
she was Is years, her father and sister
were both stricken down by prevailing
fever, leaving her mother and herself
alone on the farm, which was mortgaged
for twice its worth, and of course soon
Disposed of for the benefit of anxious
creditors, and since then, what strug-
gle life had been. She did not quite
dispair, however, while her mother was
left to comfort her, but after her death,
which occurred about four years previ-
GUS, she became quite discouraged,
and so we find her at the beginning of
our story. Her health was poor. and it
seemed to her she never had been SO
weary as on that particular evening,
and as sre lay there alone on the sofa
in Mrs. Lynn's shabby-looking parlor,
wondering if any one else was so bad as
she-friendless, sick. still obliged to
work-one of the boarders, q Miss Percy,
not knowing that Hottie was i'll need Of
rest, entered the room, sat down beside
her and began to recount the misfort-
unes of poor family living in the same
tenement. She had just been to see
them, and drew the most pitiful picture
of their woes. Really, then, there are
those who are worse off than myself"
thought Hettie; IT must go to see
them" So, springing to her feet, she
asked Miss Percy to go with her to
their room.
Through long, dark hall, then up
two rickety pairs of stairs they went,
and there, in little back room, they
found the afflicted family, which con-
sisted OF a decrepit soldier, his wife,
an almost-dying woman, half-idiotic
child and feeble old mother of either
the man or woman. Neither of the
number appeared able to wait on the
other, and there those four human be-
ings were, apparently dying for want
of care, nourishment and warmth. The
woman was in deep consumption, and
evidently could not last many days, and
positively shivering with the cold, hav-
ing but one thin coverlet to protect her
from the chilly atmosphere. The 9th
ers were crouching round the hearth
where few Goals were family burning,
emitting just light enough to make
their CHASTITY faces discernible, and
dimly Illuminating the other cherries
objects In the loom.
They had thus far been kept alive by
the mans pension money and slight aid
from the city missionaries. Although
these means were insufficient for their
support, they might have been made
comparatively comfortable had the
money been wisely expended. But
some of it had gone for strong drink,
and other articles that they could have
done better without, as the man would
have his tobacco and the old lady her
snuff, though they had neither bread
nor fuel. Hettie, who had never be-
held such a scene of misery before, was
greatly affected, and the tears came into
her eyes as she stood over the woman,
who was coughing dreadfully, and
asked, "What can I do for you that will
benefit you most?"
"If I had little money to buy some
bourbon to strengthen me up" said the
invalid, her CHASTITY face 80 frightening
the girl that she drew shining half
dollar from her purse-the last money
she had-and gave it to her. Miss
Percy did not give her anything, al
though she had number of dollars in
her pocket.
at will not do for you to visit them
again." said Mrs. Lynn, after Hettie
went back to the sitting-room, crying
as hard as ever she could over the mis-