Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-06-04

A Little story of the Telephone.

HOW EROWZY FOUND HER HOY IL
A Little Story Of the Telephone.
"Hallo! As shure as me name Is Biddy
NcCarty, its yer blissid self as was In me moind
all last noight, and haven't been tbrying for
the last five minutes to coJch We. and to Wish
ye the very crane o. the New Years mornin?
Hurrying home from the bake 'ouse is it, Wild
the hot rolls an the milk for the miSthreSS an
the boarders? Bad cess to the onfalIn' cray.
thures to stnd SIGH mite as ye out on sich a
cowld mornin' an not sign o. mtten on yer
Be aftner caryln' yer ooondles while ye Jest
tuck yer two hands inside o. me warm mun
"Where hav' | been? Up to old Dinnis
baby. An moo viii ten We what wanted On
We. and how kept thinking IL all over In me
noind all last noignt, to kape me awake loike
for the doctor sad, said he, Biddy M'Carty, ye
are as thrue as steel, an can depind on ye,'
and said, 'YeZ sir, you can depind on me, and
he sea, We'll thin, Is dhroJs from the little
AMY II n9o anS n sne az IL
afther hin1-and If REPEATED it onct, REPEATED
1t 100 times-'15 dhropS from the little bottle
iviry hour. and the powder precisely at u and
p blisstd wink. all last night as ye may judge,
Frowzy Mcguire, but the baby is better, bliss
'To no,ght is the grand New.years ball, an
me misthress came to me only yesterday. wild
her eyes shlnin', an she hid up her dress,
shiumery, silvery silk, an l said: 20 misth-
ress. IL / could see ye In that dress enct,
should feel as If 1 had inferred inside O. the
PARRY gates And she threw up her head and
may see me in it, Biddy; We know Idon'I care
S ban and thin she said me h G5rmauIa band and
a nice chance for me, and her husband con-
throlled two safes In the gallery, an I might
go for one to see the dresses an hear the mu Sic;
we might manage to give the little girl In the
next house a New-year's threat, and 1rye don't
mo1nd ye may invite her TO go wild ye; It Will
be chance for her. and that is the way wild
ne MISTRESS. allus lookin' out for chances tor
folks as has no one TO look out for etn; an
that's me opinion O the kingdom O. heaven.
me siaVe 40 FUR I ah the tears m streaming down.
| Did the little Teddy say that? Av coerse she
| did. Biddy McCarty has not lived forty year
| come next Michaeimas to thry to desave the
| loikes o. ye. Here we are, an II that old Vine
gar face faults ye for being so slow, till her 1t
| was the first time In yer life ye-Hush, did ye
O'Clock. Well &C airly TO see the fine leddies
| come In an We molght thry and tidy up bit,
| for me misthress'n be lookin' out for ye."
Most OF US who are alive remember how the
| cold intensified during the last days OF the last
| year. Till at New Years it shut down around us
| and upon us like snap. Since the marked WIN
| ter OF 1856 there has been nothing like 1t. The
| mercury went down plump to the twenttes and
| the days when it did not fall below were the
| exceptions. Do any OF you happen to remem-
| Der how you shivered last New Years morning
| In your comfortable beds at the very thought
| of what might be. awaiting you just outside of
| y our furnace heated houses? And those of you
whom necessity or strong inclination made
more venturesome, have NOT forgotten how the
breath Oh the morning cut that ur protected
spot on your face with the keenne5s OF D lm-
hScuS blade, or how the frost sparkle5 collected
around your mouth. or how the hard snow
craI ched under your feet at the street crossings
! as you hurried by.
IL is not at all to my purpose whether go's at
tended the sunrise prayer meeting of 1851 or
GGt. one dtd 60 who has to do With my story.
lt was FrOWZyS little Teddy" whom you must
henceforth know as Mrs. Germaine. Hurrying
along, her face well wrap ed IN her thick,
brown veil. her mtttened hands inside her muf,
she overheard the out gushing confidence OF her
trusted Bridget, and unseen by either of the
two. she noticed with a deep thrill OF City the
lcok OF Frowzy's gaunt, upturned and eager
| face; she saw the scanIy clothing, such as MANY
| beggar In the street would disdain to wear,
and flush mounted to her cheeks and GRIM
sont to the roots OF her hair. 1t was more than
| pity. who can say that 1t was not or shame? It
| was as II this passing picture OF one outcast
rom the pale or human sympathy and human
| love had appealed to her. This stranger stand
ing just outside her gates for she could not tell
I low long; this orphan, this .bOund girl" in
need OF all things, and she, from the fullness OF
Ter life, had given her at last what?-a Sitting
| at New Year'S ball.
There was an impression, too, OF something
else, but she could not give 1t form or place
| then.
Five minutes after something in the minis
| teI's prayer Or in the hymn that had been sung,
| or 1t might be In the CLEAN Of Sunlight, that
| shot its New years greeting across the walls
| and over the bowed heads in the church yestry
something In one or all of these brought IL to
| her heart and fixed IL there; 1t was the refrain
OF an old appeal that reached back through all
the ages; that reached down as deep as the
| lowest 0eep5 OF human Wretchedness: that
| reached UP as far as the outgOiugs OF human
!oye; an old refrain, yet never to be ignored,
never 10 be set astde-''My brothers keeper"
but" protests some one, show is thts?'
row can Te reconcile prayer meetings and
fancy balls? Is Lot this lady whom you pic.
ture as saint, on her knees with her face
hioden 1n her brown mittens. the very same as
she who is going to the ball tonight rugged In
htr snlmmery, s1lVery silk?' How can we re-
| conc1le Such Inconsistencies"
| yes, am forced to confess that this little
lady on her knees, her face hidden 10
Ter Drown mitIens. and she who is going TO
| one and the same, and l do not ask You 70
reconcile" II. l do lot think the DISCIPLES
| were called upon to reconcile" the Masters
presence with the merry makers at the wed
| Cing, and no doubt there were merry makers
there. for there was much feasting.
10 have seen Frowzy Mcguire, when she
received the bundles from kind Bridget's hand.
ana deposited them On The table in Mrs Brigg' 8
kltcnen. one would not have questioned that
this New Years cheer to her had been for the
Letter, the very best in fact, that had come to
her In all her life. 1t was as If she had had a
| revelation. She could not remember the time
| when she was anything else than Mrs Briggs
bound GIRL" she did not know that she ever
|
| improbable did 1t seem that she ever would be.
| Bear1ng heavier loads than many beasts of
burden; more poorly fed;indifferently clothed -
| she hurried through the tread mill of her
| everyday orudgeries without comfort, without
| love, almost without hope. There were other
hyes and other ways; she had caught glimpses
| OF them here and there, In shaded Yards.
| where little children played, or through open
| her. -'i
| Since Mrs. Germaine had come With her hus-
Ddnd 10 live in the French-roofed cottage fn
| the lot adjoining Mrs. Briggs, she had uncOn
| sclously to herself furnished the one poem of
| poor rroWZy'5 life. To hurry through with the
! securing and scrubblng always awaiting her In
| mis-. Briggs back kitchen, and climb three pairs
| or stairs 10 her attic room where IL she sat
| SItdt under the roof with her face pressed
close against the one little pane she could see
her little Teddy" water her plants or feed her
canary, or hem her delicate raffiaS, sitting in
ner cosy bay-wiRdoW, or on her shaded side
piazza-thtS had furnished the one sumner of
deilght 10 poor FroFZy. But all that had passed
long months ago. The frost lay so thick on the
attic pane that she could not ScraOa IL off and
lac chill IN the air was enough 70 freeze
Tie marrow In her bones. She hal built fires
DUMPED CRATES. Sfted ashes, shoYeiei Goals
ana between times ran on her various erranas
I'LL on this New years morning she looked at
RerSe1 with kind or wonder as TO how much
OF this life she could endure and live. '.At the
bottom OF the hill It's lOnely, lOnely;n It Is more
than that it Is often desperation. FroWzy
was at the bottom-the very bottom-and