Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-11-03

|
it mattered little to her whether
! school kept or not. So lost sighi
of her for a time.
One morning in the police court,
when some trifling case was up,
heard her name called as defendant.
"Lying drunk" or "drunk and
dIsorderly," / believe, was the
charge. As she rose in her place to
| answer to the accusation the Ordor
of the sluIns was about her, the look
of the slums was in her bleared eye,
| the iron heel of the siumS had tram
| pied on her bruised and besotted
features. The pious Methodist,
the humble, hard working, God
| fearing woman had sunk to be the
.vileSt amOung outcasts. / learned
that she had become known as an
old offender. The case was clearly
made out against her, but an APP
peal to the mercy of the court
brought low fine. She was pen
niless and could not pay it; so the
possibilities of her undecided suit
against the sewing machine COM
pany were discounted to find a
bondSman for her, and she was
promise to reform. She went back
to the slums, her bondsman paid
the fine and costs, and never saw
her again until yesterday.
Tomorrow she will probably be
tried. Whether she will land in
the workhuse or the lunatic asylum
| do not know. Where her chill.
dren are / can not say, for in the
multiplicity of human affairs / can
not keep track of all the misery l
see. 1t is to be hoped that they are
dead, for what is bred in the bone
will come out in the flesh, and
there is certain decency even in
shame which they can not hope to
attain with such antecedents as
they have. They are born into a
low grade of haman life, the blood
in their veins is bad, the shame of
their mother and their father would
cleave to them if they sought to
rise above it. "They who die un-
contaminated, save by the sins OF
their ancestors, may be born again
in a higher station, and may begin
there the ascent to Nirvana; but
those who join their own evil deeds
to the crimes Of their ancestors
must descend with each successive
birth"
All this passed through my mind
as with quick glance L thought
| recognized the woman clinging to
the lamp post, chuckling to herself
as she snapped the pistol at passing |
children. There was a whole
world of thought in the accident to |
me. 1t was not alone the sorrows
OF another that interested me. My |
own little ones often came that far |
to meet me, and / might have found
a little head, glorious with golden |
curls, but matted with oozy blood,
on the pavement, and WaXen face |
might have been turned up to me |
that was still and cold, and for the
first time in its little life did not |
answer its fathers smile. The
woman was IA possible murderer,
though she laughed with childish
glee as she snapped her pistol at
the passing children, and | am sure
there was no malice in her heart.
So the whole scene was terrible,
and it was as if corner of a curtain
had been lifted and a glimpse of
hell afforded me through the narrow
opening.
And yet, after all, what better
could be expected of the woman?
The good women who helped her
did all they could, but they could
not change her nature, which was a
intensifiedby defective
education. Civilization carries with
it curse as well as blessing.
savages she would have
been superior being. III an en-
lightened community she became
what she WAS. A religion which to
her was asa chancery case, with
possible hope Of an incomprehensi-
BILE heaven, could not save her when
the rude delights so seductive to an
disposition were placed
within her reach. In the broad
sweep of an Almighty Intelligence,
maybe it is better that she should
be what she is, though we finite
creatures can not see it. In the
infinitudeof an Almighty
Love, maybe there is room for her,
though we can not understand how
here could be. 1t is sad it is wretch
ed. 1t is miserable, it is hopeless
rom our point of view, but "Vis-
nun, the bright One, knoweth the
of matter, and oftentimes
n that which we deem the least
desirable. He worketh an Avatar.
Being the Creator of all things, He
the purposes of His crea-
ion, and will work out the End of
he Beginning. Let us therefore
wait with patience and seek that
which is desirable" FALCON.