The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-10-20
THE WASHERWOMAN'S STORY.

me WASHER OMAN>S SIOR1s
But alas for poor Mary! 1t
was not long before she came to grief
1t seemed that her little family had been
wonderfully prospered. What with
Mikes daily wages and her own, and
the money the "b'ys earned selling
papers. they had become quite rich peo-
pie. They owned their bit of house
and had a snug little sum laid by. And
now the desire to rise crept into Mary
ambitious heart. "Why shouldn t they
live in a fine house some day and be as
good as the best?'
So she persuaded her steady old hus-
band to set up q beer-shop-a favorite
way of making money with that class
of people-and only three months after
wards she came to me in great distress
and poured out her soul in sorrow and
repentance.
ats all along o that cruel beer
shop" she groaned; ct ruined us in
tirely! Be the Howly Fatherr' she
cried, throwing up her arms in a pas
sion of misery, Il wish this tongue had
been pulled out o me mouth wish
black death had come to me, before liver
coaXed my Mike to 90 into it! An he
always the best of husbands! Manv's
the time he's got up in the dead o. the
night to get me 4 dbTipb o. lUather-he
has indade, mum! And thaC fond q
the childer-coaXin' an tain EN-
from mornin' TIL night; and now he is
that savage w.d EN- that theY run and
hide when he comes a-near the house!
Many the bloody light we Vt. had along
of EN-. Oh that |, their poor mother,
should have to be always a-watchin',
( watchin' ,-slaPin' or wakin' lest harm
come to 'em from their own father!
God knows!' said She. scornfullv,
barring bruised and bloody arm, sit $
little | fear for meset, anyway. I'm a
match for Mike, dhrunk or sober
ba"rn' a few bruises" with a sniff of
disdain and putting down her sleeve.
A little while after came the dread
climax of her woe. wish | could tell
the story in Mary's very words:
For weeks gone, mum, Mike was
niyer, niver sober at all. Up in the
mOrnin and out for dhrink--mad crazy
in it all day an all night till his strength
was gone from him intirely; then slapin'
IN his clothes wherever he happened to
be till he wakes, then ups an to the
drinks agin.
'Well, nun, this is how it was: That
night the childer was to bed an asleep,
an | sat in me rOckin' chair croonin' to
the baby-our little Dinny-an' feeln'
a grain O comfort creepin' into my poor
heart. How could help it?-the baby
was a-smilin' up into me face, an for a
minute / forgot me trouble-yis, thank
God thank God!n she burst out vehe-
mently, her poor old face drenched
in tears. Thank God for that last
blessed minute that / hid my baby in
these arms | forgot that | had made me
home a he'll an me husband a dicil!n
l shall never forget the power and
expression of her words and looks.
Even while | wept [ could but admire,
what had often noticed, her wonderful
dramatic power
''4ls, she went on, Il did foreit, an
L began to coax meself into bel avin'
as things would all come right. Now
that we had gin up the beer shop lone
since, Mike would come round in time.
Poor Mike me heart warmed to him.
80 was a-settin' there soft an tin
der like, an the child was smilin' in
me arms, when | heard Mikes step on
the stairs. He burst into the room
tlourishin' his big stick in his fist. an
he comes up to me-the bloody MUIR
therin' villain'--dPags the baby out of
me arms, ups wild winder an heaves
him out into the road l springs to the
door, an he hits me on the head with
his club an rushes out.
81 lay there onthe floor till me sinses
comes back to me an then / thinks me
o. the baby, goes as fast rs can crawl.
with the blood stramin' from me head.
out into the street, an there, in the
middle of the road lay me baby stark
dead the breath gone out of his little
body intirly! his head hit on sharp
stone, an that was what kilt him.
81 kneeled me down in the bloody
road an took me baby to me heart an
prayed TO God to sthrike me dead; but
he didn't, num-" she added, drvly,
wiping her eyes. "An' it's glad am
now that he didn't, for poor Mikes
sake an the childers'. ......4
"Well, mum, whin Mike come to his
self in the mornin' he was list wild wild
grief. 1t was all Father Riley an
could do to hold him from batin' his
own brains out
"An' would we behave it now? whin
1, that murdered baby IS mother, saw his
heart a-breakin' in him, an heard him
Sroanin' an cryin'. forget everything
in the whole world-baby an alan
list remembered poor old Mike, an
loved him jist the same-tfe bloody,
plurtherin villain!