The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1883-10-12
THE WAsHERWOMAN's STORY.

THE WASHERWOMAN'S STORY. !
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 'bys" earned selling
papers, they had become quite rich peo-
| pie. They owned their bit of n house
and had a snug little sum laid by. And
now the desire to rise crept into Marv's
ambitious heart. ''Why shouldn't they
live in 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.
"It's all along o. that cruel beer
shop" she groaned; sits ruined us in
tirely! Be the Howly Father!" 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 go into it! An he
always the best of husbands! Many's
the time he's got up in the dead O. the
night to get me q db7j716 o. gOGtbeT-he
has indade, mum! And that fond o.
the childer-coaxin' an tain 'em
from mornin' till night; and now he is
that savage w.d 'em that they run and
hide when he comes a-near the house!
Many the bloody fight we We had along
of 'em! 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 knowsr' said she, scornfully,
barring bruised and bloody arm, cts
little I fear Cor meselt, anyway. I'm q
match for Mike, dhrunk or sober!
barrin' few bruises" with sniff of
disdain and putting down her sleeve.
A little while after came the dread
climax of her woe. l wish could tell
the story in Mary's very words:
For weeks gone, mum, Mike was
niver, niver sober at all. Up in tho
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 wheriver he happened to
be till he wakes, then ups an to the
drinks agin.
''Well, mum, 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' feelin'
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 !" 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 q hell an me husband a diaJ!"
L shall never forget the power and
expression of her words and looks.
Even while I wept | could hut admire,
what / had often noticed, her wonderful
dramatic power
"Yis, she went on, 81 did forgit, an
/ began to coax meself into bep avin'
as things would all come right. Now
that we had gin up the beer shop long
since, Mike would come round in time.
Poor Mike me heart warmed to him.
$50 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
flourishin' his big stick in his fist, an
he comes up TO me-the bloody muir
therin' villain --drags the baby out of
me arms, ups wild winder an heaves
him out into the road 1 springs to the
door, an he hits me on the head with
his club an rushes out.
81 lay there on the floor till me sinses
comes back to me an then | thinks me
o the baby, Igoes as fast as 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 a 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, dryly,
wiping her eyes. can it's glad [ am
now that he didn't, for poor Mikes
sake an the childers',
self in the mornin' he was jist wild wild
grief. 1t was all Father Riley an I
could do to hold him from b'atin' his
own brains out.
can would We behave it now? whin
/, that murdered baby 8 mother, saw his
heart a-breakin' in him, an heard him
groanin' an cryin'. forget everything
in the whole world-baby an alan
jist remembered poor old Mike, an
loved him jist the same-the bloody,
murtherin' villain!
''But, mum, it was | that timpted him
in the fust place don't We forgit that!
"Well, Father Riley hushed it up an
made it look right to the neighbors- its
little they knew, anyway an now he's
helpin' us to begin all over g'in-God-
dlemighty forever bliss himi
eve try not to reminder how the
baby went-Mike an I debut jist to
think as he's gone to Paradise. But
oh, mum! can tell it to yerself how
these arms ache for him sometimes
how in the dark night when Mikes
asleep put out me hand to draw the
baby to me an he is gone from mel Oh,
l can tell it to the likes o. yel for it's
yerself as is mother an knows.
''But whist, darlin', don't cry no
more; for Mixes sake We'll try to forgit
an lave the baby with God an the
Blissid Virgin.
'.Yis, Mike is bit broken, mum, but
Wen holt on to him, an God willin' l
shall see him smile ag in. y Continent.
The REPORT of the Commissioners of
Inland Revenue for Great Brittany just
issued calls attention to the fact that
England and Scotland, with an increas
ing population, show a marked de-
crease in the quantity of liquor con-
sumed; while Ireland with decreas-
ing population, shows an incresed con-
sumption, for the fiscal year, OF Esols
e67 gallons.