Huntsville gazette., 1883-11-17
,ity miscellaneous assortment of toys,

CITY miscellaneous assortment OF toys,
and there strewn lavishly around were
hebby-horses, locomotives, wheelbarrows
and doll babies, with full accompaniment
of balls and tops, drums, trumpets and
whistles. He expected noisy, boisterous
crowd, and was rather disappointed when
at last the wagons drove up and deposited
on the gravelwalk two groups of silent,
| shlvering little ones, who huddled close
| together in a helpless way like flock of
| stray lambs. Mr.. Dwight hurried to the
door and kindly invited them to enter. But
| they only looked at him with bewildered
stare, and some began to cry.
"Bless their hearts, they're freezin'
cold." exclaimed clear, CHEEKY voice, and
Blddy, the housemaid, ran down the steps
and shoo'd them all in as if they had been
brood of young chicks. Biddy's manner
was evidently familiar to them, for they
did not resist her, and two or three clung
to her skirts as though they recognized a
! friend.
"Come in here, now" said Biddy, s'and
warm yerselves by this blazln' fire. There.
now, amt that good? My sakes!" she cried,
as her hands passed rapidly over each ones
clothing, "jst as Miss Rounds said twould
be-nothin' but caliker and gingham, and
old at that-not scrap of flannel on any
of 'em! Wait minit'-and out she ran,
but returned Immediately with great bun
die which she threw on the floor.
Miss Rounds, SIR" she explained in an
swer to Mr.. Dwight's inquiring look, 'Miss
Rounds sent off yisterd'y to that Dorcas
S'ciety in town, and had all these warm
clothes fetched, and says she: "Now Biddy,
you jist examine them children the first
thing and put warm clothes on them as
needs 'em,' and the Lord knows they every
one needs 'em; don't they now, sir?"
II dare say you are right, Biddy," said
Mr.. Dwight, much affected by SaraRs
forethought. 81 will leave you to dress the
! oh itya nd tha,, hrin
them to me in the library"
Half an hour afterward they were ush-
cred before him, now thoroughly warmed
and dressed in their new clothes, and they
certainly looked like a different set of
children.
"What kept us so long, SIR" said Biddy,
twas the bullion that Miss Rounds said
they must all drink, and it was steamin'
| hot But it done 'em all might of good, as
you can see, SIR"
"Sarah is very thoughtful" said Mr..
Dwight, 'but | think you have done them
"Thank you, sir. My mother always
said, says she: 'Biddy'-but sure Pm for
gettin' myself. I'll jist leave the children
here with you, sir, and help cook dish up
the dinner.'
Alone with those little waits Mr.. Dwight
! took, as it were, an inventory Of them. He
| had asked that, as far as might be, he should
| F,
these poor children could never have known
a mothers love or a fathers care. They
were in truth, with a few exceptions, of
| that class known in by streets and alleys as
''nobody's children" springing like fungi
from dark and dingy places, claimed by
nobody, cared for by nobody, sleeping
wherever they could find a hole or corner,
eating what they could gather in the gar
bage of the streets, clothed with rags that
were thrown to them for shame's sake alone.
All, reader, there are hundreds such in all
our great cities, though you may not know
| it as, wrapped in warm furs, you roll
| through the wide streets in your carriage,
as free as the lilies of the field from the
kind of care which the biting cold, the
gnawing hunger, the famished heart brings,
| and which make up the whole sum of exist
ence for such children.
Like rush of mighty waters the realiza-
tion of it all came upon Benjamin Dwight
as he marked the sunken eyes and cheeks,
the dwarfed and spindling limbs, the fright
ened glance, and worse than all, the old,
| almost unhuman look on some of the pinched
| faces.
| ''Great heavens ~ he inwardly exclaimed,
as involuntarily he shrank back, ''what
| horrors do these children represent"
| And each one standing there was re-
proach to him; every glance they cast up
| on him seemed to bid him ask himself what
he had done with his life, with his prosper
| itysT He had said he was not heathen o,
| worse than heather had he been all these
| long years when, having all things himself,
he had been blind and deaf to the misery of
those who had nothing. He could not bear
to think of it; he would not, at least not
now. Little by little, he induced the fright
| ened chilsren to come forward and handle
the toys he gave them, and the ice once
broken, he had no cause to complain that
| his gifts were not appreciated.
! Mr Duy;Ubt lopo5 nd bal y,,aotad hot
Sarah would make her appearance at the
dinner table, but she did not. Bridget was
| in charge, and had evidently received her
| instructions for every detail. And what
| dinner it was! no fancy dishes, but every
thing that could satisfy and please the APP
petites of children who had been hungry
all their lives, and whose eyes now sparkled
as they learned the taste of the good things
they had so often wondered over in the city
| restaurant windows. 1t did Mr.. Dwight's
heart good to see them eat, and he could
| find no fault even when some of them be-
| came clamorous at sight of the delicious
grapes and pears which were served up for
| dessert.
| After dinner, as it still rained, the boys
| were all transferred to a large room from
which most of the furniture had been re-
moved, and here under Biddy's manage
ment the little crowd was allowed to do
| pretty much as it pleased. And it pleased
after while to make good deal of noise,
as Benjamin Dwight heard through all the
closed doors as he sat smoking in his lib
rary, and as Sarah Rounds heard shut up
in her room in the third story. where she
sat on the hearth-rug gazing into the few
embers that were left of a small fire she
had lighted. Ever and anon she stopped
her ears with her hands, as though to shut
out the sounds VI hich were as far-off echoes
| of her lost happiness. How long she sat
there she hardly knew, but the children
had had their supper alNa were little more
| quiet under the influence a. a story Biddy
was telling them, when therA came low
knock at Sarah's door. At first she paid no
attention, but when it was repeated she
spoke in her quick, sharp tone, and said:
"Come in."
There was some fumbling at the knob,
and then the door slowly opened and little
girl came timidly forward land before Sarah
could arise had approached and stood gaz-
ing curiously at her. She was a sweet
looking little thing, with earnest brown
eyes and head full of tangled curls.
Who sent you here-how dared you
Gomez" cried Sarah, angrily, as she turned
aside her head and put out her hands to
warn the child away.
Nobody didn't send me; just come all
alone," said the little thing, as she came
closer to Sarah and laid her hand lightly on