The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1883-09-20
Jack-A Mendicant.

Jack-A Mendicant
\ smooth haired, WhitiSh brown ter
rier it was, with cropped ears, a black
patch over one eye, and only half tail
a thin, shadowy sort of a thing that used
to grub about in the twilight in the gut
ters, and in odd corners where poor peo-
pie threw waste and rubbish, picking up
its own living as best it could. If it had
not known how to 'fend for itself it must
have Jared hardly indeed; for though it
had a master who loved it as he would
have loved the sun in the heavens, could
his blind eyes have been lighted for one
moment 10y its beams, and who treasured
it as he did the memory of his dead wife,
had nothing but his love to give it, and
love, as we all know, though it never
taileth, and is greater than faith and hope,
yet III hard times cannot SO much as buy
an ounce of bread, nor even get bone
for a dog.
Caleb had been blind for more than
twenty years. Once he had been
strong, skillfnl workman who had never
known dinncrless table nor treess
hearth. Things had gone well with him
in early life he had married a stout
young country woman, and had had one
child by her "a blue eyed. fair haired
darling, whom they had chrstened Mar
tha, but whom every one loved to call
Matte. She looked as if she had been
born to a pet name, and she stuck to it
DIS right, Matte was sent to school and
taught embroideries and needleWork: she
was not to work hard, as her father and
mother had done before her, but was TO
lead the quiet, gentle sort Of life God had
SO evidently intended her for; and if, By
and by, when father and mother were
getting old and could not longer work
tOr their darling, some good honest
workman was to come along and offer to
marry her-well then he should have
her, and Gods blessings 90 with her.
But before Matte was ten years OF age,
or there was any thought of father or
mother getting old, Caleb's great trouble
had come upon him. There had been
huge fire at the factory where he worked,
and Caleb, i'll his zeal to save his masters
property, was much burnt about the face,
arms and chest. They took HIM to the
hospital, where they did the best they
could for him, and he came out of it in IL
months time with limbs patched, face
sound though scared, but eye sight gone
forever
How the stout strong wife would have
Wept over him if she had time to weep .
But time meant money i'll those days,
and she set to work with a will to get her
daily bread. No more embroidery for
little Matte; sewing and stitching will
serve her in better stead now, for she can
earn a shilling here and a shilling there
by plain needlework among her poor
neighbors.
And so things went on for ten years or
more. Caleb turned woman in the house,
and cooked their small meals, and kept
things straight and neat as he could with
out his eyesight and the women turned
men, as the poor women often have to do,
and brought in the pounds and shillings
and pennies, and even in those days had
always wherewithal to help brother or
a sister less fortunate than themselves.
Then there came another change fe-
yer set in in their neighborhood, and the
brave, strong woman was the first to fall
a victim to it, Caleb was daZed with
grief. Matte wept her heart out, then
set to work again, but this time with less
of spirit and courage. From house to
house Caleb CROPPED his way begging for
work he would do what he could for a
sXpence day; he was, so he said, ga
giant in strength "True," said the
people, "but a blind giant is of no use to
us, and we are too poor to pay siXpence
a day for nothing"
81 will go into the workhouse," said
Caleb. "No man shall say | live idle
upon my little girls earnings" Then
Matte clung about his knees and be-
sought him not to leave her, telling him
a secret she had meant to tell the dead
mother, how she had married secretly Il
fine looking fellow who had made love to
her, how that where he had gone she
knew not, nor even whether the name
in which he had married her was his
own.
Caleb lifted up his voice and cursed the
day wherein he had lost his eyesight. "If
had but the gimmer Of daylight where
with to guide my steps, | would search
the world through to find the false heart
ed coward who has brought this shame
to our door. Lord, thou hast dealt hard
ly with me, indeed y he said with his
sightless eyes lifted heavenward.
Matte dropped day by day, but still
she managed to keep her customers to-
gether, and sent home small dresses to
gay young shop girls to wear in the sum
mer evenings when they went walking
out with their sWeethearts. BY and by
second Matte came-a little fair hair
ed, blue eyed thing, like Matte the first :
and though Caleb cursed again the false
hearted man who had left his Matte to
struggle through her trouble alone, the
little creature came like CLEAN of sun
shine into his dark life, and no one
thought more of her baby comforts or
took more tender care of the fragile
thing than the old blind grandfather.
For Caleb was fast becoming prema-
turely old man now. He lacked the first
Of youths greatest preservers-ho
steady, constant work, and lacked also
the second-good, plain, wholesome food.
What wonder if his back was bent, his
brow wrnkled and his hair thin and gray
How they managed to anuggle through
another five years he did not know
no one quite knew. The furniture in
their little room (they had only one room
now grew less and less; also their bread
was often eaten without butter; also
when the winter came round Matte be-
gan to cough and complain of pain in
her chest. Then Caleb whispered some
thing in little Matties ear, and the child
led him down the stairs and along the
streets to a bright sunshiny wall in the
big city, where people where passing