The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1883-12-12
PECK'S BAD BOY AGAIN.
uE RELIEVES THE sUFFERINGS OF
AN OLD SCIiOOI.hIATE.

uE NEIJENES THE SUFFERINGS OF
AN OLD SCHOOLMATE.
lilo Tries His Hand NJ n Little Work Of
Charity and Succeeds very Wen.
" You say word against that poor
girl, and down comes your grocery"
said the bad boy to the grocery man.
She is Christian, that girl is, though
she don't put on airs and go to church |
with silk dresses and rich duds. But |
she prays, by lingo, better than any Of
EN-. You see her father is drunkard, |
and he takes half she makes peddling
apples, to buy gin, and her grandmother
has got the consumption, and that takes
the other half to support her. ! knew
that girl when ] went to school, and
yesterday she come to me crying, and
said she was going to ask favor of me
cause | had heart in me. II seems her
drunken father had taken all her money,
and had gone on nm awful bum, and she
didn't have any to buy some OF those
cough syrup lozenges for her grandma,
and the old lady was chokin' up pretty
rough, and she wanted me to lend her
n dollar till she could realize on the ap-
pies she was going to get trusted for
Probably you have noticed haven't got
any watch this morning. have got my
chain, with bunch Of KEYS on it in my
pocket, but nobody will know / haven't
got any watch unless they ask me what
time it is, and then will tell them it
has run down, and guess it has, cause
pawnbrokers never wind mp watches.
Well, sir, j got four dollars on my watch,
and went and bought apples for her
and medicine for her grandma, and then
/ went down home with her. When !
went in the little room, where the old
lady was on bed, and heard her let of
one of those regular hark-from- .tombs
coughs. that sounded away down cellar,
where it is damp and mouldy, / tell you
it made me feel serious. And when that
ragged little giH got down on her knees
and prayed, there i'll the dirt, and asked
God to bless the friend that had risen
up and lifted such load off the sufferer,
do you know, felt ms though / had
swallowed piece of turnip or something
hard, and couldn't get it up or down,
and the tears came to my eyes just like
when you peel onions.
"She didn't use any of this hghfalutin
language, such ~ the high salaried
preachers Use, where Won want n diction.
AIRY in your pew to find what the words
mean. II was no full dress formal
prayer. The little girl got right down
on her knees, and said, oh, Father in
| , Oh A1 IA
right there in front Of her on three
legged stool, and seemed confident that
the Heavenly Father heard her. She
didn't tell God anything about my
pawning my watch and buying the
apples, and she didn't mention my name
ut all. but / could imagine that He who
watches even the sparrows fall was onto
the bunch of keys in my vest pocket,
hitched to the watch chain, bigger than
house. could have listened to that
dirty, ragged girl pray for an hour, she
was so natural, and pitiful, and talked so
God could understand it whether He had
ever graduated Mt college or not. But
she wasn't talking against time, for
wages, and she Just seemed to have n
little conversation with the good Lord
Just rs a child would with its father, and
then she got up aud fired some medicine
down her grandma, and made her cup
of tea on an oil stove, and toasted n piece
of bread and poached nm egg while l sat
there thinking. Do you know she broke
me all up. II il wasn't for that old calico
dress, and the shoes run over at the
heel, and the moth eaten stockings, |
should have thought she was an angel,
and by gum, l will pawn everything
have for her TO get things for her grand
ma, but somebody else has got to chip in
to buy gin for the old man. can't run
hospital and distilery both, on one
cheap watch, but am going TO work
for the humane society next week, and
that girl can have all the money make,
as long as the old LADY, cough hangs on.
"Say, do you think there is any bath
room in heaven where they can take
such dirty girl as that and make an
angel of her that will pass in crowd
Take the dirt out from under her finger
nails and soak her hands in hot water,
and put cold cream on them, and let her
sleep few nights with rubber gloves on
and suppose they could make her pass
as m angel Well, / have got to go
down to the Humane society Office.
was in street-car the other night. and
the car was full, AMI got off the track
and the mules couldn't pull it. All tn,
Y men sat there and wouldn't get ont
J They read papers, and acted mad, Will,
the driver pounded the mules. | wal
on the back step, and l yelled, 'Th'
e members of the Humane society are re
j quested to get ont of the car and hell
push You ought to have seen 'em
They all looked at each other, and thei
they all got out, and some of them locke,
ashamed, but they helped the mules
The boss of the Humane society hear
1 Of it, and he said he would give me a 10
Watching for butchers who maui cattl,
guess can work my way up 80 wi
finally hold the proud position Of lookin
4 after lame horses that draw swiH wagon
/. Well, must go and send the doctC
0 down the alley, to sound the old lady
a cough, and have him charge it to pa. "
v As the boy went out the grocery ma
!. told the carpenter that the boy had
4 heart in him as big as barrel, but 20
4 had to watch the raisin box, all tn
h same. when he was around. Peck
a Sun.
! HOUSES. many years, asks tn
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