News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-11-08
PECK'S BAD BOY AGAIN.
HE RELIEVES TIE STFFERINGS OF
AN OLD SCHOOLMATE.

HE RELIEVE THE STFFERING2S OF
AN OLD SCHOOLNIATE.
He Tries His Hand nj II little Work OF
Charity and Succeeds very Wen.
60 You say a word against that poor
girl, ard down comes your grocery, "
said the bad boy to the grocery man.
" She is a Christian, that girl is, though
she don't put on airs and go to church
with silk dresses and rich buds. But
she prays, by lingo, better than any of
'em. You see her father is a drunkard.
and he takes half she makes peddIing
apples, to buy gin, and her grandmother
has got the consumption, and that takes
the other half to support her. I knew
that girl when I went to school. and
Yesterday she come to me crying, and
said she was going to ask a favor of me
cause I had Il heart in me. It seems her
drunken father had taken all her money,
and had gone on an 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' ND pretty
rough, and she wanted me to lend her
a dollar till she could realize on the APP
pies she was going to get trusted for.
Probably you have noticed I haven't got
any watch this morning. 7 have got my
chain, with bunch Of KEYS on it in my
pocket, but nobody will know I haven't
got any watch unless they ask me what
time it is, and then 7 will tell them it
has run down, and [ guess it has, cause
pawnbrOEers never wind up watches.
Well, sir, [ got four dollars on my watch,
and I went and bought apples for her
and medicine for her grandma. and then
I went down home with her. When 7
went in the little room. where the old
| lady was on a bed, and heard her let off
one of those regular bark -tOmbs
| coughs. that sounded away down cellar,
where it is damp and mouldv, I tell YOU
it made me feel serious. And when that
ragged little girl got down on her knees
and prayed, there in the dirt, and asked
! God to bless the friend that had risen
up and lifted such a load off the sufferer
| do You know, I felt as though I had
! wallOwed piece of turnip OF 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 highfaIutin
! language, such as the high salaried
| preachers use, where you want dictiOn-
airy in your pew to find what the words
mean. It was no full dress formal
prayer The little girl got right down
on her knees, and said, oh, Father in
| Heaven, lust as though God was sitting
right there in front Of her on three
| legged stool. and seemed confident that
the Heag emily Father heard her. She
didn't tell God anything about my
pawniug my watch and buying the
apples, and she didn't mention my name
at ALL but ! could imagine that He who
watches even the sparrows fail, was onto
| the bunch of keys i'll my vest pocket.
hitched to the watch chain, bigger than
a house. ! could have listened to that
dirty, ragged Girl pray for an hour, she
was so natural, and pitiful, and talked 50
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 a
little conversation with the good Lord
Just as a child would with its father, and
then she got up and fired some medicine
down her grandma and made her cup
OF tea on an OIL stove, and toasted a piece
OF bread and poached an egg while [ sat
there thinking. Do yOu know she broke
me all up. If It 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
Il hospital and distiIIery both, on one
cheap watch, but [ am going TO work
for the humane society next week, and
that girl can have all the money I make,
as long us the old lady's cough hangs on.
''Say, do you think there is any bath
5 S,Ga :, m ,l h2G"vg }r where they cam take
angel of her that viii pass IN a crowd?
lake 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 a few nights with rubber gloves on,
and suppose they could make her pass
as an angel. Well, [ have got to go
down to the Humane society office. |
was III a strcet-car the other night. and
the car was full, and got eff the track,
and the mules couldn't pull it. All the
men sat there and wouldn't get ont
They read papers, and acted mad, while
the driver pounded the mules. was
on the back step, and I yelled, The
members of the Humane society are re-
quested to get out Of the car and help
push. You ought to have seen EN-.
They all looked at each other and then
they ali got ont, and some Of them looked
ashamed, but they helred the mules.
The boss Of the Humane society heard
Oft, and he said he would give me Job
Watching for butchers who maui cattle.
l guess [ can work my way mp SO [ will
finally hold the proud position of looking
after lame horses that draw swiII wagons.
Well, l must go and send the doctor
down the alley, to sound the old Iady's
cough, and have him charge it to pa.
As the boy went out the grocery man
told the carpenter that ihe boy had a
heart in him as big us barrel, but You
had to watch the raisin box, all the
same, when he was around. -PccES
iNtl3l