The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-02-29
A MIDNIGHT ADVENTURE.
'Flanenr's" Now York Letter in the San Fran
cisco Argonaut.

slowly down Broadway last night,
shortly after eleven o'clock, when a
stocky and heavily built woman stepped
directly in path and accostea us in
q low voice. 1t was just above thirty
sixth Street, and directly opposite The
excavations of Farle's new hotel. The
night was dark, and the great thorough
fare almost deserted. There we're FIVE
hundred street-walkers abroad, and we
supposed the woman was one Of them:
SO we stepped aside without ceasing to
talk. AS L passed her she grabbed my
arm and said:
"Wait one minute. please; I want to
speak to you"
"Not tonight. Don't grab my sleeve
that way"
"Don't you know me, sir?' said the
girl hurriedly. 81 knew you as soon as
/ seen yer comm along"
looked more closely at her face, and
recognized q servant-girl-a chamber
maid-who had been employed for a
short time in the house OF q friend of
mine OF Twenty-tifth street, nearly
three years before. She was then en-
gagged to q soldier who was garrisoned
at Fort Hamilton, and was very proud
of her lover. He called on her whenev-
er he could get leave in terrific style
uniform, waxed mustache, bears's
grease, and so on. He only received
thirteen dollars u month and his board,
but he had all the wild instincts of a
Spanish cavalier.
After he had captured the girls nf-
f~ections he ruined her. She grew worse
and worse until she was discharged
frhm her service in Twenty-ffth street.
She went to Fort Hamilton to see her
lover, and then drifted on to the town.
When l first saw her she was buxom
and plump. Her face was pleasant,
and her eyes and teeth bright. There
was plenty OF color in her cheeks, and
her hair vas neatly brushed, and she
wore a close fitting muslin gown that
was very clean and tidy. Altogether,
she was a very jolly sort of a maid.
She had been over from Ireland only
two years, and still had a strong brogue.
The girl never ret armed to the Twenty
fifth Street house after she went on the
town, and I didn't see her for nearly a
year, when / ran across her one evening
in Madison Square. didn't know her,
but she recognized me, and came up
smiling. We chatted for a few minutes
while l waited for q stage, and was
struck by the great change that had
come oyer her. She didn't call me-
"sir" then. She had become a ''lady."
We were equal-in her mind. Her
hair was banged, she wore a silk Jersey,
gnady shoes, a plumed hat, long gloves,
and a bunch of flowers at her belt.
She talked in loud style. After she
had sailed away, I got in the stage, and
presently forgot all about her. 1 didn't
think of her again until she made her.
self known to me on Broadway.
Another great change had taken place
in her. She had evidently sunk almost
to the bottom Of the scale. Her fall
had rid her of the idea that she was
a Gladly" and she was without the
Alterations that had characterized her
on our last meeting. Her hair was
still banged, but it had been
bleached to a matted and d~isagreeable
yellow, and her color was all gone.
Her figure, which had formerly been
very good, was much matured. 1t
seemed impossible that the woman who
stood before me last night could have
been the bright and jolly girl of three
years before. She looked thirty-fve or
forty, though she was certainly less
than twenty-five years of age.
Don't you know me now, sir?' she
asked.
"Yes. You've changed very much
though, Bridget"
Eyes, sir" she said, s'but don't call
me Bridget, sir. My name is Maude
now"
Nonsense. Why did you stop me?"
Just did it widort a minut's
thought, sir, I'm that put about. I'm
in trouble, an / wanted to ask some
one what to do. I'm glad I met you on
that account"
whats the matter? Trouble with
the police?"
"Not this time. Y'see my sister an
her husband lives over here in Forty
first street, near Ninth Av'noo, and
their little boy died last night, or rath-
er this mornin', at three o'clock"
"Well?"
"WelJ, SIR" continued the woman,
rapidly, 'me sister sent fur me this
noon. but l was away, an I never heard
of it till two hours ago. Then / went
over there, AMI seen the poor, little in
nocent lynn dead in bed, an me sister
crying"
"Where was her husbands"
"Oh, he's blind drunk, as usual,
somewhere along the dock. He hasn't
been home in a week, an don't know
anythin' about the death. He's beat
me sister till she's almost crippled, an
she wants to run away from him. He
may COM home my minut, an he
mayn't come home in a week. Well,
sir, I've got enough to pay for buryin'
the child, sir, but I'm feared, an SO is
me sister"
The woman began to snifae and sob
here. as though her heart would break.
"What are you afraid OFF," I asked.
"NNhy, sir, you see We amt told any
body of the death yet, an people still
think tho baby's only sick. Now, if we
tell the perlioe, they'll send lis up for
keepin' the death q secret, an the
baby1l have a poor house grave"
Els it your sisters child, o. yours ?''
The woman SMILED a bit more vio-
1ently, and then whined:
please sir its mine. But me sister
loved it like her own. It was n beauti-
full baby, but the perlicell have it now,
an we'll be sent up"
"IM go over to the Thirty-ninth
street station with you and we'll fix it
up. All you have to do is to report to