The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-04-26
PHCEBE.
Temple Bar

itHtptt Itfss
 DOT lh,t be Whether of fetrosDeet ol for~ d!ooking, small soIace could come t5 her on this New Years Eve. nor was the present Tn any mlse so cheerfu. as to withhold her thoughts from wander Ing and ~ende 1g, nom grievine over what VAS pasi, or facing with somethin., Ike the helpless dfe..e of 4 timid, hunted creature he abyss into which the rclent- less hours were compelling her. There was T handful of glow in the srate. but no more coal Tn tAe cupboard there was one piece of bread for to-morrow's break last. but nofhere. as far IS she could see, the price of new loaf hen that was done. Bad enough ihis, even when one IS a grown man. whose noisy appetite is Tn itself proof of energies eager for their task; bad indeed when one is a girl of rot quite sixteen, weak from d long course of lnsafilcient food, sadly shy under the pest or circumstances, afraid of the world, afraid oi ones self, with not soul to turn ,o for comfort or ad. No wonder she sat so long, staring with her pretty eyes into the patch ot red coal. which was as little able 10 overcome the damn and cold of the leaky garrett as she her sel to struggle with the dark. dread, un. known powers ('social forces" we name them, with complacencel. which bese, her on all sides. She didn't CIV: even thf be would have felt the humorous in- eihcacy ot such resoaree. weeks ago. when her troubles jus, began. she had cried her fill. But her eyes grew very. very wide. and her forehead wrinkled it. sci out oi all knowledge And every now and then, when her thoughts had shayed into such labyriu,hs tha, she fo- got for 4 iew moments her bodily dis. uesses, shlvering ii, brought her back 10 herself. The window rattled loose in its fraine; through the ohink beneath the door and up through the kno;-holes in 'he ooatding swept siinging currents of wind. Her feet were already numb, and she had 10 hold her hands Tn her bosom 10 warm them.
 Other lie, even l;vel.nesS, there was in 'he room oui Its presence suggested new sadness 10 her desponding mood On the man,lc-pieoe before her, placed there for the sake of possible warmth, was iittie wooden cage containing d very brown canary. This was her sister $ bird. That sister had been d mother ta Ph, be the only mother pha.bc remembered d father. too, for the matter of that. since the real fathers relation 10 his children haa tor years been merely that of an IT, regular pensioner. irregular in the times and 'he mode of his applications. bu, only too regular in the use he made of their bounty. The day came, indeed. when ms opportunities were no longer 10 oe suffered then the two had escapes, nm oy flight. and made new home for themselves, where a, leas; they could en- Joy the advantage of wha, they earned. and hope to live unmocs;ed iBut in the hrst summer of their freedom a sickness fell upon that brave. toiiing sister. and the days ot her guardianship were num- bered. She died. and was kindly buried by the parish. Phobe knew the place of her grave, but Il was also the grave of as many other paupers as could be squeezed into the trench, and there was more pain than so.ace in going there to weep. The httie brown canary remained. however :: bought in gay moment of the past spring. kept s,,ll and zealously tended by the poor child, who was all bu, it's equal Tn innocence and fearfulness. "Chirup,' they had agreed to call it. and Chirrup still had his sufficing mea- sure of seed. even when his mistress daily bread was anything but sufficient m quality or quantity. And tonight as II Tn very defiance of care and cold, the little fellow hopped ceaselesslv from one to the other of his two perches, sharpened ms oeak as If to get an appetite, and de- spite the hour, frequently justified his name with right good will.
 PhGbe's sister had been a flower maker, and Phoebe herself, having gone through her period of apprenticeship to the same handicraft, had now attained the position of improver." When