The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1884-02-06
THE BAD BOY AND HIS PA.
The BOY Adopts u Poor WSran and Her
Baby, and Makes Then, napp5i

"Well," said the bad boy to the gro
Gerry man, "you know that girl that ran
away from our ward last year, and mar
ried that dude who thought she was
rich. He desctted her, and she came
back here about month ago, but she
WAS not well enough to get work in the
store, and sbe has had hard time.
used to go to school with her, and the
other day / met her on back street,
a1a she asked me for two shillin9s to
buy some 6tced and milk, and | gave it
to her, and then | followed her to her
home. She lives in room orer meat
market, "nd all the furniture she has gOt
wouldn't fiji playhouse for your little
girl. / GUESS half the time all the meat
she has is the smell she gets from the
meat down stairs, but when they are try
lht lard IN the butcher shop the SMELL is
real Strengthening. Well, sir, when l
went IN the room she was feeding n leetle
ii. OF baby some bread and milk, and
crying aid iatrghing all at once. BY
gosh, it broke il5 I'll up. She had
pawned everything she hSd iot some
thing for the baby to eat, and she Mas
in pretty hp3 shape The baby eat and
laughed, and wei: 80 sleep, and then
she told me all her troubles, how the
dude had gone back Oh her, and how
she had worked making shirts Mt ten
cents apiece to support herself and baby.
was darn glad that baby did not look
like the dude. Well, sir, that poor, pale
girl, crying there IN thst bare room,
was too much for Hennery, and went
ont and called our gang of boys together.
us boys that l told you had been saving
"oed iyr widdefs told them about
this gifl, Et1a being The boss of the gang
] gave them fifteen tninptcs to raise two
| dollars apiece, and before tho time was
M they all came down with the money.
Then divided it up and told one boy to
| 90 and get two dollars worth OF coal,
Ind pnothec one, he was committee on
biscuit md tsG and sugar, and | was
lightning on baby Clothes and milk, and
the bundle you saw me caff' down the
alley was flannel clothes our baby has
kicked herself ont Of, and it want no
| kihdlins ~nod for incendiary fires, and
the kerosene you thought I had WINS
milk, regular old COW milk, and none of
| yot!r niik wagon stuff. Well, you'd n
dide to see lis ielnwa get things upstairs,
and surprise that poor liIt's woman.
NV chum built n fire, and You ought to
have seen me dress that baby. ! used
t,j he mad when ma made me put clothes
on the baby, ut home, when she wanted
to do M her hair, but nov ] nm gla0 of
il, 'tatl4 cgn get i'll my work on little,
cold, poor babies, ard make them think
| apl an old nurse from Nur5etille. The
tired little mother just sat right down
IN The hoor and cried to see us boys take
hold Of trnnliig the house, and | was
afraid she wouid acod The butcher shop
below, so | took the babti when ] had
got the warm tlannels on it, and II booked
surprised Mt being so warm, as though
something Ind happened to it, and put
it in the mamma s lap and she hugged it
till ! thought she would bust it, sure,
but mothers know just how tight to hing,
don't they?s We fixed her up IN good
shape, and each Of rs borrowed blanket
off our own beds at home and took them
to her and / guess she is the happiest
little woman in this town. but | wish she
would not cry so. 1t breaks something
inside my vest when see awoman cry,
and | feel as though my gull was all
running ottt. Well, us boys has took a
solemn oath to be that Toinan's gardeene
how 90 YOU spell that? Anyway, we
are going to be her pertector, or boss,
this winter, until she ge.a able to work
and earn her living, and that woman is
going to have all she can lay her jaws to
and the baby is going to be dressed JUS
as well as any baby in this town, as lont
as mas baby's clothes holds out. tel
you, baby with fottr bad boys laying
for it, to watch that 1t don't suffer, isn
in danger of freezing, and after this il
you see me going down that alley al
night, loaded with anything, from a
nursing bottle to n barrel of ilonr, don't
give me away, And if you hear of any
babies that's lost their cud, and don't
know where the next meal il coming
from, you just inform us boys, and we
will fill the baby full of cut feed"