The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1885-04-30
BOb's Roses.

| pleasant. Even the "Crystal Palace
has one advantage over them, for it has
the open street in front OF it, while they
have nothing but the back Of half a
dozen houses and beer saloons within
ten feet Of their front windows.
Starr Place is such an out-ot-the- way
nook, too, that even if you We're in
search Of it, you have TO hunt some time
before You see the dngy signs that hang
up in the archway leading to it and if
lou are only an ordinary passer, you
have not an idea of its existence
If you choose to turn up this archWay,
however. which is not much wider than
an ordinary door, YOU get into Starr
Place, a damp cOurtwav, some ten feet
wide, between the back Of the house
already mentioned, and eight or ten
IicketY houses in block by themselves.
should any one be bold enough to
enter one Of these houses that fronts on
the place, and grope his way through
the dark entry and up three flights of the
rjckety stairs, he would come to the
room in which Rob McGregor lived.
Rob McGregor had not always lived
there, however. His parents had been
very decent Scotch people, and he could
remcmher when he was little boy, that
they used to live in a comfortable house
at the North end but his father had
grown too fond OF drink, and things had
grown from bad to worse, until Thanks
giving Mr.. McGregor had been sent TO the
I1l.
drunken row, and his wife and baby had
gone down with him to the House of De-
tention, while Rob had been left to shift
for himself, under the nominal care of a
neignbOr.
While at the Island, however, the
baby had been taken sick, and Mrs
McGregor had returned and moved into
this room in Starr Place, and then things
had become still worse.
Their few possessions had been left in
the city, and while she was away the
greater part OF them had been stolen
and she. half sick herself, had neither
strength or courage to trace them, but
had gathered up what was left OF them
and moved to their new home.
Rob was standing at the window, look
dow pane. In chair, with one foot
upon the stove hearth, sat his mother, a
tall coarse featured woman, in slat-
ternIy dress, and with unkempt, sandy
hair, grooming Scotch song to his baby
sister Rose which lay breathing heavily
in her lap
After Il time, Rob turned uneasily
away and sat down upon the trunk. The
dispensary doctor had been in that NOR
ming, and had said the baby had dip
thella and was It very sick child, and
after he had given directions about the
medicine, Rob heard his mother say: 81
don't think she'll get over it, doctor :"
and then the doctor had answered, 'I
am afraid not, but III do what cam
He did not know much about dying,
but he did know that he should lose
baby sister, and the thought caused a
strange choking in his throat.
Baby Rose had been very cunning
when she was well, and had been very
fond of him; and when his father used
to come home drunk and beat him, he
would crawl by her side and she would
wake up and stroke bis face and whis-
per, .'Poo' Woobie," and in some way,
though why he knew not, it made him
feel better. 1t is true he used to object
10 the care Of her very often, and he had
| occ Sionally struck her, and this was not
pleasant to remember now, as he sat and
watched her.
In tact, there wasn't much pleasure
that day for poor Rob, and he felt thor
Oughly miserable as he sat and watched
the baby, Or dragged himself YEARLY out
into the street and back again, until at
crept across the foot of the bed and pull
ed a corner Of the old comforter over
him, wiping away tear on it secretly
and at last fell asleep.
When he awoke the next morning, his
mother was moving about the room in a
| mechanical sort Of way preparing the
breakfast. He noticed a changed ex-
| preston. a sadder look in her face, and
then he raised himself on one elbow to
where the baby was lying, The little
heap Of yellow flannel was still, and the
breathing he heard as he fell asleep was
now hushed. A strange feeling came
over hlm he did not know much about
1t, but it might be the baby was dead.
His mother must have guessed his
thoughts, for jusG then she turned, and
seeing he was awake, said: ''The baby
is dead"
Rob made no reply, but the choking
came more and more in his throat, and
he shifted suspiciously, and at last before
getting out of bed, was forced to rub his
eyes more than once with the comforter
The doctor came in and gave some di-
rections about burying the baby; and
after he lett, Mrs. McGregor, rousing
herself from her apathy, turned to Rob
and said :"Iou'd better 60 out, Rob, and
get the city man to see about burying
the baby. It's no good keeping her in
the house and eXposin' other folks chill
dren."
Rob put Oh his bat and dragged him
self heavily out doors, thinking that the
baby would never welcome him again on
his return. There was a group of boys
in the place as he went out, and one of
them hailed him:
'Hl, brlcktop, do you want to play ho-
key ?"
"Shut mp" muttered another, "he's
the teller that's got sister dead with
dipthery."
Rob was thankful for the kind sym
pathy, only he did not know what the
feeling was, and be went on to the city
undertaker's, thinking all the way of his
dead sister Rose
He remembered how fond she was of
flowers, what pleasure she had taken in
picking dandelons one day when he had
taken her out upon the common, and
how she had taken them home as great
treasures, and how delighted she had