Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-07-17

= AAetIe Story 81 Every Day Life To14 ~
Philosopher n. Quad.
Yes, he may be fraud probably is
one, replied the man under the white
plug hat as he replaced his change, 'Sbut
! made mistake on the wrong side of
the ledger once and don't want to get
caught that way again.
How was itgn
Well, I'm neither a Christian nor
philanthropist Fact is. I'm a pretty
hard-hearted man on the average. but
used to be little worse than am now.
One evening, five or six years ago, right
in front of this very store, boy about
twelve years of age hit me for a dime
He had tears In his eyes, drawl in his
voice, and | spotted him at once for an
lmposter. He went on to say that his
father was sick and unable to work. and
that he himself had been down with q
fever and had no strength to look for q
job, and / laughed in derision and told
him to clear out or I'd give him in
charge
Its an old dodge" observed the
man who was smoking q corn-cob
pipe.
Exactly; but it may not ALWAYS be a
dodge. Ihad pocket full of silver,
and was too emery mean to hand over
dime. Suppose the boy was lyingg
Suppose he wanted the money himself9
How contemplate in me to begrudge
Slat trifing sum to little chap who was
certainly all skin and bone, and evident
~ needed a square meal"
''But it would qe encouraging vice"
said the man with the check shirt
front.
''Bosh! There are men in Detroit
who are looked upon as shining exam
Piles, who cheat and swindle the people
out of thousands of dollars where vice
gets a shilling. This little incident !
have been relating went out of my mind
in an hour, but the next day, was look
ing over an old tenament with the owner,
who wanted me to figure on repairs,
when who should come across but the
boy of the night before. he was in bed
and raving with fever. In bedl Well,
he was tossing around on a heap of rags.
In the same room was the mother, try
ing to earn few cents at the wash-tub,
but not having the strength to work for
more than five minutes at a time. Also
the father-just alive with consumption,
and occupying bed no better than the
boys"
''Same boy, ehG" queried the corn
cob-pipe man, as the hard lines In his
face began to melt
''The very same. There was quaver
in his voice which no one could forget
In day. He was raving away of this
or that, but the father was quiet and in
clined to be cheerful, As sat down be-
side him for moment, after leaving q
five-dollar bill in his skeleton hand, he
said:
g God bless you for a good mani
When little Ben started out last night
we hadn't neither light, fuel or food in
the house. He met some kind-hearted
man who gave him a dollar. 1t might
have been you. But for that money God
knows how we must have suffered
might have been me! When re-
membered how had repulsed that boy
the thought stabbed me like a knifei
was trying to say something to cheer
the dying man, when that fever-stricken
lad sprang up, evidently recognizing my
voice, and cried out:
/" please, mister, don't have me ar
rested Don't let 'em lock me upl
I'm telling the TRUTH amt lyingp
'He came right over and got hold of
me, and | tell you if ever a man was
broken down it was this very individual.
/ left twenty-five dollars there when !
went away, and sent doctor around,
but inside of week father and SON
were dead. One died blessing me, and
the last words of the other were an en-
treaty to me not to call him fraud and
have him locked up. That's why my
hand goes down for the chink when man
or boy strikes me for change. I'd rather
give thousand dollars to frauds than to
have another honest boy die with my re-
fusal grinding into his SOUL"