The Somerset reporter., 1885-04-15
The Same Old StOru.

1
my house and asked for something to eat.
She had on a short cotton dress, which the
wind would make sport Of knitting, thin,
ragged stockings through which you could
| see the blueness OF her legs, q wretched
| pair Of shoes and hood which once was
| dyed red but Tow seemed dying OF NORTH
| cation. Her limbs were like lathes and her
face had that worn. pinched, suppressed
| snd drawn IN appearance, which Is pitiable
| In an admit, bat painful beyond telling 10 a
| child. She looked as though her cradle
| had been several siZes too small for her
| and ever since getting out Of it she bad
| been ctamped She was weakened Oh
woman At the age OF twelve years. When
she tried 20 smile, her Jaw apparently tried
to br.ak through the skin.
TINS chId sad and her story proved TO
~ tfue) that her father was away" her
mother vas SICK Of consumption, there
were three small children to care for, in
c.oGing bI1e al the mothers breost, and
she xas the 5on-ekeeper She told US how
sue managed TO do the cooking, when there
wa- any 10 pc done, to do the washing, to
mind the babies, to nurse her mother and
10 saw the "11d when they had any, be-
sides l9r4sing among the neighbors for
food, very often, and picking up pair OF
stockings mere aud a warm skirt there for
the children.
Il can't put bread TO rise very well-Im
not oig enough" said she, 'ou there's a
great girl, seventeen years old, who knows
bow . DO II, and comes n and mixes il
for me, and can put 1t 10 the pans and
bake /. ", the washing is rather hard
/ boil the clothes good deal, but | don't
seem 10 get EN- very clean. The water
pipe burst last Monday, and the water
came out all over the ro0n, aud Im afraid
mother got cold aud it made her sicker."
II Is keeping Within bounds to ray that
few women have experienced the agoni,s
suffered uy the mother OF this child. She
@4s 3led ia one OF the oldest aud best
families 10 Lewiston. she married a man
that had few equals and no ~uperIors at his
trade and Commands nigh wages. 1t IS
needless 10 adG--lne reader already sur
mi-es-that rum las robbed him Of his
m 4nbGod and made her home a horror.
There has been steady slide down hill.
Sue =hOllderrd tue burden. She scrubbed
aud earned bread for Their babies undergo
ing troubles that msy easily be Imagined
Que day she came to my house to work,
Win large scar On her face, that told its
own story. She was fragile woman and
had cough that year ago sounded her
death kueIl. Cou-ump'ipn made her It's
victim. She had ~ throw down Aer load.
She has been eApir.ug by Inches for year,
aud probably will never get up from the
bed on which she Dow lies.
A year or more ago, her husband received
pension arrearage amounting 10 81 800.
He was sober tJr short time. When be
is sober he Is kind aud sensible. He
bought little house and decided it to his
wife. The sun seemed to dawn on that
home once more; but the cloud-the cloud
black with the scoWi of hell, the same old
cloud, the cloud that has darkeDed and
chilled SO many homes and SO long had
rested on theirs-biOtting out the ray. IL
soon .ne to this she and her chIldreu
must eat their home or starve. mort
gage and all that meaDs, followed.
recent visitor thus describes the in
teliOr OF thi. home:
The husband was sitting with his feet
on the stove, booty and eating a slice OF
bread aud butter. He ordered me out Of
the house and attenp ed To put me out,
bu, he was drunk II was easy enough TO
floor hin. The woman sat in a chair nurs-
Ing her oaoy, and in attempting to walk to
tue bed she fell to the floor from weakness.
Behind the house. in the Snow Was a small
pile Of wood, and the little cir. was cour-
ageously attacking it with a saw taller than
herself.
80 Polly. aid the drunkard to a Young
er girl-'Poily, have yer got some pie?
Polly, bring Yer dear papa a piece Nv pie
The WON III groaned All | ask she
said, is that they'll take him 10 ja! for six
Is days. Then when he'd come out I'd be
dead. | wan. to die IN pc zee
Many klud-learted people have taken an
interest in this poor woman aud her chill
dren and send her food and delic acies.
They would send her more, If it were not
Tor the constantly present suggestion that
somebody who likes pie not quite as well
a. he likes whi>hey, may come 10 and clean
Ut the board before the woman and little
ones have had ca nee.
But the most horrible part OF this WON
au sad story cannot be told, although the
thoughttui reader may have OWNED Ii, al
ready That puny, haii-ied oabe, born out
OF death aud living out of death-what
mother does not shudder at the thought?
The babe came into the weird after the
mother actually had begun 10 60 out. The
woman has been dying every day she has
nourished the infant; and every breath the
Child has drawn, has cut OF respiration
from the mothers allotment. What Will
be the future OF that child, if he survives
her. Epilepsy, perhaps.
You may say there are hundreds of cases
a. dark as this, that it is 40 old story, that
yru have seen such things with your own
eyes aud that j. disagreeabie enough with
out having your attention forced upon
them when you perfer to think of some.
thing more cOuyenlal Granted. But you
need little of this medicine a. au anti
dute for selfisnness. Ii Well shaken and
well taken, it produces expaE sion of the
he4rt-I1e Rambler in the LelriS.1H Jour-
nal.