The Penn's Grove record., 1886-02-13
NOBODY'S son.

fes, Nobody=s son! have known
him in his prosperity, though you may
not be aware of it; but of the struggles
of his boyhood you know nothing. The
bottle stands; pass it. Permit me to
tell you his story, gentlemen.
A ragged lad, spare and grimy, he
stood in a doorway almost too low to
admit him, and inside there was writ
ten ''poverty, hunger, and dirt" The
boys eyes wandered in a hopeless man
ner from a slatternly woman c%rouching
over the hearth, to the figure of a man
lantern-visaged, hollow-eyed, who lean
ed against the doorpost beside him.
"WeI my lad, dost hear?"
"Ay. But where am ] to go to?"
"Where thee likeSt. Come, out with
thy fist; there's three bob, and l can i'll
spare 1t. Now, go thy ways; be honest
and don't lie; but remember that we
have done with thee for all evers."
The lad took the money and turned
away. In a few minutes lie came back
again.
0Give me a name" he said, looking
up into the mans sallow face, ''every
dog has a name"
"But every brat picked up in the
gutter hasn't.".
Suddenly the woman rose up from
her c|rouching posture, and came for
ward.
81 had a name once, SO long ago that
it's well nigh forgot Dunna send the
lad away, John; l picked him up, and
he's growed to my hearts like. Dunna.' y
stBother!n returned her husband
.'Who's to fill his mouth and cover his
back? Cut!-be ofl-marchI'
''I'ye not got a friend in the worldl'
cried out the lad, as he trudged through
the muddy lanes which led from his
old home mot one in the world" And
the rain that battered down from the
~housetops repeated it doggedly, mot
onei''
''I'm all in rags and DIRT" he said,
as he reached the broader streets and
stared about him, and a peal of bells
rung out and echoed it merrily, rags
and dirt, rags and dirt!"
"Cut, be off, march," repeated the
boy. "But where shall / march? Every
body's busy here, there's no room fol
me. What am I to dor" He passed a
p~astrycook's shop-tempting and rich
he was hungry, and bis fingers wan
dered to the shillings in his pocket,
wistfully. All at once ar idea came to
him, and his eyes glistened.
One poor little marble table stood III
a dim corner, but it did not seem to at
trapt any one much.
'tNow, my boy. What is it?"
s'That I'm, and that I'm, a1dthls un,
said the lad, indicating with a singu-
larly dirty finger the particular daintles
he wished to stow away.
81 say, you move off. VIII you? III
teach you to finger things here, you
dirty young rascal. march,"
He held out his shilllngs despairingly.
'Ohl that's another thing" said the
man. "Come, say what you want, but
keep your fingers off"
"Giye us one in" said the lad,
watching with his anxious eye every
delicacy put into the little basket. II
want to sell EN-"
The man looked at him and laughed
but one more pitiful come up and look
ed at him too.
"Give him some," he said, angrily,
t'You know the price if he's going tC
SELL"
The young merchant left the shop
with a sob still sticking in his throat.
He tramped the streets and pushed bis
basket at the passers by, some gave HIM
an angry look, some a poke with a stick
or a sharp-pointed elbow, Two cake:
he had sold realizing the sum of three
h~alfpence, when he sat himself down OF
the steps of st. Paul's Cathedral, and
gradually as the SUI grew hot and hot
Ger, his head dropped lower and he
slept.
An hour afterwards, the same ragged
urchin darkened the door of the pastry.
cooks shop, where the n marble table
stood still desolate in its corner.
"What, here again, my fine fellow
Come, off with you; march," 1t wa
very odd. "Marchln had been ringing
in his ears all day, and here it CAM
again. Was everybody going to tel
him to march, and where on earth wa
he going to march to?
Great tear-marks covered his face
red and smudged with dirt, as he turn
ed towards his former advocate.
81 went an slep, and somebody's gon,
and prigged 'em.n 1t seemed as if tn,
perpetual march were coming from
his mouth too, but the owner thereo
changed his mind, and examined tn
face with Its grimy tear-marks.
"Whoa are your What's your namet'
"Name, john"
"John what?' asked the man.
"M-m--marclI," stammered the La
looking round despondingly; for he hat
a misty sort of idea that it was a hang
ing matter to have no name, and tina
was the only n he could thing of.
"John March, where's your fatherS'
"NoWheres."
"Your mother2n
saint got none"
"Whose son are ycus'
"NObody's."
"Where did you get that money!"
sit was given me by them as picked
me up a little 'un and can't keep me n
longer. indeed it was"
A fresh burst of sobs followed thu
speech, and when the questioner put
fresh basket Of eatables into the dirt.
hand held out to receive 1t, they cam
faster than ever, for the lad didn'
know what to say he was so glad. II
was told that he must come back anC
pay his debts when the basket wa
empty, which he promised, with a Gu
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