The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1886-04-16

hind him for . cart. and YOU will ~
ms sister hugging % her breast with a
look of ineilable iondness her doll--an
old bottle, about which Bit II filthy
rag Is carefully folded. hut the favor
ite pastime % these miserable little
walls b 70 play ''wake." A wake Il
the most common event Of the com
mnnity. You can not live very success
fully In Pearl alley. but Il h very easy
70 die there. il Is q short cut from,
that point 10 the Potter's Field. : very
short and rapid journey attended with
little ceremony; flutter Of black bed
raggIed cloth on the door, 4 drunken
wake, and the dead wagon. And the
wakes are % numerous and really ID
cheerful compared with life generally
in Pearl alley. Il Is little wonder TIE
children like 70 perpctuate the fesfivity
in their play.
Patsy Flynn liked II best Of all the
games, chiefly because he invariably
played the corpse. and Il was easy and
pleasant TO lie quite still, with his
hands folded, while the other boyo
marched and shouted and jumped
about him. Patsy was not
very strung. children somehow
did not thrive In Pearl alley.
and he liked to be quiet. Patsy
lived alone with his grandmother.
There had been . mother once. OF
course, and Patsy remembered her
well. too. Occasionally now his frame
tremblcd as il he still felt the weight
Of her heavy hand. which. guided in
drunken fury. had 80 often raincd
blows Of crushing force upon him. and
once in awhile il seemed as II he heard
her loud. coarse voice showering oaths
and imprecations after him as he fled
from her terrible presence. But he did
not, for II was quite two years since
the night she and the man who occa-
si0nally came TO their wretched home
quarrcled 50 ficrcely. and when the
brief bitter fight was over the woman
lay dead on the floor and the man stag
gercd sullcn and muttering from tn
place. He never came again. and the
wake which followed was another
thing Patsy remembered well. Since
then he and his grandmother had
shared together, unmolested. the
gloomy cellar room which was what be
called home.
big Granny" as this ancestral rel
ative Of his was called. was at once the
pride and terror Of the alley. She was
old. nobody knew how old. but SO old
that had she walked she would have
tottered with the weight OF years; mas
much. however. as she always stag
gcred from the burden Of liquor she
was carrying, the infirmity Of age was
unnoticed. Her hair was white and
thin, and struggled in neglected dis
order away from her temples, the long
er locks twisted in : wispy coil in the
nape Of her neck. Summer and win
ter she went unbonneted. her one outer
garment Gotten wrapper that hung in
drapcry about her tall. lean
figure. Her face was scanned and
brown and whithered like the skin OF
baked apple, and on her long throat,
which the loose fit OF her dress barred
TO the collar bone. the wrinkled flesh
hung in habby folds. There was no
voice in the alley more shrill and
piercing than hers. NO speech more
foul, and no ribald wit 50 quick and
scathing as that which fell from her
toothless lips.
A curious pair they were, the pale.
starved child. weak and puny, and the
gaunt, weather-beaten woman, but in
their way they got on. Big Granny did
not beat Patsy. She let him alone. and
in return his was the one voice Of al!
the children in the alley which was still
when the old woman shufiled and stag
gered through the street for her daily
portion Of stimulant. Hoots and ieers.
SCOTS and howls the other urchins
hurled nj her and after her As she
walked. but Patsy never joined this
juvenile mob. He did not take up cud-
gels in her defense: that would have
been useless; he simply responded TO
an intangible sense Of family obliga-
lion which he felt without recognizing
and rcfrained from offensive measures.
And Big Granny in her sober moments
lelt 50 much affection for the boy as
her capabilities permitted and in her
drunken moments never abused him.
50. As has been said. they got on.
In general. that is. On an particu-
lar morning. raw, damp day Of recent
late, there was not the usual entente
.ordiGic between them. Big Granny
|clt the east wind in her old bones
doubtless. and was avcrse to the tramp
outside for beer. She babe Patsy 90
% the corner for her, which the child,
,owering over the few Goals in the
Itove, refused to do This aroused the
always alert wrath Of the old woman,
md she poured forth . vollcy Of Bill
ingsgate and vitupcration frightful to
hear, but which seemed to fall upon
leaf ears. 50 passive did the child sit |
lnder t. Then she took the broken
losed pitcher herself and started in q |
burst Of savage anger for the mecca Of |
III her piIgrimagcs.
Patsy crouched closer TO the smolder-
ng fire - the door opened and drew
lis ragged jacket tighter about his
hivcring form. He had felt iii ard
for two or three DAYS, but |
here was neither medicine nor doctors |
n Pearl alley and the healing Of the
lick Was not considered In the ethics OF |
be community. This morning his |
read and throat achcd and throbbed |
With pain. his tongue was dry. and his
FPS were parchcd and hot. "A curious
ancy possessed him. too. Every once
n while the little rusty stove with It's
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