Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1886-11-12
LITTLE TIM.

bNA NifAliN ms WIN AlliuNA " pun hih
sneers. snarcs. neglect. and severance
from the luckier born-and these seemed
fatal Ii may be through a law and love
insolube to us it proved not so; that TO
the Great Fathers heart the stains, and
wrongs, and sorrows thrust upon the
boy. as TO an earthly parents. made
him but the dcarcr; but measured in
the cold. hard. human way, his fate was
sorrowful. indeed.
The region where he first took up
the burden was low one, sunken.
no some quarter the foul and squalid
accrction of many sad conditions.
Here day of Hat, low skies. and sob
h.ng quarrelsome winds. that ended by
a wet fog driving in upon the great
city and settling upon the filthy quarter
! Ike dcath-cloth. had filled the neigh.
borhood with unusual gloom. The
spirit of insanity, the promptings to
crime and abandon. always eNhaled by
such diseased. unhappy surroundings,
seemed to increase and multiply with
the oppressive darkness. In at the
doorways of the low. half-lit saloons
the stcaming p.tiable populace jostled
and crowded from the thick. throat
clogging medium that filled the reek
inc, slippery streets, to the tongue
scalding, bran-m addening potionS Of
the bar; from distempered elements
without aud within To mental ruin and
forgetfulneSs.
In one OF these haunts of evil. place
OF shame. of will anous music and dan
eng, were negroes. Poles Italians. and
men and women. drunk and ruined,
from Heaven knows what other quarter
Of the compass What animalism!
What faces! What swallowing Of fire.
By midnight the back room was q
numbing whirlpool of deliriouS feeling;
heat, sweat, rag, liquor, profanity, the
beat and shuttle of feet, cries. and maud
lin laughter. Look at the roads along
which these lives had come. threads
running from under this lechcrous roof
to every qua CT OF the globe, TO cradles
over the sea. 10 mother-bosoms north
and south cas-; aud west
Did God, seeing il all. grieve that life
had been made thing SO capable OF
i'll? or was ,hc fault. somehow, So
cicty's?
At three O clock in the morning they
began to light In man, tho chords of
sensation seemed eaten too raw for
further pleasure. Then some one was
struck down. and tie rccling, haIf-blind
concoursc seemed suddenly fun of IT,
gers. Men sprang upon each other;
two were killed. and woman dividing
the polluted atmosphere with shrieks.
was thrown, jumped upon kicked. and
dragged into dark ~ide-room for dead
Then, when too late. the Law stepped
in, the place was cleared, and the un-
discovered woman. drunk and battered
with the coming of tine dawn. yielded
little Tim to the world, and her own de-
bauchcd spirit to the NJ, ,tcry of death.
OF such stuff arc some real ties. Out
of such elements was fashioned little
Tim,
1t seems well-nigh pity. into what
shadow socyer the mother had gone.
that he had not followed her But he
lived; drunken ncgrcss saved him
from death to lose him to ,adder fate.
Into nest of evil even more hateful
than that wherein he saw his first glim-
mcring. doubtful dawn. She carried
him. and al his earlier years were pass
ed in gathering rags and bones, in
stealing, and being kicked. and cufled,
and beaten. Somehow hi, ST. nc was
weakened; know not if from that first
dreadful hour. or by blows given after
ward by those who used him much Is
one might the boot toe to drive into and
loosen garbage with. one could not
cas- ~ have told how old lac was. if the
Number of his years were eight or
twelve. so cowed and deformcd spirit
looked out of his blightcd face The
yellow and green of putrid pools and
cutters seemed settled in his skin, leay-
ing it pallid olive. and his blue eyes
had cringlng, frightened, furtive
look.
Away at one side of the roaring city.
and in lcprous hovcl at the river
edge. was wherc the first year went
over him. mcrcilcss. crush Nc. slow
moving in Their passage. Often he
turned sick when digging in the sim
mering slime, and al hs base sur
round.ngs swan before him; BY times he
tainted in his loathing and weakness, and
was carried home and burned back to
life again with fiery liquor. The negress
held his poor life as in wise. and her
home was place of cursing, of theft.
of fighting. and drunkenness. The
chill. like n weak worm under foot
used to fight for his life. only to be the
harder cursed. Oh. it was pitiful, Yet
here were thousands more no better of
than he; some worse; and there be-
vond i'm the beautiful CITY were other