The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-07-14


tool, and as they passed a gentleman
who was remarking to some one, " Tell
her to put the house key under the
blind near the door; I've lost mine"
Martin, who knew where the man lived,
conceived a most diabolical plot.
Il do not like to put the house KEY
outside" said Mrs. Branch. who. with
her daughter, lived in small tenement
on the first floor of very respectable
looking house. Did you say Mr..
Brown had lost his?"
Yes, mother, and he will not be at
home till quite late His wife says he
can reach it from the steps"
No doubt, and so can burglar"
thought Mrs. Branch. "They own the
house and will think me not very
accommodating if object. Perhaps It
will do no HARM" she said, and, after
going to the door and looking up street
and down, she placed il there.
After they retired and her mother
was asleep Anna, who had become quite
nervous about it, crept out of bed to
see if the key was still safe. Thoughts
of robbers so filled her mind she wooed
sleep in vain. 60, if Mr.. Brown would
only come," thought she.
Footsteps approached and out of bed
again, moving the curtain " just enough
to see if any one is coming here. No,
what a silly child | am" she said to
herself. Again, and steathy steps APP
proach-yes, she is sure-and coming
up our path, too"
90, the key" she exclaimed, as up
flew the curtain and open came the
window just in time to touch the
fingers that were feeling for it. A
scream of Motherl mother" and
Anna Branch fell back into the arms of
the parent who, moment before, was
dreaming Of her Willie, the sailor boy,
who would soon be with them.
\
" The fool, standing there till he's
caught GOMEZ" and Martin took
the frightened jim, who hardly under
stood what was going on, by the arm
and was about walking away.
Look-a-here-yOu agreed to wait
for him." said Spalding, who was not
quite devoid of honor, though the alco-
hol he had swallowed had partially
taken possession of that delicate organ,
the brain.
Didn'tyou hear the scream? They'll
catch him and he will tell who sent him,
and you and | will 90 up" was the
reply.
Jim knew what that meant, though
he had had no experimental knowledge
of " going up" as Martin called the
trip he had once taken to the house of
correction.
" What did l want of the key? you
ask. Why, Brown always carries good
deal of money with him and with that
key | could easily let myself into the
hail." and his hastily improvised plan
of robbery was rehearsed to the other
boy, who literally" shook in his boots. :"
" Here he comes, here he comes! :"
as with hurried steps Willie came
rapidly across the street to the place
where the others had partly secreted
! themselves while he followed the di-
rectons of Martin
The voice that cried Mother" had
a familiar ring-the touch of the fin
gers startled him, and when, dazed, he
stood and listened to the reassuring ac-
cents that fell from the lips of his own
dear mother. as she came to the assist
ance of the plucky young girl, who,
Notwithstanding the terror she felt,
controlled her feelings till she seized
the key, the shock completely sobered
him. As the dreadful truth burst upon
his mind, though the full significance
was more than he could understand, he
walked away-away from the dear ones
for whom he had been seeking.
By the time he reached the other
boys he felt as if he had lived years.
His dignity surprised them, and when
he refused point-blank to walk one step
with fellows who would lead an inno-
cent boy on to crime" they shrunk
away, dreading, yet expecting, they
knew not what
Willie Branch walked back and forth
through the street that held his dear
ones determined to keep near them,
yet feeling that he could not 90 home
! Just then.
"What had he almost done?"
"What homecoming it might have
been had he succeeded in getting the
key for Martini" All he had ever
read or heard of penitentiaries ioated
through his mind.
After an hour or two, when darkness
h"'t SNcu way W DllSuI lilOOull1nl
and among houses that were growing
familiar-the looks of one was thor
oughly fixed in his mind-he decided to
find respectable hotel from which he
could come in the morning He had
thought it all out. 1t would break his
mothers heart if she knew the whole
story. No; never, never would he
pain her with it, and never, nerer'
would he trust himself with boy who
would, under any circumstances, enter
saloon.
y
Though several years have passed,
to him glass of lemonade is sicken-
ing sight The boys who in him, a ris-
ing lawyer, find such firm friend
sometimes wonder at the peculiar and
excessive interest he shows in their
welfare, yet not one has ever heard of
the experience that so nearly wrecked
! his own life.
A BLACK list of diseases follows an
| unhealthy condition of the liver. one of