Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-01-01
THE NISER'S REFORMATION.
The American R ural Home.


how. Losing wife and child while
was still . young man brokeme down
For q time I didn' care whether lived
or died, but still kept on with my
business, and presently ] found my.
self beginning to love money. 1t be.
came thegreatest pleasure Of my exist
ence to count up my gains, and to
add dollar to dollar. s
The house Ihad furnished SO prettilv
for Marie, and which she had taken SO
much pride in, left to itself began to
show signs of neglect. For a time !
retained the old housekeeper, To
brighten up things and keep them
tidy, but that luxury cost too much,
and dismissed her. 5
Then, not liking to see the pretty
things that had been so dear to Ma
RE go to decay through dust and neg
lect, had them carried up to the
great garrett that extended the whole
length of the house. s$,s+< : r !, I
did feel for time very unhappy
when they were all banished, and /
WAS left with the bare boards and two
Or three chairs, but consoled myself
with the reflection that some day I
would have them all back aga in.
turned the once pleasant no ON in
which ! had spent so many cheerful
hours with my wife and little one into
asort OF second Office, and there
slept, ate my scanty meals and did
much OF my work. 1t was sordid,
sorry life. l denied myself every COM
fort almost, but that of FIRE, in the
dead OF winter. That would have,
and OF the best hickory, no matter
what it cost. Meats and delicacies
could do without, books and comforts
OF many sorts, but fire, that was
the one link that bound me to the in
stincts of my kind.
L grew shabby, seedy, lean and ugly.
MY hair began to stand up on my
head through lack of sufficient moist
ure, my eyes grew hollow, my cheeks
were sunken, and l looked like what I
was, a miser. TO gather gold to count
it, to gloat over it's accumulation, and
that for it's own worshipped sake, be-
came the ruling passion OF my life.
Not houses and lands, and friends
that might have been bought, but gold,
"gold, gold! For this Islaved, neglect
l shall never forget Tuesday the
,I5th day OF January, Ammo Domino,
selghteen hundred and sixty-seven.
THAT is the way have written it down
5in,my day-book.
Imagine my coming to my solitary
house, in the lower part of the great
city of New York, hemmed in by
warehouses.
say, imagine me shivering in a thin
coat, buttoned up over a pocketbook
as plethoric us ! was lean, entering
the implanted and cobwebbed front
door, and walking through the large
shall, solacing myself with the thought
that / should soon be comfortable in
front of a blazing fire, and finding, as
l opened the door to my own den, q
great red flame upon the hearth, and
Towering over it the thin, almost skel-
>'eton form of child.
Shall l ever forget the unearthly
look OF the great dark eyes she turned
upon me, eyes that seemed to light up
the very corners Of the room, to my
frightened, excited fancy. Icame for
ward slowly; she never stirred, only
continued to gaze on me with q
strained, pitiful expression, until she
, spoke, seeing that came to a pause.
ooh, the fire is so good!"
What do you mean? Who are you?
How did you get in here?" l asked
sternly.
III crawled in through the bars, down
into the cellar. guess I stayed there
all night oh, it was so dark and
'.coid!' But I'm used to that now.
Then ! found the cellar door, and it
was open and came here, and there
was Goals on the hearth and I made g.
dire."
If the child had not been pretty,
am sorry to be compelled to say,
pretty in spite OF the Crime, the tousled
chair, the rags and TIE marks of hard
living, and perhaps brutal treatment,
OR if she had come there in any other
fashion, at the door as mendicant,
~or even been sent there by any friend,
/ should have expelled her on the in
:stant, but she had thrown herself
upon my bounty-the fire litsnp the
dark eyes, that somehow made me
think OF those of my own little pet
she had stood her ground without
flinching, She had prepared an agree
able surprise by making the fire, for I
was very cold, and she did not seem in
t,theleast afraid of me-
'"Where do you belong?", asked.
. 81 don't belong anywhere" -. Us
well, who takes care OF yous Who
do you live with?",
II don't live" with any body. l
haven't got any home. Mother died
and father died, long ago, and Pm all
alone by myself =
ri Her words and manner touched me,
but avarice was tugging at my heart.
Igudged this poor little mite the food
she would require. e. = Z. 4;
"Well, you've got warm now; l can
not keep you any longer--there. is the
way to the door," said.
She rose up, holding the rags Of her
shawl together, and then saw that
her arms and chest were bare for her
dress was IN summer one. probably
some gossamer thing that had been
given her. She looked at me pleading
ly, and for the life of me could think
OF nothing but the eyes Of my dead
child. a8 5...
~ It rushed over me as / followed her
b. to the door. F ancy if this was your
I own little Kitty" and my heart be-
gan to beat furiously.
4 As opened the door a cold wind
blew in that chilled me to the core, and
the child looked pitifully up at me
again. I couldn't stand it. Itook
her by the shoulder and led her back
to the fire, and though ! didn't know
4 it. the tears were rolling down my
/ cheeks. who hadn't wept since
laid my darlings together in their last
cold bed. -s5s
The child staid that night and was