Morris tribune., 1886-10-27
ADOPTED OUTOF CHARITY.

"We've taken her in out ofcharity,"
Mr.. Bannerman used to say; and it
was quite true that he had taken the
girl in, but from what kind OF charity
let people Judge.
Martha Harris was q small trades
mans daughter who had gone wrong,
and going wrong had led her to pris'
on. She had been caught wandering
suspiciously near the parapet OF
Waterloo bridge one night and a mag
istrate had committed her to prison
for a week, not as q punishment, but
that she might be demonstrated with
by the chaplain on the sinfulness OF
wishing to get rid of life which had
become q burden to her. The case was
reported in the newspapers, and in
the course of the week Mr..
Bannerman wrote from q seml-de-
tached villa in the outskirts of Lon
don to say that he would gladly take
the outcast to his home and do his
humble best to create in her new
spolrit. Prison chaplains have often
to deal with glfls who arca weary OF
life, and they always find it difficult TO
provide for such cases; so the chaplain
thought we'll of Mr.. Bannerman's
communication, and went to Martha's
cell to inform her that Christian
family had offered to take her in.
"You see Providence had not desert
ed you, Harris" he remarked, with
the proper solemnity of priest ad-
dressing a sinner. "Will you promise
me that, if recommend you to these
kind people, you will endeavor to be-
have YOURSELF"
Eyes, sir, replied Martha, meekly.
with downcast eyes.
by your own confession you have
Oeen very wicked" continued the rev.
erend gentleman. you must feel like
brand plucked from the burning. l
hope that really is what you feel?'
Eyes, sir"
"And that you repent? 1t will be
very grievous to me if | hear by and
by from these kind Christian people
that you have disappointed their ex-
pectations."
, Martha Harris made no answer, but
quietly cried. She felt not only very
wicked, but abandoned; and in her
forlorn condition it did really seem a
mercy that anybody should take her
by the hand and induct her into q
Christian home. A couple of days
afterwards, having received a few
parting words in season from the
chaplain, she appeared once more be-
fore the Magistrate. who administered
another lecture to her and handed her
over to a red-faced gentleman with
black whiskers, who was the Christian
owning the home where she was to be
taken in. Mr.. Bannerman was COM
plimented on his Christianity from
the bench, and pocketed the compli-
ments as so much wages due on &C
count of his faithful service towards
his Maker. He said he looked for his
reward in heaven; but it was evident
that he considered himself entitled to
an antlcipatory bonus IN the shape of
commentator here on earth. So
having made his bow to the Magis-
trate, he beckoned to Martha to fol-
low him, and took her off with him to
the suburbs in an omnibus.
Martha Harris was well-looking
girl of some education and refinement,
who might easily have obtained a sit
uation as q shop assistant or bar
maid or even as nursery governess
had she gone the rig hit way to work,
but having made slip at the outset
of her life she had been stunned by
her tall and saw all things in acontus-
ed way. She was as much ashamed of
herself as any gaol chaplain would
have desired, and though the week
she had spent in her prison cell, had
claimed her spirit so that she no long
er had any purpose of making away
with herself, yet she saw in life no
joyous prospect whatever, but only a
long course of expiation to be COM
menced and carried through with what
strength heaven might send her.
These consience-strIcken sentiments
Mr.. Bannerman by no means sought
to repress. Nor did his wife. They
were very careful to let Martha know
that for sins like hers there can never
be any forgiveness here below; but
that by dint Of hard labor and I'M
varying humility she might so far
reinstate herself in the good opinion
of her employers that at some future
time they mis- ht consider what could
be done for her. Meanwhile they Of
fered her food and shelter, bnt no
wages. Money is the root of all evil"
observed Mr.. Bannerman, "and you
must try to feel that you are working
for heavenly wages"
Martha did try. She had hoped for
a kind word in coming among these
Christian people, but she could not
expect it; and the views which they ex-
pressed as to her sinful state only con-
tirmed her in the opinion that the
world at large-which was imbued, no
doubt, with less Christian charity
than these Bannermans-would view
it more harshly still. So she hung her
head lower than ever and went about
her work, wondering whether all the ia
tigues she endured and all the tears
she shed in secret would ever make of
her better girl than she was. She
became the maid of.all-work in the
Bannermans' house. She helped Mrs.
B. to cook, look after the children, did
all the housework, mended clothes,
scrubbed floors and doorstep and
washed linen. She was up at half
past five in the morning and could
seldom crawl to her bed before mid
night.
Martha had g. kind of coadjutor in
apoor, lame boy called Phil. who had
also been adopted out of charity after
he had been sentenced by a county
justice to a months Imprisonment
for stealing turnip out of field and
eating it, when faint with hunger.
Like Martha, Phil was overwhelmed
with sense of his own vileness and
had become weak-minded from think
ing that never, so long as he lived in
this world, would that affair about the
turnip be forgotten, and that it would
be trimmed uD against him even when