The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-08-14

firmly in front of her antagonist cried
'You're making mistake, Mrs. Flanagan
You've been told falsehood. l was having
glass of beer with that fellow"
"Felow!" screamed the woman. ''How
dare you call him fellow Sal Christmas!
Here, all of You know what q fellow means,
don't you?'
The crowd uttered u hoarse cry of assent and
began TO draw in closer, but covered back
again as TWO policemen forced their way to-
ward the central figures.
"Now Mother Flanagan, go on up the court.
You know had to lock you up last Saturday
night for fighting with your husband
"'Usbandl L amt got no husband, sir. This
gentleman's my brother. Will you be my us
band, sir?'
"No! No fear"
Tho policeman's answer seemed to rouse
every dormant evil passion in the woman's
breast.
"What!' she shouted, "you say that, do
you? You lout, you cowboy You-you---
you"
"Now, then, drop that" interrupted the
officer, walking toward her, and then adding
in a more persuasive tone, "Why don't you go
home?'
"Me go home? Not much D'you think
I've been fed on sleeps millS?"
A powerfully built man. with short clay in
his mouth, who had been idly regarding the
scene, here interposed.
'fNow, mother 20 on up the court. D'you
hear me! Go on, say" no added, emphasz-
ing his remarks with blow.
Mrs. Flanagan skunk away, and Us she did so
q girl who had been standing by Sal through
out the contest whispered: "Look who's
coming!'
Sal followed the direction of her compan-
ions eyes, coloied, and turned away, us a gem
tleman in clerical costume approached. Some
of the men raised their hats, but he barely
acknowledged the salute, his eyes being fixed
curiously on the girls retreating figure. He
turned down an archway exactly opposite tho
position the crowd had taken up, and passed
through doorway on tho right hand side.
His movements were watched 10y the two
girls, who had stationed themselves within
the shadow of the opposite houses.
did you see him looking at you, Sal?"
The elder girl made no reply, but her grasp
on her companion's arm frightened.
"I'm watching to see him light his lamp,
Liz. It's shining through the blind is beauti-
full. watch here every night" she added In
a low, dreamy voice; ''while he sits there with
his books and pictures l watch / sometimes
think he can't come to no harm while I'm
watching Why don't he light the lamp now?
Hushl come back, Lizl Stoop- lower
lower"
The two girls remained motionless while
corner Of the blind was lifted for q moment
Before il Was dropped midnight struck, and
the air, as If by magic, suddenly became alive
with bells
what are they ringing for, Liz2'
"Don't you know, Sal? It's the new year
come in. You must think of the person you
love besti the world and then wish. Why,
Sally, how cold you arel You're shivering.
Let's go back to the fires"
There were several fires, each blazing be-
meath huge caldron of boiling tar. Half the
street was already paved, and in u few hours
the men would be at their work again, ladling
the asphalt out to its concrete bed, and
stamping 1t down to an even surface. 1t
dubbed and fixed, and the huge fires threw
out lurld glare, giving weird aspect to the
figures fitting about. They were lawloss
lot, the inhabitants of Pearces Rents, con-
tributing large percentage of the criminal
population of east London. Save for
the entrance through an old stone
gateway, relic of mediDyal London, it was
quite isolated from the rest of Hoxton. The
Rents formed little colony, bounded by q
disused burial ground, and the bare wall OF
mammoth printing establshment--Wil loughby
u Judd's. All OF the inhabitants of the Rents,
who ever did any work, were employed there,
Sal and Liz earning good money in the bndt
ing shop. 1t was through this establishment
that their parson, Rev. Claude Eden, had first
become acquainted with his fiance, Miss RIOS
allie Barham. She was the only daughter of
old Herbert Barham, senior partner in Bar
hams printing works-Willoughby 10 Judd's
great rival. Eden had been the mediator
between workmen and masters on the occasion
of the last great strike.
In Pearce's Rents he had chosen to pitch his
tents. Between the curacy Of fashionable
-, Hoxton wide gulf is fixed but he had
chosen to bridge 1t. His decision had been
taken suddenly, in a moment of enthusiasm,
only q few days after the world had received
the announcement of his engagement TO Miss
RoSalie Barham. Eden wished to elevate the
poor, and to instill some sweetness and light
into their lives, and he commenced by settling
in their midst. SO far the results had not been
very encouraging They tolerated him be-
cause he wasn't n bad sort," and there stop
nal In nod mot In oaff -
having Miss Barham's sympathies, Thatver
night they had parted, il not in anger in cold
ness. 81 hate them" she had said with a toss
Of her pretty head wearied TO death with her
lovers everlasting dissertations on the poor.
Eden was well aware that Resale had
meant nothing by that remark. Its significance
was attributable TO something that had oc-
Cured earlier in tho evening. In the pages
of book he had borrowed from her she dis
covered the photograph Of handsome but
commonly dressed girl, with the word "Sal"
scratched beneath Eden explained that Sal
was one OF his practitioners, 10 whom he had
lent the book, and he could not imagine how
the photograph had found its way between the
leaves.
His rooms were exactly above tho approach
to the novels where the inhabitants Of Pearce's
Rents dwell. From the archway beneath the
squalid courts branched out in all directions
50 tortuOus and SO treacherous that the police
whom business often called to that quarter
pursued their investigations in gangs.
Eden himself had never dared to ex-
plore their mysteries. From his rooms, that
morning OF the new year, he could hear the
drunken oaths and shrieks that characterized
the nightly carnival As the jests, ribald and
basphemous, fell, willy nilly, on his ears, a
great depression seized him. lie rose and paced
up and down the room. There was no need to
light the lamp; the whole apartment was illu-
minated by the glare from the furnaces. AS no
passed the window he raised a corner of the
blind and looked out by Joye, what picture
she makesp The two girls, Sal and her friend
Liz, had returned 10 the fires, and Sal was
standing a little in the foreground in the full
glare OF the light. 1t would have been hard 10
imagine more becoming background TO her
rich beauty than the flames and the curling
smoke. She was girl Of splendid physique,
upon whom town life so far had cast
its unhealthy pail in vain. Sprung from
race OF stalwart farm laborers,
her father had forsakon the soil 70 WOO
fortune in the great city. In common with
many others lac had failed but his failure had
been his daughters gain, for she, while retain
ing the health and strength Of the country,
had acquired that mental nimbleness that only
the town can give.
With head thrown deiantly back and hands