Wichita eagle., 1889-08-04
TOM BLINKER'S BABY.
THE STORY OF A FALL AND REF
ORMATION IN REAL LIFE.

The Life of 2-Year-OId Darling the
Price of a Mans Redemption-The Little
Mound of Earth on Crown Hill-Ths
| Neat Cottage OF the Old Time Tom.
Tom Blinker was one of the 'boys,
! and there are many in this city who
| would know him should his right name
be given. He made good wages, spent
his money freely and was hale fellow
well met with every one.
When he and Mary stood before the
altar in the little church and linked their
lives together many were the cOmpli-
ments they received, for indeed they
were fine couple. Their friends con-
graduated them and the future hooked
bright. And when the first little prat-
tier came the acme of their happiness
seemed to have been reached.
But Toms old habits chung to him,
and ere many years had gone he began
to neglect his home. Often he would
come home late at night under the infiu-
ence Of liquor. The money he earned
passed over the bar of the saloon, and the
roses faded from Mary's cheeks The
stars left her eyes; her face became
pinched, and deep lines Of sorrow chased
away the dimples. Still she did not COM
plain, and Tom did not SEQ what great
changes were going on in his home.
From one house to another they moved.
The little home on which Tom on his
wedding day had made the first payment
was gone, and at last his midnight reel
carried him to a miserable howell in which
a heart broken woman and children ex-
listed.
THE ANGELS WING.
Tom had reached the bottom. So low
had he descended that he would scrub
out saloons that he might get the Gregs
of alcoholic stimulants. He was Bum
mer Blinker now with a rum oolored
nose and eyes bleared and bloodshot.
Many times he inhabited the drunk
room" at the station house, and when he
was brought in the desk sergeant would
say, Hello, Blinker; you here again !?
Why don't you brace up and be some
oHS. iOu uScO W pO d E'iCeey ScOb AiIu
of fellow"
Tom would only humble and drop
down into a corner to sleep. In po-
lice court he was a Chronic" and was
fined time and time again.
One cold and dismal night, when the
snow was on the ground and all nature
was ice clad, Tom was in a low barroom
asleep. Some cruel jokers had painted
his swollen face with lamp black and
were having rare sport with the drunken
man. When he awoke and realized his
condition he became angry, and the re-
suit was that he was badly beaten and
thrown out of doors. Then he staggered
homeward. That night while the father
was at the barroom 2-year-oid baby
Mary, whose eyes and dinlples were like
mothers used to be, was taken suddenly
i'll with that night dread Of all mothers
the Group, and in few hours its little
life was ended While the mother bent
over the form of her child and bathed
its face with her tears, Tom staggered in
and threw himself on to a char, with a
besotted oath; then, as sleep overcame
him, he fell to the floor, where he lay
till morning with Mary's faded and torn
shawl under his head for pillow.
All night long the mother sat beside
her deaq and sent her prayers heaven
ward. When mornings light appeared,
and Tom, benumbed with cold and par
TALLY sobered, saw his dead child and re-
allied that he had not been near to wipe
the death damp from its brow, or help it
battle for life, then an old feeling, be-
come new, came to him. Down on his
knees, with his face buried in the tat
great strong men can sob, and Mary, the
wreck of long ago, placed her wasted
arm about his neck, and with her wan
face against his, -unmindful of the lamp
black, the fumes of vile liquor, mingled
her tears with his. But 10 promises of
did Tom make.
Kind neighbors furnished little coffin,
and when Tom, trembling in every Ii NIB
from dissipation, dropped hot, burning
tears on the little face upturned, and
with his shaking hand caressed the tiny
white hands peacefully crossed OH the
bosom of white, people wondered ''if
this viii be lesson to him" The fu-
neral was unpretentious. Every clod
that fell on the coffin struck a blow on
Toms heart. For two days Tom re-
manned at home, and on the third, when
he started away, he took his wife in his
arms and kissed her as he did in times
gone by. And when he returned Mary
listened for his step, oh, so anxiously,
and, when she heard it, thanked God it
was the step of a sober man.
Tom was missed from the bar room,