The Dickinson press., 1889-08-24
TOM BLINKER'S BABY.

lOVu D1l11Nl AlIlGD DADls
THE STORY OF A FALL AND REF.
oRMATIoN IN REA. LIFE.
The Life of n 2-Year-Old Darling the
Price Of n Mans Tsedcmption-The Little
Mound of Earth on Crown Hill-The
Neat Cottage Of the Old Time Tom.
Tom Blinker was one of the "boys,"
and there arc many in this city who
would know him should his right name
be given. He mado good wages, spent
his money freely and vas q halo fellow
well met with every ono.
When he and Mary stood before the
altar i'll the little church and linked their
lives together many were the compli-
ments they received, for indeed they
were a fino couple. Their friends con-
graduated them and tho future looked
bright. And when the first little pratt
tier came the acme of their happiness
seemed to have been reached.
But Toms old habits chung to him,
and ere many years had COMO he began
to neglect his home. Often he would
como home late at night under the inhu-
ence of liquor. The money he earned
passed over the bar of the saloon, and the
roses faded from Mary's checks. The
stars left her eyes; her face became
pincled, and deep lines of sorrow chased
away the dimplcs. Still she did not COM
plain, and Tom did not see what great
changes were going on i'll his home.
From n 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
Il heart broken oma and children ex.
listed.
THE ANGELS WING.
Tom had reached tho bottom. So low
had ho descended that he would scrub
out saloons that lie might get the dregs
of alcoholic stimulants. He was Bum
mer Blinker now with Il rum colored
nose and eyes blearcd and bloodshot.
Many times he inhabited the drunk
ROOM at tho station house, and when lie
was brought in tho desk sergeant would
say, Hello, Blinker; you here again2
Why don't you brace up and DO some
one? You used to be a pretty good kind
of q fellow"
Tom would only humble and drop
down into a corner to sleep. In po-
lice court he was a chronic and wa
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 jokcrs 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 tho 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-old baby
Mary, whose eyes and dimples were like
mothers used to be, was taken suddenly
ill with that night dread of all mothers
the Group, and in q few hours its little
life was ended. While tho mother bent
over tho 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 ovcrcame
him, he fell to the floor, where lie lay
till morning with Mary's faded and torn
shawl under his head for a pillow.
All night long the mother sat beside
her dead 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
tered bed clothing, he sobbed as only
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 no promises of
reformation did Tom make.
Kind neighbors furnished a little coffin,
and when Tom, trembling in every Ii mb
from dissipation, dropped hot, burning
tears on the little face upturned, and
with his shaking hand caresscd the tiny
white hands peacefully crossed on the
bosom OF white, people wondered "if
this will be a lesson to him." The flu
neral was u~npretentious. Every clod
that fell on the coffin struck q blow on
TOMS heart. For two days Tom re.
manned at home, and on the third, when
he started away, lie took his wife in his
arms and kissed her as lie did in times
gone by. And when he returned Mary
listened for his step, oh, SO a~nxiously,
and, when she heard it, thanked God it
was the step of a sober man.
Tom was missed from the bar room,
from the police station, from the police
court. He quit drinking and went to
work, Go to one of the largest factories
in tho city. Pass among tho whirring
wheels and ringing hammers. See that
tall, broad shouldered man with a CHEEKY
face, begrimed not with lamp black. but
with the result of honest labor! That's
Tom Blinker.
When tho whistle sounds he takes off
his apron, buttons his stout coat about
him and with u brisk swinging walk and
a CHEEKY whistle starts for home. Fol
low him to a neat little cottage and
watch the picture that tho light throws
upon the curtains at the window. See a
happy wife in tidy attire throw her arms
around his neck and kiss away the dirt
of the factory. Sec happy children
clamoring to kiss papa. See them at
their evening meal-and then if Tom
does go out after supper-Mary and the
children go along. The neat cottage
isn't TOMS yet, but it will be some day,
for he is the old time Tom, sober, hard
working and honest.
Out in Crown Hill is a little mound of
earth that Tom and Mary visit every
Sunday. On this mound in summer the
flowers ever bloom, and winters fierce
gale that rends tho oak and shakes the
evergreens sinks to a low sweet and ten.
der lullaby as it passes over tho spot
where rest the remains of Blinker's baby.
-IndianaDC1ia Newc