Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-02-22
Moses, the tramp.

''"'-'F'
Miss Tabby Iinscott and Miss Peggy
Linscott, with their winsomo it'll,
nioce, Alice, lived in an old, weather
bcnton farmhouse in Il lonely 500
among tho hills. The. windows of th,
farmhouse looked out on II wilderness
OF rose and lilac bushes, while tho pin,
treos nenr by gave to everything M MI
of stately solitude. Tho wholo prem
ises wore spotlcssly clean and funercal
ly still.
1t seemed to Alice that tho very bird
sang in subducd tones. Teams seldom
passed, and when thcy did, they coult
scarcely bo seen for the thick bnsllcl
at the foot of the garden. All da
long tho wind m6ancd through tlu
pines, and the child Thought tho su
nevor shono SO brightly hero ns il Inc
at homo.
Two years before the opening of oui
story Alice had lived with her pnrents
in lovely place Just out of tho city Of
New York, but n railroad accident left
her fnthcrless and motlcrlcss.
These two kind old nunts had given
her n homo with thom. IL was II grent
change for tho child from her boanti-
rul home, loving parents, and hosts OF
playmntes, to this lonely li.o with the
Two women who never kissed her, aud
who seldom smiled
Alice, child though she was, appra
ciatcd their kindness aud sacrifice.
Yet sometimes SHE longod, oh, no bit.
terly, to lay her head on hor lnothers
breast, to feel her loving arms about
her, while she told her all the foolish
little secrets That girls have to tell, and
that mothers alono cah sympnthize with
and be Interested in.
Alice was brave and uuscliish, and
her aunts never dYenmed of the nights
that she lay weeping in her loneliness
and SORROW. But little cliildron ara
ever near to Gods great heart, and
III His own way He comforts them, 40
The child's life was not NIL lonely. She
sometimes sat for hours beside tho
little brook, watching il flow over tho
pebbles, Listening TO its voice, and un,
consciously learning, from tho beauty
around her, to love nature and natures
God.
But rs brooding and loneliness nre
bad for any one, and especially for u
sensitive child, Alice was fast losing
her gay spirits and bright color, and
was acquiring II thoughtfulness unnat-
ural to childhood. Her nnnts, being
unused TO children, saw nothing OF all
this change, save that they thought
the child was growing womnnly.
Alasl too many children grow
womnnly before their timo.
One day something happened that
changed Alice's life completely. Such,
simple thing, too. 1t was in the win
ter, and there had been a snowstorm'
the night before Tom, the hired man,
had made II wide path to the barn.
This path looked so inviting that Alice
begged to 40 out, so wrapping her llJ5
warmly, her aunt let her CO.
She visited Daisy, the COW. EViy.
the horse, and Smut, the pig. q ~
once she heard faint mewinl4 - -
hunting about she found, curled
the hay, Tho longest, leanest blad
white cat she had cve9secn.
Poor little Alice, with = heart f,.} q
love and tenderness, longing for
object on which to bcstowS Shef5T
tion, seized the cat, and miggin6
up in her arms, ran to the house
as her little legs would carry he il
"Oh, auntie," she cried, 1--WE f6t$ i
tramp cat Please may feed him
looks SO hungry"
The fact of his hunger appealed t3
Aunt Peggy's heart rs nothing eise
could. She set some milk before tbc
cat, and he drank as if he were starving.
while Alice sat watching him with
-ound eyes.
After lie had eaten all he would she
took him in her arms and sat down by
the window softly. Nearly ell day she
played with him, sang to him and
talked to him. When bedtime came
Aunt Tabby went to take him away. but
Alice hugged him up. tight, crying,
"Oh, huntie, don't put him out in the
cold Please let him sleep with mo
Oh, auntie, dol"
"Let that nasty cat sleep in mr. clean
blankets!" cried Aunt Peggy, Holding
up her hands in horror; "wcll, 1 guess
not"
But something in tho pleading face,
30 like another face now hidden in the
grave, touched Aunt Tabby's heart,
and she said: "There, there, Peggy.
let her have the creeter. If he soils
the bedclothes I'll wash 'em. used
10 like cat when Twas little like her. .
80 Moses. for 30 Alice called him,
went to bed with his little mistress.
who hugged him up close and fell
asleep listening to his soft purring. e
Moses grew fat and handsome nndeS
tho treatment he received, and Alicea
whole loving heart went out to her pet,