Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-11-19
POOR SAL.

/ keep on thinking of those who
are born into misery, who never know
anything save misery, and who can
not possibly be rescued from misery.
The sight Of them useu TO lacerate my
heart, and now, when | can consider
most things with composure, il seems
queer when a fortunate phrasemonger
tells me that u few millions of miser-
ables more or less do not matter. |
have known Joy. Ali God, have |
notl Through the splendid hush Of
the night | have walked on and on,
because could not sleep for the de-
light of living; and the pouring of
the moonbeams quickened my blood
like wine. But those pretty sensations
can only be felt by people who have
food inside them, and a shelter TO stay
in when their raptures slacken. Do
any Of the kindly optimistic people
ever try TO imagine the course of a
bleak lifel One wild morning, about
4 o'clock, when powdery snow was
dancing in W eathes over the iron
ground, | found a poor chap squatting
in a yecess on, Kings cross way, and
he coughed v til a hacking click that
was ugly. lie wore the remains of a
summer ~ovcrcoat; he had no shirt,
and lie was dying of consumption,
dying ON tlat cruel road, with a wind
blowing enough 10 cut you in two. /
did not ask his opinions or the joys
of life.
Then take the case of Sal Fleming.
Sal was married to a good fellow, who
had a laborer's job in a timber yard,
and the people in the long tumble
down street thought that the couple
We're rather well off, for Jerry Flem-
ing had IL shillings and sometimes ~
shillings per week; and Sal could
have a turn at wood chopping almost
whenever she liked to ask for it, So
when the neighbors came TO borrow a
spoonful Of tea or the iron saucepan.
they would say. Its well 10 be YOU"
and then they would give details con
corning their own mems i'll luck. In
the street of eighty-four houses, there
wa only n clock, and that stood on
Jerry's mantlcpiece; it could not al
ways be depended upon to go, but i
had never been in pawn, and that fac
balanced every flaw In its character.
Then there was q crib and a stool and
two chairs and n bed, which had orig
inally been Ublong, and some crock
cry. No wonder the women thought
of SAILS house rs a desirable establish
ment. L was said that the back room
contained a chest Of drawers, and that
in these drlwerst there were tablecloths
and sheets, but it is unwise TO receive
"eXtravugant rumors. Sal was not
good looking, but her rude face. with
its dull, kind eyes, was not unpleasant
TO see. She cared very little for talk
ing, as size never joined the line Of
matruns who stood at their doors,
skirling like gulls on fine evenings.
Nor nd she like the public houses at
either end Of the street. One was a
flaring place where the landlady wore
black satin, the landlord talked about
his trap and the barman wore a white
shirt; the other was a rocking hole
kept by a beetle browed person, who
looked oily and corpulent you never
see an i'll fed publican in those quar-
tiers than you do elsewhere).
Sal went once a week TO the beetle
browed mans establishment, and that
was on Sunday at midday, and Jim
went on Saturday night; the amount
which they paid weekly TO the beetle
proved one was fourpence, so you
could not call them intemperqte. Now,
there was aslow, dull sort of happiness
in all this, and, il ono had asked Sal
how she fared, she would have said,
Il can't complain. We get our grub
and a piece Of meat Sundays, and we
a put a shilling or two away.
There's many would swop with u.s."
To give the optimists pleasure, 1
may say that from s 10 10;l5 on Sat
urday night was a good time for Sal,
and she sometimes came very near
smiling. She and Jerry walked out
into the great, broad, main street;
Jerry lit Lis clay and cooked his hat
with a most rakish air; Sal wore her
gray shawl, aud some Of the neigh
bors said they were toifs. The oil
lamps stank and huttered; the hawk
ers bawled hoarsely; the awful mu-
sic of thousands of voices being in the
air like suppressed thunder, and the
brooding haze from many breaths
whirled into weird shapes that formed
and undulated IN the blurred glim-
merings of the lights. Sal had a trifle
Of the gamblers excitement while
choosing the sleat for next day, and
Jerry felt all the dignity Of a connois-
seur as he called his silent partners
attention 10 various things. "You,
Sal, when you turns round, just see
this show we're. Amt that a show o.
meat7 See him. Now he'll swaller that
there poker in arr a minute and no
on; and Sal thought Jerry was artful,
because be could tell the meaning Of
everything. On Sundays Jerry had
nothing 20 do, and he stepped himself
in the pleasure Of easing his muscles
~ an extent which might damage my
theory-if / had nothing more 70 say.
He could not read, and he could not