Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-08-07
TOM BLlNKER'S BABY.
THE SEGRY OF a FELL AND 9EFDR.
MAT. GN IN REAL .sFF.

; THE LIFE OF A 2 YEAR-oLD DARLING THE
PRICE OF A MANS REDEMPTIoN-THE
LITTLE MOUND OF EARTH ON CROWN HILL
THE NEAT COTTAGE OF THE OLD TIME
TOM.
Tom Blinker was one of the "boys, -
aud there are many in this city who would
know him should his rignt name be given.
He made good wages, spent his money
freely and was hale fellow we'll met with
every one.
When he and Mary stood before the
altar in the little church and linked their
lives together many were the compliments
they received, for indeed they were fine
couple. Their friends congratulated then
and the future looked bright. And whoi.
the frat little prattler came the acme oi
their happiness seemed to have been
reached.
But Tom,s old habits clung to- him, aud
ere many years had gone be began to me-
glect his home. Often he would come
home late at night under the influence 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 piuched, and deep
lines of sorrow chased away the dimples.-
Still she did not complain, and Tom did not
see what great changes were going on in
his home. From1 one house to another
they moved. The little hone 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 heart broken woman and
children existed.
THE ANGELS WING.
| Tom had reached the bottom. So low
had he descended that he would scrub oat
saloons that he might get the dregs of al
coholic stfmulantS. He was hummer
Blinker now with a rum colored nose and
eyes bleared and bloodshot. Many times
he inhabited the 'druuk-room'' at the
station. house, and when be was brought in
the desk sergean. would say, "Hello,
Blinker; ycu here again? Why don't you
brace up and be some one? You used to
be pretty good kind of fellow"
Tom would only humble and drop down
into corner to sleep. In police court he
was s'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 q low barroom asleep.
Some cruel jokers had painted his swollen
face with lamp black and were having rare
awoke and realized his condition he became
angry, and the result was that he was bad
ly beaten and thrown out of doors. Then
he staggered homeward. That night while
the father was at the barroom year old
baby Mary, whose eyes and dimples were
| like mothers used to be, was taken sud-
denly ill with that night dread of all
mothers, the Group, and in a few hours its
little lifo was ended While the mother
bent over the form of her child aud bathed
its face wish her tears, Tom staggered in
and threw himself on to a chair, with
besotted oath; then, as sleep overcame him,
he fell to the floor, where he lay till morn
ing with Mary's faded and torn shawl
under his head for pillow.
All night long tho mother sat beside her
dead and sent her prayers heayenward.-
When mornings light appeared, and Tom,
benumbed with cold and partially sobered,
saw his dead child and realized that he had
not bsen near to wipe the death-damp from
it's brow, or help it battle for life, then au
old feeling. become new, came to him II
Down on his knees, with his face buried in
the tattered bed clothing, he sobbed as only
great stroag 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 little coffiu,
and when Tom, trembling IN every limb
from dissipation, dropped hot, burning
tears on the little face upturned, and with
his shaking hand caressed the tiny white
hands peacefully crossed on the bosom of
white, people wondered 'if this will be a
lesson to him." The funeral was unpre
teutious. Every clod that fell on the cof-
fin struck blow on Toms heart. For
two days Tom remained 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 re-
turned Mary listened for his step, oh, 80
anxiously, and, when she heard it, thanked
God it was the step of a sober man.
Tom was missed from the barroom, from
the police station, from the police court
He quit drinking and went to work. Go
to one of the largest fac ores in the CITY,
Pass among the whirring wheels and ring
ing hammers. See that tall, broad |
shouldered man with CHEEKY face, be-
grimed not with lamp black, but with the
result of honest labor! That's Tom
Blinker.
When the whistle sounds he takes off his
apron, buttons his stout coat about him
and with brisk swinging walk and
CHEEKY whistle starts for home. Follow
him to q neat little cottage and watch the
picture that the light throws upon the cur
tains at the window. See happy wife in
tidy attire throw her arms around his necF
and kiss away the dirt of the factory. See
happy children clamoring to kiss papa
See them at their evening msal-and then /
nnto
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 little mound of
earth that Tom and Mary visit every Sun
day. On this mound in summer the flow
ers ever bloom, and winters fierce gale
that reuds the oak and shakes the ever
greens sinks to a low, sweet and tender lul-
laby as it passes over the spot where rest
the remains of Blinker's baby.-Indian-
apohs Neaos.
HE KNEw.-A teacher was telling her
little boys about temptation, and showing
how it sometimes came in the most attrac-
tive attire. She used as an illustration the
paw of cat.
Snow" said she, ''you have all seen the
paw of d cat. 1t is as soft as velvet, isn't
it?"
''Yesem," from the class.
'.And you have seen the paw OF dog ?"
"Yesem.'
"Well, although the cats paw seems like
velvet, there is, nevertheless, concealed in
it something that hurts. What is it?"
No answer.
"The dog bites" said the teacher, "when
he is in anger; but what does the cat do9''
Scratches replied the boy.