The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-03-27
Selected StorD.
Tommy BrOwn---Is He in
Your School!

tommy brown, ma am, ;" answered.
the boy.
He was pathetic little figure, with a
thin face, large, hollow eyes and pale
cheeks that plainly told of insufficient
food. He wore suit of clothes evil
IDENTIFY made for some one else. They
were patched in places with cloth of
different colors. His shoes were old,
his hair cut square in the neck in the
Impractical manner that women some
times cut boys hair. 1t was bitter
day, yet he wore no overcoat and his
bare hands were red with the cold
How old are you, Tommy"
"Nine years old, come next April.
| I've learnt to read at home, and | can
cipher little"
:" Well, it is time for you to begin
school Why have you never come be-
fore?"
The boy fumbled with cap in his
hands, and did not reply at once. 1t
was ragged cap with frayed edges,
and the original color of the fabric no
man could tell.
Presently he said, " never went to
school cause cause - well, mother
takes in washin', an she couldn't spare
me. But Sissy is big enough now to
help, an she minds the baby besides"
1t was not quite time for school to
begin. All around the teacher and the
new scholar stood the boys that be-
longed in the room. While he was
making his confused explanation some
of the boys laughed, and one of them
called out Say, Tommy, where are
your cuffs and collar?" And another
said You must sleep in the rag-bag at
night by the looks of your clothes"
Before the teacher could quiet them,
another boy had volunteered the in
formation that the father of the boy
was " old 81 Brown, and he was always
drunk as fiddler"
The poor child looked at his torment
ers like hunted thing. Then, before
the teacher, could detain him, with a
suppressed cry of misery he ran out of
the room out of the building, down the
street, and was seen no more.
The teacher went to her duties with
troubled heart. All day long the
child's pitiful face haunted her. AT
night il came to her dreams. She could
not rid herself Of the memory of it.
After little trouble she found the
place where he lived, and two of the
Women's Christian Temperance Union
women went to visit him.
1t was dilapidated house in a street
near the river. The family lived in the
back part of the house, in frame addi-
ton. The ladies climbed the outside
stairs that led up to the room occupied
by the Brown family. When they first
entered they could scarcely discern OBJ
iects, the room was so filled with the
steam of the soapsuds. There were
two windows, but tall brick building
adjacent shut out the light. 1t was a
gloomy day, too, with gray, lowering
clouds that forbade even the memory
of sunshine.
A woman stood before washtub
When they entered she wiped her
hands on her apron and came forward
to meet them.
Once she had been pretty, but the
color and light had all gone out of her
face, leaving only sharpened outlines
and haggardness of expression.
She asked them to sit down, in list
less, uninterested manner; then taking
chair herself, she said g Sissy, give
me the baby"
A little girl came forward from a
baby, that she laid in its mothers lap, a
lean and sickly looking baby, with the
same hollow eyes that little Tommy
had.
Your baby doesn't look strong"
said one of the ladies.
No, ma'am, she amt very well. |
have to work hard, and l expect it af-
fects her. and the woman coughed, as
she held the child to her breast.
This room was the place where this
family ate, slept and lived. There was
no carpet on the floor; an old table,
three or four chairs, broken stove, a
bed in one corner, in an opposite corner
a trundle-bed-tha was all.
Where is your little boy Tommy"
asked one of the visitors.
He is there in the trundle-bed,"
replied the mother.
"Is he sick?"
"Yes'm, and the doctor thinks he
amt going to get we'll" At this the
mother laid her head on the baby's
face, while the tears ran down her thin
and faded cheeks.
"What is the matter with him?o
He was never very strong, and he's
had to work too hard, carrying water
and helping me lift the washtubs, and
things like that"
8 Is his father dead?"
"No, he amt dead. He used to be
a good workman, and we had com
Portable home. But all he earns now,
and that amt much, goes for drink.
If he'd only let me have what little |
make over the washtub. But half the
time he takes that away from me, and
then the children go hungry"
She took the child off her shoulder.
1t was asleep now, and she laid it across
her lap.
Tommy has been crazy to go to
school. | never could spare him till
this winter. He thought if he could
oct little education, he'd be able to
help take care of Sissy and baby and
me. He knew he'd never be able to
work hard. So fixed up his clothes
as well as | could, and last week he
started. | was afraid the boys would
laugh at him, but he thought he could