Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-09-25
THE HEAT TOOK eABY.s LIFE.

the world by the way OF Middle alley, In
Cherry street, last September, her
mother smiled upon her baby and then
fell into the slumber that knows no
awakening. Norah was an unusually
robust baby, full of vitality and dimples.
She took kindly to her bottle OF con-
densed milk, and all through the winter
kept getting fatter and stronger, until
she could stand without help by cling
ing to chair. Norah was taken care OF
by her ten-year-old sister, Maggie, upon
whose immature shoulders rested the
responsibility of caring for the domestic
interests of her convivial father, . boy
of six and the baby.
Maggie was fair sample of the little
mothers so frequently seen in the poorer
quarters of New York. She was prema-
turely wise and faithful as dog. The
only regret she had when forced to give
her attention wholly to homework was
that she could not continue going to
school. But the vague yearning in her
mind to 'know something" became more
and more vague as the months rolled
away, until it was dream of impossible
fulfllment. A weary, pitiful existence
it was for the child, redeemed only by
her love for the baby, but none the less
heroic.
Norah never suffered for want of at.
tention in the daytime. Sometimes,
however, at night when fatigue had
locked Maggie's sense inexorably, the
baby awoke and cried and then sobbed
herself to sleep again. Maggie was so
weary that thunder clap would not
have disturbed her. Up to the month Of
July the baby had enjoyed excellent
health. Then came the heat as from a
gigantic blast furnace. All day long
the sun poured its hot fire down into
Cherry street until the basement was as
hot as the sands of Sahara. The heat
invaded the tall tenement and turned
the two rooms of the McCormack's into
veritable bakers ovens. The children
could see the East river rippled by
breeze as they looked out of the front
windows, but not a breath of GOODNESS
invaded the stuffy apartments.
Under the influence of this consum-
ing fire Nora began to grow fretful and
peevish. The summer sun is very cruel
to little children in Cherry street. The
baby threw down the stopper of the
vinegar bottle and refused to be COM
forted. She cried continually to be car
ried in Maggie's arms. She began to
lose flesh. In one week all the dimples
had gone. The fiery sun was drinking
the child's blood. The air which passed
into those feeble, painting lungs was not
freighted with the scent of apple bios
SONS and the odorous perfumes of the
dewy wood, where verdure cools the
air. 1t was laden with noxious gases
and the noisome exhalations from
sewers. Dew never sparkles in that
blistered locality.
In the evening, when the lamps on the
big Brooklyn bridge were lit and the
sun had set behind tht Statue of Liber-
ty, the moon and the stars came out
with a more gentle, kindly ray for the
children than the sun had shown, and
sometimes these heavenly lanterns
brought with them little breeze, which
came signing down the brick and mortar
canyon with benediction of GOODNESS
from the swift river.
Not every evening did these blessed
breezes come, but on those rare occasions
when the breeze was strong enough to
raise the dust Maggie took the baby
down to the street and sat on the door
step. She watched with delight the
cool breeze lift the hair from the tenn
pies of the child. She knew that cool.
ness meant life and health to the baby
These were brief GASES of refreshment
which served to temporarily check the
progress of the disease slowly eating
the baby's vitality. A little of the
former brightness came back into the
baby's eyes as she reclined in her sis.
ters lap and watched the children dart
ing in and out among the idle trucks
At first Norah could sit up with heI
head resting against her sisters shoul-
der. But as the days grew hotter and
hotter the baby began to droop more and
more, and
Withered like a flower
That is waiting for the rain
until her head hung over Maggie's arm
like daisy plucked from the meadow.
The doctor came once week to look at
baby, but his medicines were of no
avail against the awful heat of the fierce
sun, and with the loss of vitality came
lack of appetite. The condensed milk
was always warm, because there was no
ice to keep it cool. The neighbors came
in now and then with little delicacies,
but Norah could not eat them, for desire
had failed. One day richly dressed
woman came into Middle alley and gave
an invitation to all the mothers to go to
an excursion to Rockaway Beach on
the Fourth of July. With delightful
anticipation Maggie ironed out the
baby's calico dress and decorated her
cheap bonnet with new ribbon. Theex-
cursion will surely cure the baby, she i,
thought 1t was pitiful undertaking,
this dressing the baby for day s outing
AS if to encourage Maggie the Fourth
dawned misty and cool. 1t was sign
to the anxious little mother of hope for
the return of health to the baby. Every
thing was so bright and cheerful on the
boat that Maggie thought where there
was so much happiness there surely
could be no pain. Maggie thought she
saw signs Of improvement in the baby
at first under the influence of
the oceans cool breath. Per
haps the ocean air was toe
strong for the baby. or it may have been
that the change of the oven air Of this
tenement was too great for her.
At any rate, after Maggie had listened
for half an hour to the delightful strains
of "Annie Rooney" and other bewitch.
ing airs, as played by the band, she no
ticed that the baby was lying unusually
quiet in her arms. She looked down al
the infant and saw that its eyes were
closed and that there was pinched look
on its face such as she had never seen
before. At first she was alarmed. Then
she thought the baby was asleep. II