Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-01-23
AlITTLE CITY WAlE.
Frol, a Tough She Was Reclaimed. b,, a,
Was Too Much for Her Constitution

tight, and / lntertered TO protect her
What is it to you?n she hotlv do.
manded, as she turned on me with
flashing eyes.
But YOU are girl, I replied.
But ! kin lick him if he'll fgb,
fairn'
| drove him of, and sat down on
doorstep with her.
Girls shouldn't fight, l said as tho
ragged and unkempt child at my sids
grew cooler.
'.Not if they are picked on?n
NO
Then they'd call me a coward"
"But suppose they did? You come
of a cowardly sex. Women are moi
brawlers and fighters. They are tan.
der and gentle, and given to soft words
and peaceful ways. Where do Won
live?"
Down a piece and up stairs
Father and mother living?n
mo; but dad and mann is. Dad ia
over to the Island; nam washes and
scrubs.
And what do you dop"
mind the rooms mostly"
Ever 90 to SCHOOL,"
.'Naw!"
Cant you read7"
"Nawrn
Ever been out in the country?"
"Naww Where is it, and what Is Il
like?n
And so I described something Of farm
life to her, telling her of the fields Of
grain, the green meadows, the barns
and orchards and farm-yards. Her ewes
opened wider and wider as | went on,
but toward the end she grew suspicious
and said.
Say what sort of dove do youtake
me fur?'
But this is all true-upon my word
it IS"
"Dor't believe IT.? If it was, nam
would have let on. Say! What dye
want, anyhow
Il want to talk with you little
longer. Ever go down to the Battery
"Naw!n
"Or to Central Park?"
"Naw!n
Ever see a COW or an ox?"
1--WE heard of EN-, | guess"
"You have heard of Little Red Riding
Hood, haven't you?n
Cant remember"
"Neyer heard of Old Mother Hub
bard, who went to the cupboard to get
her poor dog a bone?"
"Naw!'
How about the house that Jack
built9"
What JackP Was it the house in
Rose street,?
You have heard Of the Bible?n !
continued, seeing that she was now in
terested.
Yes"
"What is ftp"
al duunoi'
"W here is heaven?"
Somewhere, l guess"
Didn't any one ever tell you that
you must be good in order to 20 to
heaven when YOU die?n
"Nawl Nam says | must be good or
she'll break every bone in my internal
BODY"
Did YOU ever prayP"
"Noap.n
did you ever hear the Lords
Prayer"
''Noap. Did yOu?h
repeated it for her. and when was
through she said:
Say! I'll learn that some day If
you'll try met
Was it queer that l met her again
and again at the same spot, and that
she was always ON the lookout for me,
and that after the first meeting she be-
gan to grow interested She also
grew ashamed Of her garments, and |
noticed that She had tried to patch and
mind. AT the third or fourth meeting
she had a clean face and her hair had
been combed. | think the neghbors
looked upon it as a great mystery, but
if they quizzed the child she did not let
me know it. We used to talk of the
country other cities and people, the
mountains and plains, the ten thousand
things she had never heard Of l
watched her closely, and I could see
that knowledge frightened her eyes
and made her face more gentle. Little
by little she dropped off her slang, and
little by little her manner changed TO
the coyness of her sex.
! reached the spot one afternoon to
discover that she had failed me for the
first time. In ner hlace was a broad
shouldered, red-faced woman, who
walked up to me and demanded:
Are you the rapscullion who has
done all this?"
''All Of what, ma'ampn
Been preaching to my Nanny until
she got so soft and good for nothing
that a fall down Stairs has mt her IN
her coffin
NANNY dead"
And buried, sir, and she went on
about the Lords Prayer and heaven
and green fields until she almost made
me crazy. Oh, you villain, to come
about destroying a poor mothers hap,
pineSs ia That way. Begone, OF III
nave the police after eN-N y. sun