The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1891-12-04
STARVED IN A BIG CITY.
A Heart-rendiug story OF n New York
Man Who Battled with Misfortune.

A Heart-rendiug Story Of New York
Man Who Bsttied with Misfortune.
The instance which have in mind Is
that of a man who died in New York
after several months of struggling with
the world, which ended in his complete
collapse He died in the streets, He
was confederate soldier, man of
pleasing address and of advanced years
l knew him four or five years and dur
Ing that time he had instant success
tion of troubles, He was not OF the
big, robust and determined type of man
who goes half way to meet disaster and
fights against it to the bitter end, but
was a man of the weaker and more at
tractive sort. He would leave his work
to watch at the bedside of sick friend
and jeopardize his employment for the
purpose of aiding any one in distress.
This sounds trite enough, but it was
the man nevertheless.
The trouble which came upon him
was OF the character which such ma
ture cannot withstand. A daughter, a
beautiful girl, whom he worshiped,
went wrong and aged him more in a
year than all his experiences had in a
decade. She was that curious anomaly,
a girl well born and well brought up,
who turns in almost twinkling into a
creature absolutely without sympathy,
heart OF soul. really think she is the
most heartless creature have ever seen.
Then the old soldiers wife became
i'll, querulous and irritable. She ham.
pered him in thousand ways. BY
this time his money had all gone, his
wife needed constant nursing, and he
gradually got down to a position de-
pendent upon the charity of his friends.
He was always at work at something
or other, never exhibited trace of re.
bellion against his misfortunes, but
struggled on pluckily The last time
saw him he was in dire straits, and after
looking around little we procured
him a position in the newsstand of one
of the hotels, through the kindness OF
a well known politician. He was there,
/ believe, a month.
He attended to his duties faithfully
for three weeks or so; then his wife
died, and few days afterward he
broke down completely. 1t turned out
afterward that he had nursed her at
night after he attended to his duties at
the newsstand all day. This broke
down a constitution which had already
been subjected to a very serious strain.
He, too, was put out of his house
landladies must live, of course-and he
wandered about the streets until he
died of exposure and hunger This
occurred right in New York, where he
knew dozens of men, any one of whom
would have aided him.
suppose that a good many people
wonder why he did not ask his friends
for assistance in this last extremity. II
| does not seem natural that man
should die of the horrible torture Of
| hunger when he could have eased him
self by an appeal to his friends, but
knowing the man as I did, l can under
| stand that he had become so broken in
spirit that he preferred the death which
he knew would relieve it all rather than
try and prolong the struggle. When
misfortune crowded upon him SO heavi
ly he actually reached point where
he welcomed any sort of relief-even
death. - Blakely Hall in Brooklyn
| Eagle.