The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1891-12-17

III
II listened. A strange look was -, her
tace; q strange light in her ewes .F
81 used to read novels when + /. "a q,
! girl she said. This is stranger than
g novel. Yc'l're g good girl-good!
Well share the money, Bella-Bella
4 Belt. You look like me, too, don't
1 you, only you re young and-pretty,"
| She took Bella's hand. They Sat 50
awhile, the money on the stone be-
1 tween them.
! "Iet us 60 and get something to
eat" said the woman, at last. and
| they We're rising to 60 when something
arose from behind a great. rusty
boiler that lay near the steps that
petritied both women with horror. q
| tramp, red-faced, with long, trouseled
! hair and beard, with filthy rags upon
a figure that resembled that OF a
gorilla, and the soft, heavy football OF
his Kind.
Silently the two Bellas, young and
old, chung together as he leaned 4 over
them, his hot breath on their faces.
"Give us the money" he said. Give
US the money. You have the money.
You had the money; give it." -.
Then he saw it, seized it, counted it,,
dropped the change, picked it up,
struck blow toward them, hitting
nothing, and stumbled away. X. !,
"Thank God!" cried the two women
together Then they looked at each
other piteously hungrily, and began
to cry.
'It's not safe here" said the elder
woman. - -. ..,..t \ j"
"If we could get into the factory.
We might do it; old Peter, the watch
man, doesn't always lock the gate at
once. Up among the machinery we
might have all Sunday, and even find
a scrap or two to eat of lunches left
over. Well go to the gate =
Hand in hand they made their way
to the little wooden passage left open
for Peter. The old man sat with his
Back toward them, eating his supper.
They crept past him, and up and out
OF sight. In room overhead they
sat down near a window, and the
elder Bella, leaving her companion
there, searched everywhere and found
a few crackers, a fragment OF cheese, q
half eaten apple.
"Better than begging" she said.
They munched the scraps, and night
| fell and the moon arose, and they
kept beside the window and close to
each other. &.-.
After awhile the elder woman asked
a question OF the younger.
"Have you a mother?" she said.
"There's a wicked. woman some
where, if she is not. dead, who left ME
| on doorstep in basket once" Bella
answered. "a good old woman took
| me in. She is dead"
Had you anything your real moth
er could know you by?" asked the old
| er Bella. :.
"My name and cameo brooch
! marked B. b." the girl answered; "but
she never wanted to know me; not
she.''
Then silence fell, and after awhile
the two women gathered together
some cotton waste and canvas and
lay down to sleep together.
tDo you pray?" asked the elder
Bella OF the younger, as she drew the
| canvas over her. Is ~. r..
EYES, sighed Bella. r.
'"Then pray for me-" said the other,
"pray for me, a sinner" y
Later, two tramps, sodden and hid
eous, staggered back to the factory
side and lay there smoking. -
Later yet a policeman heard shrill
old voice crying "Fire! Fire!" and
rushed to meet a feeble old man, with
a lantern in his hand-Peter, the
Waterman.
"It's Breeze's factory!'' he cried.
It's It.: blazing. just got out with my
life---no moreG'
ANY one there?" asked the police
man. o.- -.
"Thank God, not a SOUL" said
Peter. ~. Il
But up in the room into which the
moon no longer shone, where the air
was dense and thick with black smoth-
ering smoke, two women felt their Wav
toward a window. 4
"Do you hear me?" asked the elder
Bella.
eyes, said the younger. /
Il don't think we can be saved [
must tell you, Bella, l am your moth
err, the wicked woman who left you at
the bakers door. But Bella, | loved
you. was starving; that woman had
good home and loved babies. i
meant to come back for you, but it's
been poverty, suffering. misery ever
slnce-ever since-ever since, Bella,
that's why I did not come. l thought
you rich and happy. never knew
Bella" BIZ /
"Mother!" sobbed a faint voice in
reply; ooh, mother, believe you and
love you" And they lay clasped in
each others arms
They found them so next day clasp
ed in each others arms. The fire had
not touched them, and their faces we're
almost happy when they laid them
side by side together New York Led
ger.
.t A Lofty View, l
A German merchant in London has
o. servant who at first was very for
/