The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1891-01-14
Mloral ann Reli9ious.
Little Katie's Mistake.

Mrs. EIton's.
The nicely.dressed woman stopped
and looked at the child with a good
deal of surprise, for it was an unusual
request. She was very frequently
asked for money, but to 90 with child
that she had never seen before to its
home struck her as being somewhat
singular. If the little one had asked
for money she would have given her
few cents and then walked onward I'M
concernedly.
g. What is the matter at home, little
girl, and why do you want me to go
there2" Mrs. Elton at last asked the
child.
because mamma is sick, and the
baby is so hungry, and | want you to
60, tor yOu look 50 nice and pleasant"
and the little thin hand grasped the
silken robe that the fashionable woman
wore.
A flush of shame came over her face,
and her first impulse was to give the
child some money and hasten on, but
just at that moment a vision of sweet,
childish face came to her. That face
was now resting beneath the summer
daisies in a beautiful country cemetery,
far away rom the din of the great city.
Mrs. Elton stood irresolute for a
moment, but as the baby face fingered
before her, all that was good and true
about this worldly woman was aroused.
Yes, | will go with you, little girl;
SO lead the way" said she.
"Oh, Pm so glad; | thought you
would 90 because you looked so good"
and then the childish hand clutched
the hand more firmly as it she was
afraid her new-found friend would es-
cape
$50 goodW How those words
pierced the worldly woman's soul as
she hurried on after her eager little
guide. Down into narrow alley the
two went, and up flight of rickety
stairs and into low, cherries room.
Mrs. Elton's heart beat little faster
and her face became very pale as her
quick eye surveyed the scene of misery
She bent close down to the woman w.
ing upon the bed near the only window
in the room, and the first glance at the
pale face revealed the truth that the
suff,r was already entering the mys-
tic shadows of death. One arm was
clasped about little child that was par
TALLY asleep, but evidently tortured by
the pangs of hunger. The sick woman
b 'eathed slowly and feebly, as every
breath cost her an effort, and the eyes
seemed fixed upon some distant object.
Mrs. Elton understood the position
in moment, and she acted as quickly
as she thought. In another minute the
child that guided her to this scene of
misery and death was sent for help and
food.
Soon thor in anl
together the two worked speedily until
The dying woman was made comfortable
as she could be, and the two children
fed and the baby placed in crib that
Mrs. Elton had sent for and arranged.
A MUSICIAN was called, but could only
give the poor patient something to
soothe the agony of life's closing hours.
9 Poor Mrs. Minerl what will the
children do when she is gomez" ex-
claimed the woman who had been
called in.
We will see to that, but for the
present we will try and make them all
comfortable" Mrs. Elton said.
Conscience at last was aroused, and
its accusing voice was harsh and severe,
and the world-loving woman tried to
drive out the unpleasant visitor from
1ilC ny lIOlD one
duty to another with such eagerness
that her rich dress seemed very much
out of place.
"Oh, how good you are" little Katie
said, af er her soied and torn clothing
had been removed, and she had been
bathed and dressed in a becoming man
ner. Again that flush came over Mrs
Elton's face, and conscience said,
The chi d is mistaken; you are not
good, and you did not come here be-
cause you wanted to do good to others,
but because you could not avoid it.
You might have saved this woman's
life and brought sunshine and sweet
nsss into it had you been true woman
and sought out the poor of your own
neighborhood and offered a helping
hand. No, you are not good"
just then the dying woman rallied
and looked about her. A smile came
over her face as she noticed the change
that two pair of womanly hands had
made in the room. 1t is said that the
dying are quick to discern and under
stand any phase of human action, and
Mrs. Miner seemed to realize it all. She
could not speak, but she grasped the
strange hand that had, at last, lifted the
burden. She smiled again and again
and pointed upward. Mrs. Elton bent
down again and whispered few words
in the ears that were fast losing the
sense of bearing, She heard the prom
Use that was made, howeve and flash
of light filled with so much of graft
tude came over her face.
Then she rested long and quietly,
still holding the hand of the friend who
had been so long in coming to her.
All night the watcher with siken robes
remained with the dying mother. At
times she wept, and then often the
flush of shame crept over her face as
conscience upbraided her. The sweet
face beneath the daisies nodding in the
midnight breezes came up before her
vision, with the old familiar smile. 1t
was night that never could be for
gotten.
AS the gray light of the morning
came in the east the tired spirit of the