Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-07-02
TOUCHING A hEART-STRING.

TOUCHING A kEART-STRING.
A Pathetic Incident of Low Life in n Great !
City.
1 was ram bling through a quaint. |
crooked old street in old New York the |
other day, and / found quaint, queer 1
old place to match the street 1t was a |
little old building OF wood, battered and /
time-worn-a relic of the last century. |
It was crowded full of such goods as |
the poor and 1owly have to part with |
when the blood chills for want of fuel |
and weakness comes for want of food |
There were poor and ragged clothing,
old boots and shoes, quaint old hats
and caps, bedding. tinware, hardware,
window curtains, rugs, eools-a verita-
BILE museum of relics, and each and
every article having its tale of
want and diScouragement of woe and
misery. Ave! even as elbowed about,
seeking / know not what, a forlorn-
looking woman came IN with worn
and faded shawl and sold 1t for money
to buy bread.
And by and by, as 1 rummaged about,
I found something to take away with
me-a baby's shoe, Do you smile?
Well, God made us to 60 each his own
way, and each and every one to work
out his own mission. 1t was a red
morocco shoe, old and worn and faded
a shoe which had covered the chubby
foot OF somebody's baby as he crept
about the floor stood on his feet be-
side chair. Not some rich mothers
| baby, but the offspring of a mother
whose days and nights were terrified
| by the presence of cold and hunger.
That wee shoe told me a story of gar
ret room-of hope and despair, OF mis-
| ery long drawn out-of a mothers love
and mothers broken heart j wanted
| it to lay away among my relics, so
| that might look at it now and then
when men told me that the world no
longer had a heart At the door, as
went out, / stumbled against an old
woman half helpless from drink-a
woman whose red and bloated face and
scandalous tongue would have shamed
| the lowest vagabond of New York'S
| lowest dive.
She struck and kicked at me- She
dared me to fight. She showered oaths
and sneers and jibes at me until was
too astonished to move away. 1 had
that baby shoe in my hand as she rallied
at me. Her eyes were red and infiamed
and 1 thought her half blind All at
once she ceased her vituperations, bent
| forward for closer look, and asked in
a woman's soft voice:
rs it baby's shoe you have there?"
yes"
''And you found it?"
SIN the store here
''Give it to mel Please give it to me,
I'm sorry for what said. didn't mean
a word of it Please do a poor old body
| kindness,''
''And do you really want this little
shoe?" / asked.
81 do, Please, sir, but I'm old and
poor. It's a bit of wee, red shoe, and
it's worn at the toe, and-and please
give it to me,''
I handed it to her and she sat down
on the step and Rugged it in both hands
and rocked her body to and fro and
wept and crooned and talked to it as a
mother might to a living child Curious,
| wasn't it, and yet it was not curious
Men may tell you that human nature
can be degraded until every sentiment
worthy of humanity is burned out of
the heart. 1t is not true. You have
only to touch the right chord and the
heart will open and the tears come, and
the evil passions are slow in taking root
again
fnl-degraded1and yet LAS !
listened to her grooming and sawfhcr
tears fall / wondered who of US dared
Judge her-who dared to even blame
her for being what she was. Away
back in the darkness of the past she
heard the pit-a-pat of baby's shoes as he
learned to walk. There may have been
the curse of drink-the stings of power
ty-the midnight of despair. God alone
knows how much she suffered and what
she endured. The world thought her a
vicious old bag, stepped in vice and
wickedness, and men and women
stopped and looked on in wonder as the
little red shoe touched the chord so long
silent and opened the heart of wife
and mother. And so, while 1 have not
added to my store of relics, it may be
that the angel of record has turned the
leaves of his book and given humanity
another credit-mark to count at the las
day.-M. Quad, in n. Y. World.