Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1891-10-07
Put to the Test.

A number of gentlemen were smok-
ing clay pipes and slipping foaming beer
few nights ago over in Brooklyn, says
the New York Times. 1t was about II
o'clock. The host had made the dis
covery day or so before that the roof
was not bad place on which to pass
away few hours on q hot night, even
if it had no pretense Of roof-garden.
His friends were there for the purpose
of giving their verdict on his discovery.
The verdict was favorable. AS cork
after cork from the beer bottles, care
fully covered with ice in cracker box,
popped off into the darkness, and the
smoke still curled up lazily, it grew
more favorable.
The neighborhood was one of those
not uncommon ones in all big cities
where the back yards of the poor and
Of the rich and the well-to-do are on
friendly terms. Back of the house on
the roof of which the evening was be-
ing made to pass so pleasantly was row
of tenement houses of the poorer sort.
Their roofs were tenanted. too. but the
tenants were without pipes. and if there
was any beer it was not on ice. There
fore they could truly be termed unfor-
tunates.
The merry party fingered on until the
roofs opposite gradually became desert
ed. In some way the conversation
dritted to the subject of suicide. One
member of the party declared with con
siderable pompOsity that he believed
that every human being had the right
to end his own life if he wished to do
so.
"Why shouldn't one of those poor
creatures we have been watching to-
night over there opposite put the finish
to his or her existence? What plea
sure can there be for many of them in
living?" he wound up his harangue.
''You would be the first to try to
point of killing himself" said another.
''Would II" said the other scornfully.
"Not at all. 1t would not be my place
to interfere. l would have no right to
prevent il"
Just at this moment a young girl ap-
peared on the tenement house roof
opposite. She walked YEARLY about
for few seconds and then she went to
clothesline, from which f1uttered few
articles of clothing. These she took
from the line and dropped them down
through the skylight After that she
began to walk around the roof again.
SO peculiar were her actions that the
men began to get nightly interested.
She walked to the edge of the roof,
and, clasping her hands over her heart,
looked with gaze that could be ina
gined although it could not be seen, to
be full of sorrow and longing for hap
pier existence.
Guess you are going to see your
suicide" said one to the man who had
talked about suicide. That person
looked rather pale and agitated. Slow
ly the s,irl on the roof took down her
hair. The breeze foated it out behind
her and she looked weird The watch
ers became more agitated.
With one last, lingering look the girl
sat down on the edge of the roof. The
man who wouldn't prevent suicide if
he could now set UP a shout that could
have been heard a block away. The
host muttered: "Poor girl There
won't be much left of her. There's an
iron railing and stone area below
there"
The girl heard the shout, for she was
seen to start, but it did not shake her
determination to carry out her purpose.
She dropped from the roof-and walked
into her poor home through the window
from the fire escape, for there was a
platform five feet below where she had
dropped off, and it was easier to go
down that way than to climb through the
narrow skylight and down the steep and
shaky ladder.
And then the merry party on the roof
broke up, and the most thoughtful
member Of it as they went down was he
who would allow every human being
the right to end his own existen ce.