, 1891-08-05

IulA on heT ldCe, anu bne looked SO pale
and pinched and careworn that | moved
a step nearer. She started to go in, re-
treated, stood still, and it was then ]
moved closer and asked:
well, why don't you go inY'
I'M have to, l suppose" she slowly
answered, "but-but"-
Her tears began to fall, and taking the
bundle from her arms | unrolled it.
Something to sell, Of course-something
to bring the pitiful price of bread for
~Sunday-but what? a wee little suit of
clothes for n boy three or four years old
everything, from cap to stockings and
shoes. The fabric was plain, and the
garments had been worn, and | doubt if
the man inside would have given her
more than half a dollar for the outfit.
"These are your little boys clothesy' I
said, as / held them up.
"They were his, sir, but he's dead. 1t
was his first and only suit"
"And you mast raise money tonight
by selling this suit"
'Tve waited and waited, hoping |
could see some other way, but we must
have bread"
"I1l go home with you"
She bent down and peered into my face
and then turned, and l followed. A block
and a half down, and then we crowd past
men, women and children on the door
steps and ascend three flights of stairs. In
the semidarkness ! rub against n man
coming down, and he turns with a curse.
| stumble against a drunken woman and
arous her from a stupid sleep, and she
pours out a torrent of abuse and tries to
clutch me.
Here's our home, sir"
Three little bits of rooms-bare walls
bare fioors-smoke and dirt. The bed
steads had been sold, and two old straw
mattresses lay on the floor. An old stove
"a table-two or three chairs-a tene-
ment house outfit. On one mattress lay
two little girls-the Oldest about nine.
On the other lay a mantle husband
helpless and crippled with a fever sore.
A lamp sat on the table to light this
room.
sit down, please" said the IN
as she busted off a chair with her apron.
The children were browsing, but they
sprang up at my step and stood looking
and wondering. The man had been
lying with his face to the wall. He
turned over after a struggle, and it was
curious to watch the expression of his
face. 1t betrayed fear, curiosity, hope
and despair by turns, and there was des-
peration in his eyes and in his tones as
he finally said;
"If this is the end then we'll have to
60"
81 did not come to turn you out"
You are no policeman
"No."
And we've nothing to be robbed Of"
81 was going TO sell o Danny's
clothes, and he took them away and has
come TO see for himself how it is" ex-
planned the wife.
well, that's easily seen" replied the
man. with a grim smile. Are you one
of the free doctorsy"
"No."
"A preacher"
NO"
All -four looked at me so queerly that
| thought it best to explain:
you are hungry. Let the wife and
children go down for provisions and I'll
stop with you a bit. cam up to see if
| couldn't be of some use"
even after | had put money in the
woman's hand they stared Mt me and
couldn't make it out, and when mother
and children went out the mar flushed
up, breathed hard and fast, and seemed
afraid of me. | helped him to sit up on
the straw, gave him n cigar to smoke.
N after a bit he said:
"You must excuse us, sir, but I'm not
yet sure whether I'm awake or dream
ing, and know the others feel the same
way. It's so sudden that I'm all upset"
How did you come to be in this CON
dition," l asked.
Fate brought me to it," he replied.
81 was one of the workmen on the big
bridge and got my Sc. 90 n day. Within
SIX months l burned out on Broome
street and lost everything, and this fever
sore came to render me helpless. It's
been nothing but sickness and trouble
and poverty since then. The wife used
to work, but she fell in Canal street last
winter and broke her arm, and our boy
Danny fell out of that window and was
killed about the same time"
ut has been hard lines"
You can't understand how hard I'M
til you've been there yourself" he re-
piled. when a man finds himself go
ing down and down and down, without
power to mend things; freezing, hunger.
ing and dying by inches, he's sure to get
desperate. In the last week I've been
an atheist, anarchist and devil. I've sat
here and cried out that there was nc
God except for the rich. I've said that
If l could get down stairs again I'd burr
and kill. I've looked at wife and chill
dren with murder in my hearth
Great drops of porspiration stood on
on his face and his eyes had a CLASSY lool
as he paused for breath.
And has no one come near your
asked.
"Only one person since the pincl
came, and he was n preacher or some
thing of the sort. We'd divided a fv
cent loaf of bread among us that day
and he zane at night and prayed tina
we might put our trust in Godl An,
now. sir, tell me what brought you u
here?"
ITO save little Dnnny's clothes"
"Ahl The poor babyl Nobody know
how often that little suit has been weep
over by the mother. 1t was all we ha,
left, and size sat there and wept as sh,
made ready 70 take them out. But VIII,
TWENTY DOLLAR GOLD PIECES
Mrs. John Curtis of Peoria, ILL.,, writes
stIT.al -. 49, - n.-o Dill, .uo.. ,