The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-01-31
TONIC.

hCOucItI LNlns lh1 QuAIEoieu oulg buHbJ
five times and bad been returned to their
mother with fewer scratches on their
chubby faces than usual; the
Flanagan boy had remembered to
wash his face, and though high
water" marks were distinctly visible, il
was move in the right direction and Miss
Anna felt that surely after to-day's en-
couTaging signs some time in the dim future
the twins would be able 70 remain fifteen
minutes in each others company without
the crash-bang-yeiling time which they
kept up continuously and which would have
shamed an army Of Kilkenny cats. Tommy
Flanagan, too, she felt certain would de-
velop into a permanent white man some
day, after to-dey's showing.
Nilsson work was new employment for
Miss Anna, and With all the zeal of a novice
she had undertaken the day nursery depart
ment. Alas, what heavy heart had she
carried with her SINCE Never would she
have believed such mischief could be found
anywhere as lurked in the bodies of those
twenty day children, and after a weeks
experience with them Miss Anna felt
pretty sure that the portions OF
scripture treating of original sin could
not be gainsayed. However, to-day's
signs had been most encouraging and-but
what was that Juggling at her dress! She
ebOppSu hnQ lOOkeQ uONu Oh tu6 ulISb WUo-
begone little face that could we'll be i'm
agined, white with fear and smirched with
dirt and fog.
"Ah, lady" said the child, clingtng with
both hands 10 her gown, "Tomasio, he''-
then followed burst of heart-broken sobs
mingled with broken words, half English,
half Italian, and utterly unintelligible.
Thinking it was one of the mission child
rem in distress Miss Anna bent over the
a,A l.o1v s,t, g. j.,
stranger but chung 80 desperately to her
that, taking the little cold hand in hers, she
turned toward the Mission house.
Once inside the door the child grew
calmer and was able to tell in broken En-
glisb, and with many outbursts of grief, his
sad little story. His name, he said, was
Tonic. How old. he did not know. He had
lived in one Of the big tenements
near the Mission house, with Tomasio. who
owned hand organ. Tonic, Tomasio, and
the hand organ Travelled around all day, dis
pensing music to the public, whether it was
acceptable OF not. Tonic knew every tune
in that dear organ, and now, o, grief unut-
terab!el three days ago Tonic had walked
up to find Tomasio and the organ gone
The child had waited patiently in the mis-
cradle little room all that day, and far into
the next, but they did not return. Thu
third day after their disappearance
- AhoA heN4 SOAho anu bOlu 1OuAO
that he must go away; Tomasio had
gone home; gone back to Italy; and Tonic
must find somebody else TO live with. He
did not know whether Tomasio was a
relative OF his or not. He had always lived
with him and the organ and where could he
go now that they had hownl He had wan
dered around the streets all day, moved
on" by policemen and chased by bigger
boys until be had caught sight of Miss
Anna hurrufnn horoavuar1 hoI
her about the Mission house and knew
the children in the neighborhood often
went there for food, and knowing that
they were kindly treated, he had
seized on Mics Anna in the hope of securing
shelter. Hunger, cold and WEAKNESS were
small items to this little waif, but the fact
that he belonged nowhere and to no one,
that hereafter there would be no one to
swear at and shake him, weighed heavily
on his heart and he looked into Miss Annals
face with such pitifully appealing eyes,
stroking her hand and calculating: "Ah,
lady. All lady that she felt there was
nothing to do but allow him to remain, at
least for the present; so Tonic was delivered
over to one Of the "house girlsn to be
washed, fed and put to bed while
Miss Anna called a council Of her helpers
to decide on what was to be done. "If it is
known in the neighborhood that we have
sheltered the child we viii have the whole
Italian colony to care for" said one lady.
But they were four women and Tonio's big
brown eyes and passionate distress has
made 10 impossible for them to decide the
case in any other way than that he should
remain "for the present." and before they
retired that night the three ladies who lived
at the Mission house STOLE separately. in to
take peep at the sleeping child, and three
ladies had each resolved that no matter
what came Of it. Tonic should stay with
them.
The mission house was 30 quiet compared
with the rickety tenement that had been
his home that it was far into the morning
before the exhausted child opened his
eyes. With what wonder he looked around
him! This was the first time in his short
life he had slept in a 'realn bed. He fin
gered the sheets and patted the pillow to be
sure they were real. Then he remem-
bered; to-day he may have to go away and
he laid his heal back on the pillow. AT
least he would stay there until he was
compelled to get up, and then he would
dress, o. so slowly, that it would be nearly
night before he was ready to go away then
they might let him stay another night But
his plans were cut short by the entrance Of
Miss Anna, who had come to look at him in
the daylight, and decide what was to be
done.
Her resolution was soon taken when she
saw the clean, brown face ard beseeching
eyes; Tonic should stay and be the 'house
boy" until he was big enough to 60 to work
and care for himself. The gratitude of the
child when he understood this arrangement
was touching, and he whisked into his
ragged little clothes determined to show i'm
medtately how useful he could be-
How strange world now opened before
him! Never in his five short years had he
sat down to table to eat and as soon as
food was placed on his plate he shuflled off
into corner, carrying his plate with him
aud poked his food into his mouth, standing
first on one foot, then on the other, and so
overcome with embarrassment when Miss
Anna tried to show him the use Of fork
that be could not eat at all.
But the best thing IN all the Mission
house to Tonic was the blanket bed in which
he slept at night. The white sheets, soft
blankets and little pillow seemed to demand
his endless admiration and when Miss Anna
taught him little prayer to say before he
got into it, Tonic gravely knelt down be-
side 1t, repeated the prayer, and, arising,
bowed low to the little white bed, crossing
himself as if it was his patron saint. Next
to his bed he admired the new clothes
which the mission ladies made for him,
and, il he had not had to keep clean, Tonic
would have been perfectly happy.
In spite of his good nature and funny
ways Tonic was sore trial to the ladies'
at the Mission house. He leased the day
nursery babies by pulling their toys out of
their hands and dangling them in front Of
them just ont of reach; he stirred up the
warlike McGuertys TO the most terrible oon-
fiicts until Miss Anna nositivalv forbade HE