Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1892-12-15
SANDY'S BESSIE.

"a kfttolNAoNI t4AA Ci4tLACA tLE
door. She was thin, pale, puny child
Of the kind the cities breed, stoor
shouldered, narrow chested, i'll aour-
ished, almost untaught except IN the
hard school Of experience. fingered
outside moment, waiting for Sandy tc
dispose of his customer before entering,
but as the little girl did not appear
opened the door.
Fifty cents; fifty cents" Sandy was
shouting as stepped inside Gamma
ye understan that, ye puir heather;
Fifty cents.
He was standing before his bench, ges-
ticulating, with pair of newly soled
shoes, two sizes too small for the girl,
who stood in mutely submissive atti-
tude before him. Sandy has always res
olutely disdained learning any foreign
tongue. If the ..braid Scots deealect, 9
isn't good enough for his customers they
can 60 elsewhere.
s'Meine mutter ist todt," began the
child's gentle. accomplishing voice,
''undp-
tCome hither, Owen" cried the old
man impatiently. "Can We tell what is't
the lass wants."
The girl told me her story. Her mother
was dead. She was the oI1sst Of four
children, and had seen eighteen years,
though she looked but fourteen. She
and two other children had got work
tailor's piecework--and they were al
living somehow, but it was very hard.
She had the money for mending the
shoes, but the neighbors had told her
that der Herr MacNab" was such 4
kind hearted man, and So
The look of puzzled inquiry in Sandy
face changed to tender regard as | trans
lated. Before | had finished lie was
nodding his head energetically IN token
of compliance and wrapping up the
shoes in sheet of newspaper. Then he
put them into the girls hands and gently
pushed her toward the door.
Zach. Du lieber Gottr said the child,
and dropping a reverent Old World
courtesy, she turned to 90.
"Whaur are ye leevin, lass?s said
Sandy, following her to the door. lex
planned the query, and she gave him an
address near by. Sandy tucked a crun-
pied bank note into her hand, and as lie
put a pinch of Maccaboy to his nostrils
a moment later thought saw his hand
lodging suspiciously about his eyes. The
girl looked at the bill in dazed sort Of
a way for moment. and then dropped
another courtesy, this time to the door
of fbo clof, apd Nr-ac crona
"Puir mitherless BARNS, said Sandy,
as he began a loud rat-tat on the sole Of
shoe. Presently he paused and in
quired, "What said she as she gaed oot:?'
''She said, 'Ah, thou dear Godr" re-
piled. 'sIt was prayer Of thankfulness. >
''Puir bairni puir bairnl" said Sandy,
stopping his work to take another pinch
of snuff. "She pits the proud an MIGHTY
to shame wi her simple faith. An ca 4
her heathenI Hech, Owen, lad. it's a
sair warl for BARNS desertit by their
ain kin. Think OF, monl In O this
great ceety four little anes fechtin wi
want an poverty an hunger by their lane
in garret, the prey O the evil an de-
signin, scorn'd by them that's no their
betters, neglectit by the powerful, except
by way O. robbery, wi ne'er sicht of
the fiels an wavin woods O. the bonny
country or the wash O the sea; withoot
time or strength for childish play-eh.
Owen. What if my Janet-na, ma, bet
ter as she is, puir little one, unner the
sod i the kirkyard that leevin sac be-
set" and Sandy dropped his head into
his hands. had never heard him allude
before to his wife and daughter long
dead in Linlithgow.
Its an owre lang tale to tell. said
Sandy, after a moments pause, seeming
to find d gentle comfort in speech Of Ills
loved and lost ones, sbut Use cut it
short i the tellin. Ne'er mon in a
Scotia was so blithe as Alexander Mae
Nab the day that made bonny Bessie
his bride, nor for mony year after
The bairnies cam, two O them, but
wee Sandie deed in infancy an ainly
Bess was left to cheer the little hame
am max bright the ingle nauk. Vet.
still we We're happy, sac happy, till Bes-
sie-she was ne'er strong, nor her mither
seemed to weaken, day by day, ali
fade oot an waste AVA, till her face was
pale an clear wi the awful whiteness O.
the great hereafter shinin through the
vail o flesh. Eli, she suld ha' made a
bonny angelI''
Here Sandy paused abruptly, and for
some minutes sat silently brooding over
the past. did not interrupt him, AMI
presently he began to speak again in Il
low, tremulous voice:
'.Sae she went, lad. Better so, per-
haps, in a. the purity Of childhood. An
the wife was like bruised and Hoken
fiow'r that droopt an droopt weel. An
i the kirlyard they were sune side by
side, an a was pit dark rs nicht to Inc.
Frien's O. my youth, who had lang syne
leevit i the new lam, begged me sair to
come to them, an sac, as all the warl'
was the same to my reft HART, cam an
here hae leeved my lane, waiting till
the Lord is pleased o his infinite marcy
to ca me to my ain. a wounds heal i
time, they say, an tive-and-twenty year
is lang eneuch, but the scars wi me
yet, Owen, the scars WI me yet, an viii
be till my deeing day, an Gamma see a
wee BARN warslin WI this wicked warl
like the puir Dutch lass, but | nann
think: Hoo, if 'twere Besss My ain
wee Bessief'"
And the old man, dashing his hand
across his eyes to clear away mist
that was not all Of age. drew from
his inner vest pocket one Of those Oh
fashioned daguerreotype cases that usesI
to be SO common on country house cen
ter tables twenty years ago and handed
it to me. opened It, and after turning
the case this way and that to avoid tbe
reflection from the CLASSY surface, saw
two dimly outlined faces, the motherA
and daughters, looking at each other.
1t was impossible to get much idea OF
what they were In life, but looked Ei
them as one wonld look at a strange face
in a coffin and then handed back the case
~ es1x~.<.r