The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-07

| AiN7eH AAS NAANhtN NfcIONNiE tl Il AtAAhs W UliN
he was busy fixing it, / came out with
the baby in my arms, and, as will an
] babies do when they see a man, II
stretched out its tiny arms and cooed It's
desire TO be taken by him. l handed it
| over, and, while he was bit awkward,
sul an honest smile came over his face,
| ana he asked its name.
Tommy" said l.
Again he smiled. squeezed It n bit
| tighter and said, in half shamed, half
proud way That's my name too, Miss"
Then ! asked.
Who do you think it looks llke?"
ANA he answered, Il don't know,
| ma'am."
l said: "Oh, 1t is like its father"
And he said. "Who is he. ma'am?"
Very quietly, but very decidedly, I an
sWered; You are, Mr.. Calligan."
And then l told him the story. / told
nm OF Peggy's months of sorrow, of her
hours of pain, of her determination to
make her boy good man and of her hard
hard work to earn the bread and butter
| Then i asked him if he wouldn't put
| ring on her finger and make her proud of
her child and his Tommy Calligan cried
Just as men Of his stamp always do, but
he promised as, far as he could, to right
| poor Peggy. Aud so, a few DAVIS after. in
the beautiful chapel of sister Irenes he
| made her his wife. And they both lSnelt
| before that lovely altar. given by a low
ing mother, ana draped with the bridal
ven or happy wife. Well they took two
| rooms, and for a while Tommy worned
al his trade Peggy made a comforta-
Bile home for him. and they were happy to-
! gether. But soon his odd wicked com
| paniohs hunted him, up, and instead Of
| staying at home in the evening and read
| ing a newspaper TO Peggy, he started In to
| go to the Sneakers Club" where he
| gambled and drank. one night Percy
Inn
hard and when she begged him to come
home with her. he struck her Poor
Peggy crept back to her baby as best she
n could, and found that the pain was nor
4 quite so bad when she had Il I'm her arms.
and that IT'S smile excused Tommy's bru-
tality.
Things went from bad to worse. Peggy
alone was the bread-earner. Sometimes
she didn't see Tommy for a week. and
then one day, when he was home he took
a bundle Of sewing that belonged to her
| employer and pawned It; which means In
plain English, that he stole It, and stole
1t. not to help his wife, not to help his
child, but that he might have a dollar TO
90 to the Sneakers picnic. After this
Peggy came to me. What do YOU think
she had done? She had pawned her we'd
ding ring to get that bundle OF clothes.
that her child's father mightn't be branded
as thief. After much thought we moved
l ItESS UPTOWN ana Tor the space of one
week Tommy behaved himself Then he
disappeared, and for three weeks moth
ing was heard of him. one day a dirty
bad-looking boy came to see me. This
was his story, which he prefaced by bob
OF his head, without removing his hat:
'You'se is a frien' o. Tommy Calligan.
amt you? Well I'm Junior Sneaker
and he asked me to git this here note to
you, and to tell how he was a-waitin' fur
a answer Tel wild wimmin says me frens
and me, but jess de same | amt de sort
wot kicks a feler when he's in trouble.
Here's yer letter, seeY' When he finished
the fox terrier was making friends with
him, and l took the note and began
to read Il.
1t was on a dirty piece of brown paper.
written with blue pencil, and these were
its contents:
'Dere Miss. I'm in trubble, the Sneak
ers was took up fur stealin Fore Gawd
/ never took nothin', but / were drunk 10
deafness an so de cops hauled me in an
l am goin' to be sent UP to Sing Sing.
Please, miss. see Peggy an tel her and
bring her to see me Hoping this finds
you WE'LL am you're fren till death.
Tommy Calligan."
The bearer of this remarkable epistle
surprised my dog by pulling It's tail and
then growing conversational, he said to
me, DO you'se like purps?" / said did.
With scornful curl OF his lip he re-
marked. Den why don yOuse have a real
purp. Std Of dis fyste?
Git bull purp, he can keep your best
fren's away from you" / remarked Incl
dentally that l liked to have my best
friends near me, and he said, 'Oh, youse
tink OATS funny see? But youse get a
bull purp and ye can make money a-breed-
in. If We will give me tree plunks-wot's
plunks? Well, tree dollars IL yer can't
speak English I'll buy you a bun paIrD
volts got lower lip that yer can hang
yer JeWelry on, seer" Although he gob-
bled up a piece of cake, and made q loud
noise swallowing cup Of chocolate the
junior sneaker had very low opinion
Of me, and departed on a sideways tfot
after he had given the dog kick when he
thought / wasn't looking.
Naturally Peggy and / went down TO gee
Tommy. There he was, in dirty filthy
place, whore the yels Of drunkards and
the curses Of the wicked made one shud
der. or course, nothing could be done. He
was found with the thieves he was known
to be prominent sneaker and his fellow
sneakers thought 1t was great Joke
when they swore to a lie. and said that
he helped them In their theft.
Now you know who it was thar went ON
the train to Sing Sing. And what viii
six months Of prison life do for him? win
he come out a better man? Who can
say? At the worst he has only been a
weak one, Influenced by bad men, whose
one idea is that that man Is a fool who
permits himself TO be gentle or loving
or even polite. We are going to give
Tommy q chance. When he comes out
he will never get back 10 New York.
Peggy and the baby and this prodfgal
will start for the far west, and he viii
have an opportunity. An opportunity 10
be an honest man, steady man. and az
his story! Don't you know what il isP
Handicapped by It. But Oh, the moral Of
his tory Don't you know what Il Is?
As tie train went out, there seemed
! blaZoned on II IA great big fiery letters
+ "Evil communication corrupt good man.
( ners."
Il is these M.-eFable clubs. gotten ~
In the beginning for sociss s"seoses. that
I make thieves ana murderers, an. -
| thng have been nloarnd Of tha fann of Tho