The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1896-03-12

L "uu ho Na5 ucIc III ITisou ou " bSH-
tence almost never-ending. He had
been wronged, and the knowledge of
it fired his heart and brought the long
expected outbreak. With q sudden
cry which startled every one in the
noisy shop Big Tom made spring
forward, seized the child in his arms,
and there was o shout of defiance on
his lips as he held her Mt arms length
and glared about him. The mother
of the child gasped for breath and
staggered back to the wall and sunk
down. The father stood staring, as
If struck dumb, but presently held
out his hands in silent supplication.
Big Tom glowered and muttered in
reply. He was convict-a childless
father. He was dead to his. child
she was dead to him. He could not
make another fathers heart ache and
throb and grieve as his did, but he
After muttering he was silent. No
one cried out Guards and convicts
were seemingly stupifed. There was
the hum> of machinery, but not OF
voices. Convicts turned from forge
and anvil and bench and lathe and
held their breath. The two shop
guards leaned forward in their chairs
and looked and looked, but they did
not move nor cry.
"What will he do with the child?"
The two men working at the trip
hammer with Big Tom had fallen
back. He had control of the ma
chinery which worked it. The an
swer to the question could be read in
his eyes. Men had wronged him un-
der cover of the law. He had been
deprived of liberty, degraded and dis
graced. Death were more merciful
than such sentence as his, and in,
dying he would secure revenge. A
piece of iron had been left under the
hammer. There was heard the sound
Of crash crash! crash as the mass of
iron rose and fell at regular intervals
that SQUAD above the monotonous
hum of the machinery.
ssHe will thrust her under the ham
mer!"
So thought each guard and each
convict-so thought the father whose
feet seemed chained to the floor and
whose face was whittier than the dead.
One of the guards could have touche d
a button and signaled the engineer to
shut off steam, but he did not move
hand. Either guard had fair mark
to shoot at, but their pistols we're not
lifted. Up and down-up and down
went the hammer, but suddenly the
belt was thrown over on the loose
pulley und the mass rested on the an
vii. It seemed to those who looked
as If they had been looking through a
mist such a mist as rises from earth
|sof summer morning. 1t seemed to
them that this mist thinned out
cleared away before the influence Of a
|, rising sun, and by and by they saw
the child nesting on Big Toms
breast, one hand smoothing his cheek,
and seeming to come from long dis
tnnce off they heard her childish
voice saying;
ssNo, you wouldn' hurt Nellie-you
wouldn't hurt Nellie! What makes
you cry? Have you got little girl
/ 500? Won't they let you go home to
see your little girl?"
And the convicts advanced stop by
step-and the guards crept forward,
and 10! Big Toms tears we're falling
as he hugged the child more tightly
and kissed her fair hair and rosy
cheek. There was silence yet-silence
as he walked to and fro and wept and
sobbed and lifted the child till she
could clasp her tiny arms about his
neck and rest her cheek against his
Not whisper among the convicts-
not move from father or mother or
the guards. BY and by Big Tom
placed the child in its fathers arms,
wiped the tears from his eyes on the
sleeve OF his striped jacket and with
"God bless the little darling!' and a
"Thank ye, sir ! he returned to his work
and the hammer was lifted and held
in waiting for the hot iron to be
placed on the anvil beneath. The
guards motioned for the other con-
victs TO go back to their benches and
forres. and minute later the visitors