The morning times., 1896-06-21
Lewis, .................
~: Il: Little :::;..
.e................L Lass.

| Uent, In tne Jews quarter OF WdsDlnS
ton, old Levi, in his shabby shop suit ant
tilted back chair, was secondhand
clothes dealer. high up in the sixth
story he was the father OF a little iass
whom ne loved better than he loved the
silver coin the old clothes daily brought
him. For her sake he drove hard bar
gains and boarded away his coin. Fol
her sake he built thick partition wal
in that high sixth story, and shut away
from his motherless child all the sightt
and sounds of Seventh street. He made
home room for her up there, and
crowded 1t with luxury. But ever in the
midst of all this beauty stood q lace
draped bed, watched aud guarded by q
low-voiced Jewish nurse, and on II lay
the small, sight form and lovely face
of Lewis little lass.
A fall in early infancy had injured her
in such a way that she had never walked
y famous physician said she could be
cured, If her father would consent to a
! long separation and Some terribly critical
| surgery. Old Lewis dread was greater
than his hope, and his child was very dear
to him. He had not consented. He had
kept his lass in that high sixth story. and,
through his tender care, life's best and
/ fairest things had come to her.
V Through the whole long day she did not
| see her father; but when iD the evening
stiffness she heard the clear. slow strokes
OF a O'Clock bell she kne W oue-half hour
more would bring him 10 her.
She believed his business called him
| each day far down in the great rich Capital
She thought of him as one Of those wealthy
| Israelites she read about. whose gold had
| given aid to governments. to kings, princes
| and presidents. She was very proud, and all
| her ina ginings were of noble md .o.ty things.
She had never guessed of the dingy shop,
] the shabby slop-suit. the dirty pavement
and the pawnbrokings.
H.
The days went on, and each one added
luxures manifold to the life OF his little
lass. Until, suddenly, Unexpectedly, there
came a terrible change. A fire broke out
In the crowded block where the dingy ten
ements stood so close together. Nobody
knew just when or where it started. 1t
was nuonday coBflagration. and fierce
flames of fOrked, yellow light were mingled
with the glare of August sunshine. The
throb of engines and the shouts of firemen
sounded out over walls OF women made
homeless and inprecations of men mad with
pain.
When the fire broke out old Levi was
away. That morning he had locked his
shop and had gone to attend an auc-
ton sale, where the contents of q ward
robe as well rs household effects were to
be disposed Of He returned soon after
mid day to find his block ablaze. The
door of his shop had been broken down.
t:rerncn and floods of water were pouring
in. smoke and flames were rushing out.
With desperate bounds the old Jew
fought his way through the wild crowd.
He staggered up steep flights of steps
till. stifled, burnt and nearly blinded, he
reached that high sixth story. To
Adah, lying on her ace-draped bed, shut
away by that carefully built partition
from the sights and sounds OF Seventh
STREET.-THE Adah. talking quietly with her
low-voiced Jewish nurse, there stumbled
in wild-eyed, smoke grimed. hatless.
coatless man, who grasped her almost
fiercely in his arms, and, signing to the
nurse TO follow, began "A perilous descent
or stairways whose dark corners We're
lighted up by flames.
Tne fire was feasting on the rotten
woodwork; its blaze was making merry
over the foulness found in bricks and |
mortar. 1t was the strength of despair |
that nerved Old Levi, as he fought with |
binding smoke and glare for the life of |
his little lass. Down swaying stairways |
over falling floors, until ut last he stood |
within the little shop where for years |
he had bought and sold old, faded gar |
ments and boarded away silver coin. !
Only yesterday he had carried a heavy /
bag of silver to the bank and had brought |
back Il heavy roll of bills. The bills were /
under the counter now locked away with
many other rolls, in n stout, square |
wooden box. That box was Lewis only |
hank. he himself his only trusted banker. :,
The hoard beneath the counter repre-
sented all his earnings and his savings since
the year his wife, Rachel, died. Should he
leave his hoard for the flames to devour?
Should he let fate cheat him of his future?
o., 81 sIr tx.lst
a day when he and Rachel's child should
sail away to the fair land Of the Orient
- where, among people of her mothers
gentle race and manners, his Adah
should live out her life and he begin
10 live his own more nobly. Should that
golden dream OF happiness end in a reality
)f absolute pennilessness?
He measured with quick glaucee the
distance TO the doorway. There was
time TO leap the counter. to seize the
1ox, to gain the outer air. Except for
he precious burden lying helplessly in
lis arms! Except for his Adah, who had
Uttered neither cry or questioning since
ne staggered TO her lace-draped bed and
tore her roughly from il! His arms
were full of his little lass-they could
'old no other treasure. Yet-God of Israel!
t was for her! for her, He would save both
lis child and his currency!
Almost like mailman he cleared the
pace between MIN ana the doorway. |
lose followed by the Jewish nurse he |
ushed out to the crowded street. And
here, on the dirty Seventh street pave
nent, from which all her life she had
'eeu shut away, his little lass was left by
i'm.
III.
Thrust hastily into the arms of her faith.
ul Jewish nurse. Adah lifted her great
ark eyes up to the well-known face.
With heartbeat of sympathy for the ,
horror she saw within their
epths, and with throb of pain for the
evelation she knew had come at last,
he Jewish woman clasped her charge more
enderly, and leaned with her against one
the piles of broken furniture which
tretched all along the block. She did
ut speak, she only bent down over the
iris fair face and kissed her long and
,vingly.
20, Miriam, speak!'' cried Adah. Speak
nd tell me what it means. Who are these
irty, wretched people? and who was that
orrid, wild-looking man who brought me
own the stairs? 1t could not-O Miriam,
could not have been my"
The word father struggled on her
,ngue and died on her sweet lips.
A harsh voice sounded in her ear, and a