News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1896-08-13
The Tramp.

cumstances placed William and Mary
Charlton upon the hands of charity.
Now charity in some places is not
by good deal what it is in Others.
So William, who had seen "better
days." who had cultivated a manly
degree of independence, for the love
of it, would have died-and he dds
his lovely Mary dies and he followed
her the same day-rather than petit
ton his proud and wealthy neigh
bors, when he knew that they were
aware of his helplessness, yet keeping
back their aims, waiting, not an
opportunity, but a solicitation, to
do good.
Henry. the only son, aged twelve,
brought up as he had been, accus-
toned to little and expectant of less,
how did he know pap" and imam"
were dying?
He had always been accustomed to
that pinched, cadaverous look; he
had often held his mothers thin
hand between his eyes and the fire,
and seen her thin, bony fingers
turned to threads of jelly, and her
hands we're always cold.
But he had never seen such wild eX-
pressions upon his parents faces as
that evening when he came home
from fishing, with his bass "for
man," which his mother would never
need.
One was before( the fireplace on the
floor, the other ON what passed for a
bed; their eyes were staring blankly,
cold and clamEpy; their lips were
apart, and when Henry spoke they
did not answer.
He knew nothing of death, save
that he had seen poor Leo, the dog.
hanged to save even what the poor
dog ate; and now they looked like
Leo did.
Poor boy his heart knew no grief
he knew nothing but poverty, misery
hunger and toll. Born 60 his condi
ton, irresponsible for his existence
never yet awakened to the RESPONSE
bilities of entity-oh. what expert
ences, bitter to the dregs of bitter
ness, awaited this child of misfor
tune! Twas better that he did moi
realize it ALL
"I'll tell Squire Johnson; b'levt
they are swung like Leo was" ht
said to himself as he started TOWARD
their two-miles-off, though nearest
neighbor.
He, as children oft times do, haG
substituted the cause for the effect
Knowing that poor Leo had beer
hanged, and now seeing them stiff
cold and silent, he reasoned as he
did.
Squire, they are swung-pap is
and"
Now, boy, none of your simperine
impudence If you want anything
tell that: if not, go on home!
81 say, Squire, they are Swung,
like Leo was, and | can't make EN-
talk, or wake 'em up; they are cold
and their eyes are open, and"
"They are dead, then" said little
Thomas Johnson.
Squire Johnson. moved more by
curiosity than by pity, mounted his
horse and rode down to William
Charlton's, finding the lads story
only too true.
This, then, was the mute appeal oil
the dead to charity. These people
must be buried. The Squire notified
some of his poor neighbors to attend
to the affair, and he'd foot the bill,
and said
"This boy, Henry, may stay with
my gardner for few days, and then
be must hunt work"
And this is the cry of the tramp, 81
am hunting work." and proud, rich
Squire Johnson put this cry into the
mouth of Henry Charlton and start
ed him out tramp.
1t was autumn, and the approach
OF winter had already been heralded
by his white errand boys-the boar
frosts of the middle ATTITUDES. Night
had passed; another clear, crisp
frosty morning had dawned upon the
sons of men, ushering in another
glorious day, fraught to some with
dazzling delight and unfeigned happi-
ness; to others, with only black
despair, disappointment and death.
From beside a hay stack, whose
friendly shelter he had sought the
evening before, to break the chilly
air and to prevent the frost from
gathering upon his body, crept the
wasted form of a young man just in
the first blush of blooming manhood,
so far as age was concerned; but the
wan cheek, palid brow and cadaver-
GUS look, bespoke that all the ele-
ments of manhood were wanting in
that hollow frame.
Had his past life, from early boy
hood, been such as to have given ma
ture but half a chance, the vigor OF
both body and mind would have
challenged the admiration and won
the respect of his fellow-beings.
But Henry Charlton had enjoyed
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