The record-union., 1897-08-16
MESSAGE OR GIUSEPPE'S ANGEL

junk, something like $50. Ann kept
cow and boarded several goats, and
passed a rather rural existence, al
though her horizon was barred with the
iron lines of an elevated road two blocks
distant and her farm yard reverberated
with the rumblings and ratings of a
cobble pavement and echoed with all
the steam and electric voices of that
part of the town
Her shanty was perched with a sort
Of Swiss recklessness on the apex of a
great old rock, and was approached in
a circuitous fashion by rickety wood
en- staircase that led where it could best
climb up the broken surface of the
bowlder. The rock was tufted here and
there with a coarse growth of grass
that gave ii the unkempt appearance
of an ill-shaven face. To the rear of
the shanty it sank away more evenly
into a miry yard where the herbage
was stamped into paste by the cows
hoofs.
There was a shed in the back yard
and a genuine bit of country fence
stretched across the rear. In the morn
ing the bars were let down and Ann
Monyihan's cow passed through them
into a vast vacant lot beyond, where
mulleins flourished and where, here and
there, among heaps of rubbish, broken
glass, twisted, rusted tin, and tatters Of
ancient bill posters, there were yet to
be found sweet little oases of grass In
the evening the gentle creature re-
turned-sometimes in a big red sunset
glow that had q rare chance to spread
itself in this open spot. Some of the
oil f,1nC 4s,@T,
cality was being blasted away. In the
side street, big derricks swung their
black frames-idle-aga against the sunset
at night, and by day steam drills and
pickaxes added their din to the street
sounds. But AIMS COW had the gaze
of the country in her eyes, and her out
ward and hOmeward tread showed a
dignity above the trivial accidents of
environment.
Ann herself appeared Indifferent to
the fact that she and her shanty were
groteSque and extraneous in this decor
Gus quarter of the town. She lived her
own life in her own way, and she made
the way as easy as possible. A curl
of smoke issued from the chimney of
her small establishment like its life's
breath-a modest announcement of soul
within. She generally had pot of some
rank vegetables humming and steam
ing on the stove, and this and an ever
present supply of cheap liquor kept
''the atmosphere conspicuous" Once
week, out of Difference for the popular
fashion, she pinned a few wet Tapping
rags to the clothes strings which she
zigzagged from tree to post in the yard.
There was just one thing she stood in
awe of and that compelled her to a GER
tain pretense of decency, and this con-
trolling influence she alluded to (as If
1t We're a poet) as THE Bard of Hilth.
But she reduced her housekeeping la
bors to a minimum and had an ample
leisure. She was generally to be seen
folded in an old shawl and hugging
herself' up in the front doorway of the
sbanty. Here she sat by the hour and
smoked a short clay pipe, and looked
down with her little narrow red eyes,
from her rocky fortress upon the hap
penings of the avenue below.
The MadisOn-aYenue cars logged by
at an old-time pace; ladies in market
ing or calling costume got on and off.
Ann possibly was fairly we'll posted as
to the modern fashions of feminine
garb. At all events, she took in the
most startling exhibitions of nrodish-
ness with no other comment than a
stronger puff at her pipe Half way
down the next block there was a giant
tiathouse. Ann was familiar with its
great honeycomb face and knew by
distant sight many Of the inmates. Some
of them occasionally came and went
in carriages, and the haH-boy was q
proper hall-boy in broadcloth and brass
buttons. All of which Ann saw un-
moved
But there was something that made
Ann swell with metropolitan pride-try
as she would to puff evenly as it passed
and that was Dennis Moynihan, her
only son, in his new ash cart. Ann had
lived through the old regime OF what
was plainly termed ''the swillman," and
Dnnis, with his new cart, fat horse, and
neat uniform, was something she had
never expected to see-one of those
modern evoluuons that fairly take your
breath away.
There had been a great parade Of the
STRENGTHENING and street-improving
forces, and Ann on the occasion had
overcome her usual aversion to society,
and had steppedsacross TO convenient
corner on Fifths hsavenue where she had
seen it all pass and Dennis in it. All
the street-sweepers in white duck, i'm
maculate and jolly, shouldering their
brushes and presenting arms. the
sprinkling cart men with their big bee
tle-like wagons in grand file, the street.
cleaning inspectors on their bicycles,
with their fore-and-aft caps like so
many Stanleys going after Livingston,
and the garbage cart like Roman char
lots jolting in the show-and Dennis
In it. And there were elegant speeches.
and gentlemen making bows, and there
was parading, and there were maneu-
vres, and the whole town to watch
and Dennis in it Ann Moynihan didn't
see it all, but she saw more than she
could bear, and then she went back and
rolled herself up tighter than ever on
her Swiss chalet doorstep. And when
an especially grand lady passed in the
afternoon and glanced up at the shan
ty with gentle, patronizing inquisitive-
ness, Ann looked dreamily the other
way, removed her pipe. and spat with
the negligent aim and the raised eye
brow of indifference.
Dennis Moynihan did not live with
his mother; he boarded with the jani-
tor and janitress of a decent tenement
father east. Dennis had lived in New
York long enough to be a naturalized
citizen. and he had taken out his pa
pers-which might go without saying.
for otherwise how could he have join
ed the force Of the D. S. c.?
His position, though it might seem
humble to some, implied political pre-