Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1897-07-29
ACKIE'S BURGLAR.

corret was squalid to degree.
I dark, dirty and wretched, and
streaks Of light which filtered
noh the tiny, dust-choked sky
INV seemed to heighten the
&c and increase the misery of
oca It was a small, square
With no furniture, except a
. Of broken chairs, a grimy table,
broken packing case, and it
a place scarcely fit for habita-
i Vet on the floor were three
straw mattresses, and on one
with his weary face turned
he dismal skylight above, lay
He was only small boy, but
10 was like an old mans, and
hs we're shrunken and dwarfed
4 in. He lay looking up into
% Of a man who bent over him.
Ebell be all right by and by,
he said, in a weak voice. Il
be all right as soon as the sun
No a bit and [ can get out.
Sworrv, dad. P'r'aps [ shall be
4 do something soon. P'r'aps l
make some boxes or something
hid sit up bit.
bio tears coursed down the
cheek and fell on the boys
He turned away hurriedly and
walking to and fro across the
bust get the doctor to you some
he said, more to himself than
l. on the bed; eff I fetch him
- he must come. It's no good
! it off any longer.
no." said the boy, with the
btfulness of an old man; "wait
Imav be all right tomorrow"
man plunged his hand
his pocket and sighed.
twopence between them
starvation, what was the use
hing doctor who would order
hand milk for this boy? What
e use of anything except to sit
hre at the skylight and starve?
h Endleton was man who had
been In good position. Only
4 ago he had believed himself to
4 of the reach of want; but mis-
lie had overtaken him, his bank
bst money in a hundred differ
5avs, ill-luck had followed him,
e had fallen from bad to worse,
BE at last found himself, with
wear old son, in an East End
I penniless, heart sick, hopeless,
Sickness overtaking them, with
pspect of anything better than a
sto-mouth existence, and with a
hal-a jail bird-a common con-
br companion.
In Endleton was a proud man.
his pride, perhaps, that had
m to refuse good berths that he
have been thankful for now,
e hated the man who shared
karret. If he could have afforded
he could only have made sure Of
ecessary pence-he would have
the entire room in order to
bis boy from contact with the
but he had reached such q hope
tate of his existence that he was
Hull if he found himself able to
Re for one decent meal a day,
e was obliged to tolerate him,
hgh his very presence seemed
b. He hated his coarse ways,
ID face, his evil breath, and the
hit that he was within almost a
bf his son made him shudder.
Brooker was the leader of a
There was no better known
pal in the whole of London than
hd he was proud of his reputa-
proud of his wickedness, and
even of the time he had "done"
Cortland Prison. He was foul
ped, bad tempered and had been
eted of numberless crimes; but
PINE strange reason little Jackie
eton Interested him.
the early morning, when he stag
up to the garnet half drunk, the
OF the thin, white face on the
mattress sobered him. The
OF the boys hand dragged back
Remory through a thousand dirty
rs to the fresh country, where,
he was small lad, he had play
IN his sister in green fields under
skies. Something in the boys
recalled his mother, something,
p the droop of the little lips re-
ed him of hers as he had seen
last, when she had been dying
shame for her son. And the big,
man, whose heart was black
crime, who had resisted the
,reS of missionaries and sneered
lSen chaplains, found himself
III! overcome by a 10-year-old
no was dying of starvation in q
aoie garnet. He scoffed and
at himself as he did it, but il
ne a regular thing for him te
oranges and sometimes grapes
return to the garnet at night.
yohn Endleton hated it. He
'eq 1t flercely, and shrank back
Sem BROKER approached the
n0 looked down at Jackie's face.