The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-07-28
SELECTED STORY.
Jackie's Burglar.

The garnet was squalid to degree
1t was dark, dirty and wretched, and
the thin streaks of light which filtered
in through the tiny dust-choked sky.
light only seemed to heighten the dark.
ness and increase the misery of the
place. 1t was small, square room
no furniture, except couple of broken
chairs, grimy table, and broken
packing case, and it seemed place
scarcely fit for habitation. Yet on the
floor were three coarse straw mat.
tresses, and on one of them, with his
weary face turned up to the dismal sky
light above, lay boy. He was only a
small boy, but his face was like an old
mans, and his limbs were shrunken
and dwarfed and thin. He lay looking
up into the face of man who bent over
him.
81 shall be all right by and by, dad"
he said, in a weak voice. / shall be
all right as soon as the sun creeps up a
bit and get out. Don't worry, dad.
P'r'aps / shall be able to do something
soon. P'r'aps l could make some
boxes or something if 1 could sit up a
bit.
Two big tears coursed down the
mans cheek and fell on the boys hand.
He turned away hurriedly and began
walking to and fro across the garnet,
I" must get the doctor to you some
how" he said, more to himself than
the boy on the bed" If l fetch him by
force he must come. It's no good put
ting it off any longer"
"No, no." said the boy, with the
thoughtfulness of an old man; "wait a
bit. 1 may be all right tomorrow"
The man plunged his hand into his
pocket and sighed. With twopence be-
tween them and starvation, what was
the use of fetching doctor who would
order eggs and milk for this boy?
What was the use of anything except
to sit and stare at the skylight and
starve?
John Endleton was man who had
once been in good position. Only a
year ago he had believed himself to be
out of the reach of want; but misfor-
tune had overtaken him, his bank had
lost money in hundred different ways,
ill.luck had followed him, and he had
fallen from bad to worse, until he at
last found himself, with his ten-year-
old son, in an East End slum, penniless,
heart sick, hopeless, with sickness over
taking them, with no prospect of any
thing better than hand-to-mouth ex-
istence, and with a criminal-a Jail
bird-a common convict for compan-
ion.
John Endleton was proud man. 1t
was his pride, perhaps, that had led
him to refuse good berths that he
would have been thankful for now, and
he hated the man who shared their
garrett If he could have afforded it
if he could only have made sure of the
n ecessary pence-he would have rented
the entire room in order to keep his
boy from contact with the man; but he
had reached such hopeless state of
his existence that he was thankful If he
found himself able to provide for one
decent meal day, and he was obliged
to tolerate him, although his very pres
ence seemed poison. He hated his
coarse ways, his bad face, his evil
breath, and the thought that he was
within almost yard of his son made
him shudder
Jem BROKER was the leader of q
gang. There was no better known
criminal in the whole of London than
he, and he was proud of his reputation,
proud of his wickedness, and proud
even of the time he had "done" in
Portland prison. He was foul-mouth-
ed, bad tempered and had been con-
victed of numberless crimes; but for
for some strange reason little Jackie
Endleton interested him.
In the early morning, when he stag
gered up to the garnet half drunk, the
sight of the thin, white face on the
dirty mattress sobered him. The touch
of the boys hand dragged back his
memory through thousand dirty by
ways to the fresh country, where, when
he was a small lad, he had played with
his sister in green fields under blue
skies. Something in the boys eyes re-
called his mother, something, too, in
the droop of the little lips reminded him
of hers as he had seen them last, when
she had been dying with shame for her
son. And the big, gaunt man, whose
heart was black with crime, who had
resisted the overtures of missionaries
and sneered at prison chaplains, found
himself suddenly overcome by ten
years-Old boy who was dying Of starva-
ton in miserable garrett. He scoffed
and swore at himself as he did it, but
it became regular thing for him to
bring oranges and sometimes grapes on
his return to the garrett at night.
And John Endleton hated it. He
resented it tiercely, and shrank back
when Jem BROKER approached the bed
and looked down at Jackie's face.
AS the winter passed into the spring
Jackie seemed to grow weaker instead
of stronger, and at last, with solitary
shilling in his pocket, John Endletor
set off in desperation for doctor. L
anything happened to the boy heIwould
have nothing to live for, and the thought
seemed to choke him. But he knocked
at the DOCTORS door without success
The doctor was busy-too busy to at
tend to him until night, and when nigh
came he had forgotten all about it, and