The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1898-04-02
AMESsENGER OF GOOD.
HOW A CHILD. sAvEpA sTARv-
ING FAMILY.
The Arrest of Little Girl Who Stole
Food for Her Sick Parents Led to the
Discovery of q BeautifuI HerOine7A
Pathetic story. m "

Pathetic Story. v
An unfortunate poor man, the father
of family, was deprived Of work by
the depressed state of his trade, 1t was
with great difficulty that he could get
a morsel of food now and then for his I
famished wife and children. Things
grew worse and worse with him, and
at length, on attempting to rise one |
morning for the purpose of going out |
as usual in quest of employment, he |
fell back in a fainting condition be
side his wife, who had already been
confined 20 her bed by illness for two
months. The poor man felt himself ill,
and his strength utterly gone. He had
two boys, yet in mere childhood, and
one girl about twelve or thirteen years
old. For some time the whole charge
of the household had fallen on this
girl. she had tended the sickbed of
her mother, and had watched over her
little brothers with more than paternal
care. Now, when the father, too, was
taken Ill, there seemed to be not YES
tige of hope for the family, excepting
in the exertions which might be made
by her, young as she was. The first
thought of the poor little girl was to
seek for work proportioned to her
strength. But that the family might
not starve in the meantime, she re-
solved to go to a house of charity,
where food was given out, she had
heard, to the poor and needy. The
person to whom she addressed herself
accordingly inscribed her name in the
list Of applicants, and told her to come
! back again in day or two, when the
| case would have been deliberated upon.
| Alas, during this deliberation, her pa
rents and brothers would starve! The
girl stated this, but was informed that
the formalities mentioned were indis-
! pensable. She came again to the
streets, and, almost agonized by the
knowledge of how anxiously she was
expected, with bread, at home, she re-
solved to ask charity from the passen-
gers in the public ways. No one heed
ed the modest, unobtrusive appeal of
her outstretched hand. Her heart was
too full to permit her to speak. Could
anyone have seen the torturing anxiety
that filled her breast, she must have
been pitied and relieved. AS the case
stood, it is not surprising that the po-
lice threatened her with arrest, and she
was Obliged to move on. She was
frightened Shivering with cold, and
crying bitterly, she fed homeward.
When she mounted the stairs and
opened the door the first words that
she heard were the cries of her broth
ers for something to eat-"bread!
bread!" She saw her father soothing
and supporting her weak mother, and
heard him say: "Bread!-she must
have bread"
) ''I have no bread! cried the pool
girl. with anguish in her tones.
The cry of disappointment and de-
spair which came at these words from
her father and brothers caused her tt
recall what she had said. 81 have no
got it yet" she exclaimed, "but I vii
have it immediately"
After these words, without waiting
for a reply, she left the house again
A thought had entered her head, and
maddened by the distress of those sh
loved SO dearly, she had instantaneous
'ly resolved to put it in execution. Sh
: ran from one street to another, till sh
saw bakers shop in which there ap
, peared to be no person, and then, sum
. moning all her determination, she en-
tered, lifted a loaf, and fed! TIL
shopkeeper saw her from behind. H
cried loudly, and ran out after her. TIL
, girl ran on. She was pursued, an
} finally the man seized the loaf whic
a she carried. The object of her desire
= taken away, she had no motive to pre-
=. coed, and was seized at once. The
i. conveyed her to the police station,
: crowd, as usual, having gathered in al
|. tendance. The poor girl threw aroun
G her despairing glances which SCENE
e to seek some favorable person frol
l whom to ask mercy. AT last, when sh
e had been brought to the police station
C and was about to enter, she saw b,
fore her little girl of her own ag
l, who appeared to look on her with
I glance full of kindness and compa
t. sion. Under the impulse of the m,
le ment, still thinking of the condition
II her family, she whispered to the stral
1t ger the cause of her act of theft
ID Father and mother and my tv
"a brothers are dying for want of bread
IL said she.
y "Where?" asked the strange 81
70 anxiously.
ie 'No. -, street" She had o
Ia l1y time IN add the name of her naren
o. 4LIs oo,,ro,,r,ioe+ior u1bor 81 -
H.. " "AAAS = O ."