Middletown transcript., 1898-12-24
! BRAVE LITTLE
BDRR|OBOOLA CHA.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It wasn't so very happy to begin
with. Christmas eve was little dreary.
Maggie only hummed carol because
It was more her way to sing than to
cry, and the carol was the only thing
she could think of just then. It was
the first carol she had ever learned. She
could remember just how sweet her
mother had looked while teaching it to
her aud Jimmie, the brother, who
would keep his seventh Christmas to-
morrow-keep it in heaven, she thought,
with a gleam Of sorrowful joy. The
dear mother who was in the hospital
now, whose Christmas would be spent
in a whitewashed ward, clean, bright
and tender, with kindly care, but still
not so bright as the little attic room
would have been if only she could have
been there. Maggie's song grew very
queer at this point Of her reflections,
and her voice was trif1e unsteady, but
she persisted in humming "It came
upon the midnight clear" and even
smiled a little as she laid down the
cheap little doll she had been dressing
for Sweetie, the dear little sister who
was her darling, and who was now
being cared for by kind friends of her
mothers youth.
In another moment she was dashing
down newspaper alley at full speed, ell
bowling her way a tri1e more gently
than the average habitue Of that far
famed locality, but pushing to the front
with dogged resolution none the less,
and no sooner had the bunch of papers
which came in answer to her warcry Of
twenty-five specials-throw 'em
along quick, JimmieP' reached her
arms, than she was Off with a bound,
and a cry Of "Papiersl Papiersl Here
is yer extryl" which sounded startling
ly loud and harsh to come from that
girlish throat. Down Mason street she
few, anxious to reach the "stand'
which the boys Of that corner had unan-
imously ceded to her with rough chiv-
airy when she had first appeared upon
the scene, timid, nervous, afraid to cry
her wares. She was the first Of all the
crowd to reach State street. "Papier,
papieri Here is yer extryi All about
the accident at Borrioboola Chap she
shrieked in the voice which would have
been sweet and clear but for its hard
treatment and ont of doors use, or rather
abuse, and a queer little smile curved
the corners of her mouth as she gave
vent to her peculiar trademark" /" as
the "other boys" were wont to call the
odd name which invariably closed her
exhortation to buy an evening paper.
Th"t exclamation had quite history.
When Maggie had been driven by her
mothers illness and the want of food
in the home cupboard to try paper SELL
ing, she had been afraid to cry loudly,
and her conscience, home taught and
tender, had forbidden her to invent
news announcements after the fashion of
others of her "perfesh. For some days
she had sold very little in consequence,
and the capital she had each morning
invested in papers seemed in fair way
to be lost, when Irish Pat, the tough
est boy in the gang, had taken her to
his heart and shown her the mistake
which spoiled her sales.
"Yer don't know nothin, yer DON'T"
he had said contemptuously, striding
along by her side with an exaggerated
imitation Of the walk Of the last actor
he had admired from the peanut heav-
en-" Of the Academy and keeping level
with her as she dejeete4ly started
homeward, crying softly and wiping
the tears away with her ragged but
clean handkerchief.
"Yer too bloomin scared" he said,
again copying the Academy actor, both
In speech and gesticulation, ian yer'l |
never do no good till yer makes yer roar
more like better felIer than yerself."
He paused and looked at Maggie ex-
pectantly, but Maggie had no idea that |
the "better feller' was Pat himself, |
and she never dreamed that the pause
should have been filled with a compi-
ment, well deserved, in Pats opinion,
60 she said nothing, and the boy took |
up his parable again.
Now, this yer's the way yer calls"
ne said, initiating her weak little cry |
to the life. "an this yer's the way yer
oughter YELL" And he let out shout |
Of Paper herel PaperI All about the
great fire on the west sidel Many lives
lostl Nineteen flremen go down in the
ruinsl" which startled Maggie and
rang down the street for block or
more.
Maggie soon found this to be true, il
she was to equal the sales Of the other
paper sellers. But still, as has been
said, her conscience rebelled against the
deceit. So she decided with one Of the
compromises possible only to innocent
souls upon inyenting cry about an
event which could not possibly happen,