Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-09-02

What prompted that original re-
| mark" asked visitor.
'WeII, 1 was just reading an account
! OF stabbing affair, and it suddenly &C.
Cured to me that 1 had known the man
who did the Killing The doctor set
tied back IL his chair. and .he visitor
waited for the story. After few mo-
Inents it caEe-
when l first began to practice, ] did
an immense amount of charity work.
Every fellow does that at the start for
experience. and later lie keeps it up for
humanity's sake. 1 had pretty good sue
cess with children and made quite a
name down in the tenement districts
and incidentally spent most OF my pocket
money on my patients That WAS before
the day of free sterilizsd milk for sick
babies and dozens Of institutions for the
relief Of the poor
lone summer n woman began bring
Ing a sick baby 70 me. y small boy,
about 3 years old, always came with
them and seemed to be fairly strong and
VOL, bat tine baby was pitiful little
thing, with thin. white face and big
blue eyes with look OF pain in them.
Tire woman: seemed an ignorant, honest
soul and generally wore 4 thick. dark
veil to hide black eye or great blue
braise. It's easy enough 20 figure ont
thing like that, you know, but she never
spoke OF her husband or complained, 50
1 dida't ask any questions. Shebrought
the baby often, and each time it looked
more waxen and scrawny, but l couldn't
find out that the child had any disease,
and all the symptoms pointed to lack
Of nourishment.
At last one morning / said TO the
mother that l believed the baby was
starving, and that l didn't intend TO
allow her to leave the Office until she
had told nae the truth about the affair.
She locked stubborn for a moment and
wouldn't answer, but then the tears be-
gan to roll down her bruised. discolor-
ed checks, and she confessed that she
didn't have enough food TO give the ba-
by size worked hard. but her husband
drank ard took every cent she made
and beat her every day into the bar
gain. She was fond of the brute i'll
spite Of all that and told me long sto
r. about the heavenly nature the fell
low had before he began TO drink
FINALLY l told her | would give her
quart OF milk every day. l wouldn't
give her the money because l didn't
covet the privilege of buying bad whis-
ky for the husband, but l would pay
the nearest milk depot to supply her
with quart day. That would feed
the baby and leave some for little
Joe. who didn't look quite SO well as
be did when the two first began calling
on RE. After that | didn't hear any
moro about the case for Il week or two.
Then my friends turned up again. The
baby locked worse than ever, and the
wonan's face was patchwork i'll blue
and green but little Joe was quite rosy.
l didn' understand. The baby was III \
bad condition, and l did what l could
for it. After / left my office 1 went
down to the milk depot. The man said
my woman had had her quart of milk
every day.
Il Eazzled over the thing that night
The next morning the trio were at my
Office. The baby's blue eyelids We're
closed, and 1 thought at first that it
was rot breathing, bat found faint
flutter. l couldn't see any reason for
such state of things, so once more l
led the woman into my private office
and shut the door. Then said
Nov, look here. There's a rlystery
about this, and you've got to tell me
what's the matter. That baby's st;rv
ing to death, and want TO know what
you've done with the milk
Tho woman looked scared and turn
ed pale between bruises. Then she gave
n sort Of vail and jumped up, still
holding tho baby.
No, the baby didn't have the
miIkr she said in a frantic sort of way.
i gave it to little joe. There wasn't
enough to feed them both. and Joe be-
gan TO get sick. and l loved him better
than / did the baby. amt had crust
to eat myself but couldn't let Joe die.
The baby's only girl, and if she does
live she'll DO unhappy like me, and L
don't love her like do Joe. j thought |
both Of them Were going to die, and
couldn't 1.-Two without Joe, so i gave
him the milk and just let the baby have
little. Maybe you think 1 amt suffer
ed watching the baby. but l couldn't
spare Joe. l couldn't. Some day he IL
be = man, and III be proud of him. y
man can do anything. but n girl would !
Just do W hat I've done. Joe shan't die. ; /
''Ske was screaming the words oGt
and seemed almost crazy. The thing |
was awful 1t made me feel heartsick- |
why. you idiot, l said, why |
didn't you tell me? I'd have looked out I
for Joe too.
Just then the baby opened its eyes |
great, uncanny, weird eyes IN the tiny |
face 1t stared at me in 4 miserable way |
that made nay heart come into my J
throat. Then all the light died opt OF
the eyes. hut they still stared.
There was no use saying anything |
more to the mother. She sat down and !
looked at the baby in n quiet, stunned
way. Then she reached out and put an !
arm around little Joe and held him /
tight l told her | would keep on pay l
ing for the milk as long as she wanted 1
it, and she and Joe and the baby went .
BONE