The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-11-16

It is not impossible that he would have
left the city and taken his pack to the
plains, but one night an angry Cornish
man gave him a foul blow In revenge for
an insult, and Mary was left alone with
her boys. If she had known poverty be-
fore she knew want now. She shaved for
other women, little better off that her
self, and wrenched the begrudged pence
from them and went home nights to the
hideous Quarrels of her boys. Her eyes
turned ever heavenward, where she found
her comfort. She asked God Il she de-
served children such as these, and sought
in vain to understand the mystery of sin.
And a vast pity born Of love grew daily
in her heart, till she bestowed upon these
unruly sons more tenderness than many
a mother gives to dutiful children.
The years brought the boys to manhood.
Swarthy, handsome, arrogant swagger-
ing fellows, all of them, who would have
made excellent mercenaries for an invad-
ing army had there been one at hand.
There was, ineed, no big exploit for these
men, who should have known red advent
ure They fermented >on Goose Island,
among Woodworking and poverty bound
folk.
John, the second son, killed a man one
night, and his mother hid him for three
weeks. using an ingenuity that aroused
the admiration of her sons-the first adj
miration they had ever given her. She
caused a box to De built below the floor
Of the house and above this she placed
an empty barrel On the head of the bar
rel she put a kerosene stove, and here
she cooked. John, standing on the box,
which was perforated with air holes,
could rest On the end Of the flooring when
he wished TO sit down, or he could stand
erect with his head reaching to the top
Of the barrel. But he was hunted out
at length, and his mother sat through
brief trial. which ended in his sentence to
the penitentiary for life.
She went home, dry-eyed and terrible.
will you take this for a warning?"
she asked her sons They frowned at her,
but were silent Perhaps they were i'm
pressed.
But that did not keep Leon, the fourth
born, from a madness Of anger one night
when Jan Paulsen got his kirl away from
him at a dance-anger which lasted and
would not down, and was appeased only
when Leon set fire to JAMS carpenter
shop and burned Il to the ground Three
other buildings, homes, were also destroy
ed by the fire. SO Leon went the road
after his brother.
But what need to tell the details OF this
story Of a Judith OF today? Each and
every one Of her sons brought upon his
head some penalty of the law. and the
last one. the youngest, whose heart as a
boy had been a little kinder than the rest.
swung on the gaIlows for the murder OF
his old wife.
Mary was there. Mary saw f. She
kissed his dead face. and she let them
take him away where they would. for she
had no money for his burial Then she
went 20 her home to work and pray. She
could not communicate with such OF her
sons as stiu lived. for they did not read
| her native tongue, IN which she alone
| could write. So she dwelt within her
miserable home. toiling for her bread.
! and praying always-fighting back the
vultures from the putrefed souls OF her
sons with the strong arms OF her faith.