Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1900-12-26
Brave LITTLE
bORR|ODOOLA CHA.

SHAsfAARaeAAaA&
1t wasn't so very happy to begin
with. Christmas eve was little dreary.
Maggie only hummed carol because
1t was more her way to sing than to
cry, and the carol was the only thing
she could think of just then. 1t was
the first care, 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-keepi it in heaven. she thought,
with CLEAN Of sorrowful joy. The
dear mother who WAS in the hospital
| now, whose Christmas would be spent
in n whitewashed ward, clean, bright
and tender, with kindly care, but still
/ noo 81 bright as tue mite acne 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 a trifie unsteady, but
she persisted in humming 1T came
upon the midnight clear" aud even
smiled 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 fer by kind friends of her
mothers youth.
In another moment she was dashing
down newspaper alley at full speed, G
bowling her way "a tritle more gently
than tho average habitue of that far
famed locality, but pushing to the front
with Il dosged resolution none the less,
and no sooner had the bunch of papers
which came i'll answer to her warcry I
twenty-five srecials-throw 'em
along quick, Jimmiel" reached b.
arms, than she was off with boun
and cry Of ''Pupiersl Papiers, He, :
is yer oxtry," which sounded startlin--
ly loud aud harsh to come from tn
girlish throat. Down Mason street she
flew, auxious 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
papierl Here is yer extry! All about
the accident at Borrioboola Gha" she
shrieked in the voice which would have
been sweet aud clear but for its hard
treatment and ont of doors use, or rather
abuse. and 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.
That exclamation had quite history
When Maggie had been driven by her
mothers illness and the want Of food
in tho 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 tho capital she had each morning
invested in papers seemed in "a fair way
to be lost, when Irish Pat, the tough
est boy in tt gang, had taken her to
his heart al | shown her the mistake
which spoiled her sales.
Eyer 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 dejectedly started
homeward. crying softly and wiping
the tears az ay with her ragged but
clean handkerchief.
Eyer too bloomin scared" he said,
again copying the Academy actor, both
in speech and gesticulation, IAN yer'll
never do no good till yer makes yer roar
more like better Teller than yerseif."
He paused and looked at Maggie ex-
pectantly, but Maggie had no idea that
the "better Teller" was Pat himself.
and she never dreamed that the pause
should have been filled with compli-
ment, we'll deserved, in Pats opinion,
SO she said nothing, and the boy took
up his parable again.
"Now, this yer's the way yer calls, "
he said, initiating her weak little cry
to the life, ian this yer's the way yer
ouehter YELL" And he let out shout
of paper here! Paperl All about the
great fire OH the west side! Many lives
lost! Nineteen firemen go down IN the
ruinsr' which startled Maggie and
rang down the street for block or
more.
Maggie soon found this to be true, it
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 inventing a cry abont an
event which could not possibly happen,