Semi-weekly Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1897-1901, 1901-10-11
HER POOR
OLD LAD
The Story Of an Old Woman Who
Was Deserted by Her
Erring Husband.

~ Errtng husDAnO. \
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
"You were just remarking," said thu
doctor, raising his voice and looking a
the three friends seated with him II
the library after dinner, ION the phe
nomenal character Of the life In large
seaport city like this, and wondering
whether the customsof the poorer class
es are affected to any appreciable ex
tent by the speech or manners of the
foreign sailors who are continually
among them. l myself incline to think
that such influence Is not so formidable
as might be supposed, but incredible
things happen at times in the obscure
parts of our maritime cities. can tell
you n story which came under my own
observation not SO very long ago. You
know that for some years l was house
surgeon in the S. hospital? Well, to-
day l have been looking at the altera-
tons they are making between that
institution and the Dukes dock, and
see that among the buildings which
are being dismantled there is an old
lodging house called the Rovers' Re-
turn In which a strange incident occur
red during my stay in that part of the
town.
'"This house, which on account Of it's
situation near the dock gates was fire.
quented solely by seafaring men and
.emigrants of the poorest type, was
kept for many years by an old woman,
then sixty-five years of age-a good
humored, contentcd soul, who could
neither read nor write. and who never
in her life had set foot beyond her
native town. Whether the stories
which filtered to her through her sea-
going clients from all quarters Of the
globe had been too much for her can
not say; but she was known to have
strong prejudice against those strange
and wicked lands beyond the sea, and
had been often heard to declare. when
any one spoke in her hearing of foreign
people. that thank heaven. she knowed
nothing of them and, please God, she'd
live and die in a Christian country"
She was favorite in the district, since
she was chatty, good natured, and In
no way held herself to be better than
her neighbors, and had, besides, what
l have often noticed in illiterate peo-
pie, an extraordinarily tenacious men,
Dry for all the family histories and In
terests Of the district.
Her husband was n morose old Scot.
once, l believe, q weaver, but at that
time earning ten shillings a week as
a night Waterman in the streets.
Wrinkled like 'seaweed, with mouth
so contracted that his nose and chin
almost met, and with an inscrutable
expression of the eyes, this man, who
scarcely ever spoke, had been in his
youth q strong radical, a member of
several societies for the destruction of
society and actually at the time of his
marriage laboring to save the required
sum for admission to some Utopian
colony ia America whose chief law was |
to be community Of goods. But he had |
met his fate and married, and nothing |
further was heard of this land of prom |
Use. The ten pounds which he had |
scraped together for this project re-
manned in the savings bank, provision |
for old age. This strangely mated cou-
pie had one son, hunchbacked cob
bier, who had hard work to live, and
who cherished secret dislike toward
his father
1.-THE old man was, l should think,
the most silent person under heaven;
but certainly, for man who said SO
little, he appeared to have good deal
IA1 e., I,
fin planted on end, in which he sat out
the night behind his brazier of glowing
Goals, SO attractive a sight in the cold
dark street, seemed to be meeting
place for wanderers and odd fish of all
kinds. Out of the darkness of the over
hanging storages these night birds
would appear singly, in twos and
threes, sometimes in whole companies,
attracted like moths to the irresistible
center of light and warmth. Watch
ing this circle of haggard faces under
the impish freaks of the freight, one
might have thought that this gather
ing in the midst Of heaped timber and
road wreckage had the appearance Of
a conspiracy, as If some dark under
standing drew these aliens together.
"As might be supposed, the queerest
wanderers afloat came to lodge in that
part of the town, mariners who appear
ed at night from one end of the globe
and set out In the morning for the
other; and on an afternoon in winter
two men came to the Royers' Return.
1ne the captain of a small sailing YES
sci, surly and red eyed and full of
,aths, and with him his only passenger, {
lean, bilious looking man of no set
led occupation. The old woman, Isa- l
'el Ferguson. took a sudden and VIC '
ent dislike TO this lodger, for no APP S
'arent reason. seeing that he paid reg {
llarly and gave no trouble. But she r
allied him spy, and, as was remem-
'ered afterward, she had been heard /
o say. When that mann comes into the
DOM It's time for me to go OUT p
THE captain in his turn had settled