The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-10-12

man; the mattress itself has gone now;
there is nothing but the cover left. She
has hung that on a hook before the
window to keep out some of the cold
blasts, for the little girl coughs pain
fully
Without saying anything 10 her hus-
band, she, TOO. has looked for work.
But the strike has struck the women
even more heavily than the men At
her stair-head there are poor unfortunate
women whom she heard weeping the
whole night through. She met one stand
ing at the corner OF the sidewalk, one
is dead and another has disappeared.
Happily for her, she has a husband
who does not dr:nk-a good man. They
would be comfortable If the dead sea-
sons had not despoiled them Of every
thing. She has exhausted her credits,
she owes the baker, the grocer, the fruit
man and she no longer dares even TO
pass by their shops. That afternoon she
had been TO borrow twenty sous OF her
sister, but there, also. she found much
misery that without saying word, she
began TO weep. and together with her
sister she wept for a long time. And
when she went away. she promised 10
bring her a morsel of bread if her hus-
band came back with some.
The husband does not return. The rain
is falling heavily; she takes refuge I'M
der the door. the big drops splash at her
feet, a stream of water vets her thin
dress. At intervals. seized with impa
thence, she goes down the steps. in spite
of the heavy shower, and runs way TO the
end of the street. to see If she cannot
somewhere in the distance catch
glimpse of him for whom she is waiting.
And when she comes back she is soaked
through She rubs her hands over her
thin hair TO dry II, and again settles down
patiently, though she shaken by heavy
fits of fever.
The coming and going of the passers-
by jostles her. She tries 10 make her
self very small so as not to trouble any
one. Some Of the men peer closely into
her face, and sometimes she feels
warm breath touching her neck. All of
suspicious Paris. the street with its mud.
the brilliant lights, the rolling carriages,
seem TO wish TO take her and throw her
into the stream of it all. She is hungry.
She belongs to the whole world. In front
of her is bakery and she thinks of the
little girl upstairs asleep.
Then when her husband appears at last,
veering away from the houses like
poor wretch. she rushes TO meet him and
looks anxiously at him.
''Wenr'
He does not answer, but bends his head
even lower. Then pale as death, she
mounts the stairs
".
Up stairs the little girl is not sleep
ing. She has walked up and is think
ing. watching the end OF the candle as It
hickers on a corner of the table. No one
knows what monstrous. hesrt-breaking
shadows sweep across the face OF this
little girl OF seven years. with the ser
ious, withered features of an cid wo-
man.
She is sitting on the edge Of the box
which serves her as a bed. Her feet
hang down shiveringly. her sickly doll
like hands are holding against her breast
the rags that cover her. She feels burn
ing there, a fire that she would like to
put out. She is thinking.
She has never had any playthings. She
could not go 10 school because she did
not have any shoes. When she was very
little. she remembers how her mother
took her out in the sunshine. But that
was long ago. They had to work, and at
ter that II always seemed as If there
were a cold wind blowing in the house.
She has not felt very comfortable, either
for she has always been hungry.
She has thought a good deal about that,
but she cannot understand. Is everybody
always hungry, then? She has tried
very hard to get used to 1t. but she
has never been able to. She thinks she
is too little, that one must be bigger to
Her mother knows, though,
this strange thing that is hidden from
little girls. If she dared, she would ask
her who IL was put you into this world
to be hungry.
Then too. 1t is homely in their house.
She looks at the window where the emp
~ cover of the mattress flaps in the
wind, at the bare walls. the broken fur
niture. all the shame OF the attic which
the strike soils with IT'S despair. In her
ignorance she thinks she has dreamed
OF warm rooms filed with beautiful
things that shone; she shuts her eyes
again 70 see them and through her thin
eyelashes the light or the candle be-
comes a great resplendence Of gold. into
which she would like to go. But the
wind comes blowing in, and there is
such a current or air from the window
that she is seized with an attack of
coughing, and when il is over her eyes
are filled with tears.
She always used to be afraid before,
when they left her all alone, now she
does not care. it doesn't make any differ
ence They haven't eaten anything since
last night, so she thinks her mother has
gone out to look for some bread. The
idea amuses her. She breaks her bread |
in small pieces and eats 4 few slowly. |
one by one. then she plays with It.
Her mother has come back. father has |
shut the door The little girl looks at
their hands. very supposedly. Then. |
when they do not say anything. at the |
end OF q long moment. she repeats in a /
mechanical voice.
I'm very hungry; I'm very hungry"
Her father. holding his head between |
his hands. sits in dark corner: he stays /
there. utterly crushed. shaken with heavy /
silent sobs, The mother sitting her tears 1
again puts the little one into the box. |
She covers her with all the clothes IN the I
room and tells her TO be good and go 70 1
sleep. And the child. whose teeth are I
chattering with cold. who feels the FIRE ;
IN her breast burning stronger. becomes 4
very brave. She puts her arm around /
her mothers neck and whispers softly: /
Tell ne, mamma, why are we Away. 4
hungry