Omaha daily bee., 1902-12-09
SILEEN MANTLE OF CHARITY
Society Woman Comforts shiveiing Infant
with Her Petticoat.
SHIFTS THE GARMENT IN A STREET CAR
Finds Baby's Little Legs and Feet
whony Bare and blue from Cold
other Passenger Applaud
the Act.

with more than one dozen aslohlSneu
hut admiring passengers looking on. a So
ciety woman. as prominent as any IN
Omaha, yesterday arose in a street car
and deliberately relieved herself OF d
sitten petticoat and wrapped it about the
shivering form Of an infant z years olu'
n was the mantle OF charity IN new guise.
The woman was Mrs. Harry Cartan OF
3sOs Burt street, formerly Miss Sadie Nash.
daughter OF E. w. Nash. millionaire secre-
tary and treasurer Of the Omaha & Grant
smeltinR company. Mrs. Cartan Is OF the
smart set. but conventionalities are
brushed aside as straws when the emer-
Rency seems to justify-and emergencies
appear to Justify rather oftener with Mrs.
Cartan than with most women. FRIENDS
who have been her friends since eirlhood
days declare the act Of yesterday surprised
them not at all.
"She has always been as g~reat-hearted
as she was impulsive," said one. land
she dared do anything that seemed the
shortest means to a desired end. She has
her own carriages, but uses street cars
with considerable frequency for no other
reason apparently, than that she prefers
TO keep in touch with those who are be-
yond her own circle"
on walnut Hill Car.
The incident Of the child and the petit
coat occurred on a Walnut Hill car on the
downtown trip and is reported to The
Bee by an elderly gentleman who was
among the eye witnesses and who Rloried
in the womanis sympathy and courage.
"'You know how cold those cars are this
winter" he said, land how little warmer
one feels inside them than outside. When
Mrs. Cartan climbed aboard at THIRTY
eighth and Cunning streets she very soon
noticed what l had been watching in STUPID
amazement for some time. Near the door
sat a man poorly and thinly clad and.
half -balanced on his knee, was a child not
more than 2 years old. That child's little
legs and feet were wholly bare and they
we're actually blue from cold. Think of
It.! The mercury nearly to the freezing
point, several inches of snow over everv-
thing and a child barefoot! The father
had not a hard face, but just a beaten look.
as though the world had used him roughly
so long that he had lost hope and felt
he and those dependent upon him must
a k things as they come.
ut was Just beginning to dawn upon
me that ] might do something beside stare
and mutter what a pity when a %rustling
attracted my gaze to Mrs. Cartan's corner
OF the car Sne nad ner hands behind
her, under her cloak, and the next thing
! knew she was standing erect in that
car and permitting to slip from her a
heavy. r~ustling petticoat. AS 1t fell, she
stopped deftly and caught It in her hand,
then holding to the straps she stepped out
Of 1t and walke quickly down the aisle
of the car to the man and the baby. Stoop-
ing quickly over, she Struggled that gar
ment about the infants legs, smiling with
womanly tenderness into the child's face
and remarking to the father: I'm afraid
the baby has scarcely enough on for this
weather.
"In less than half a minute she wal
back in her seat, composed, unblushini
and apparently unconcerned. l never saw
a delicate undertaking more superbly car
ried through in my life and l verify be
lieve that had l started in that car tn,
cheer that was constantly crowding m!
lips the chorus would have been swellet
by every voice there, except perhaps tina
Of the infant. who merely gabbled, baby
fashion, as 1t rubbed its little legs abou
. within the soft silken folds"
1t was at first reported that Mrs. Car
tan's sister, Mrs. L. +. Crofoot, was tn
one who had performed the kindly office
but inquiry brought astonished disavowa
from the latter, and subsequently it wa
discovered who the benefactress really was