The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1904-07-08
Crazy ulaEgGt.
By ]. J. K. Tarpey.

Forty years ago, in picturesque
little cottage set deep among the
Worcestershire apple orchards, man
lay dying. In the outer room group
of neighbors sat round the fire, talk
ing in hoarse whispers. In the sick
chamber the young wife was alone
with her husband, her baby clasped
close to her breast. the tears falling
unchecked down her face as she
leant forw ard listening to his labored
breathing. Presently the sick man
stirred, his eyes Enclosed, and he
tried to speak. A fit of coughing
choked his utterance, and brought
couple of the women in from the out
er room One Of them moistened his
lips with water. and raised his head
a little. When all was quiet again
they went out, leaving the door ajar.
"Eh, how it do shake the life out
o. 'em!"-the hard whisper came
plainly to the young wife's ear-''eH
go off on the next fit, surely"
Il been here nigh on three hours"
grumbled another voice; "the doctor,
e wur main sure ed be dead afore
noon. / favor daylight for layin' 'em
out"
The young woman rose softly, laid
the sleeping baby in the cradle, and
closed the door; then she took her
place again by the bed, and gathered
the hard rough hand, tAat lay so
nervelessly on the quilt, into her own
trembling fingers. The mans eyes
opened again and CLEAN of tender
ness came into his face that before
had expressed nothing but dumb suf-
fering.
"Marget, poor lass!" he whispered,
II be very near gone"
Marget bowed her face upon the
pillow.
"Oh, Jim, Jim," she moaned under
her breath, take me an baby. too."'
A week later the little cottage had
a new tenant. In farming districts
there is no place but the workhouse
for the laborer's widow; the cottage
was only there for the accommoda-
ton OF the servants on the Iarm and
the new ploughman had borne incon-
venience enough already in getting
temporary shelter for himself and his
family in the scattered hamlet during
Jim's brief illness. When it was
found that Marget did not mean to
go to the Vorkhouse, a weeks grace
was all that was allowed her, and
within that time she had made ready
to face the world with her child.
There was NO difficulty about the
removal; the furniture of the little
homestead-the mingled record of
such patient thrift, such simple. de-
cent pride-was sold to pay the fu-
neral expenses and to discharge the
few debts that had grown during the
illness. Six days after her husbands
death Marget crossed the threshold
Of her home for the last time, with
her baby slung gipsy-wise across her
back. and all her worldly possessions
in bundle over her arm.
For mother and child there began,
that day, strange and wandering
life. Marget had one purpose stead
lastly in view. She had vowed that
side of a workhouse, she meant to
clothe, feed, and educate him by her
own labor, and when the time came
she would give him trade that would
make him independent of her No
task was too heavy, no work TOO
rough for Marget. All through the
summer she labored in the fields, do
inor &c ~ fox =
Little Jim would lie snugiy asleep in
his shawl. made fast to the bough
of a tree, Graded by the winds, and
with the birds song for a lullaby;
and at night they slept, costly enough,
In the hayloft.
In winter the case was harder.
Thsfe was scarcely work on the farms
for the regular farm servants; but
Marget could put her hand to any
thing, from cleaning and scrubbing
to mending and making of clothes;
she had quick instinct for u9por-
tunities, too, and convincing, per-
suasive way of pointing them, so that
she often got a job where another
might have failed. There was anoth-
er trait of hers that made her IA
vorite with the farmers wives; that
was her scrupulous cleanliness. Poor
Marget! her history about this time
seems to have been largely a struggle
against dirt. At the end of a long
days work she would beg for a bit
of soap, bathe herself and her Child,
and wash their garments. The wo-
men she worked for, though they APP
preciated the practical advantage to
themselves of this extravagant devo-
tion to soap and water, were little
contemptuous of it. Floors should be
scrubbed every day. of course; chill
dren once a week, and clothes in due
season; but to extend the principle
of daily washing to ones own person
was to outrage nature. 1t was this
eccentricity, combined with her proud,
independent spirit and her wandering
lie, that earned her the nickname Of