The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-05-14
X Charles Dickens Jh

had led them to such Idle pursuits--thls
| evil influence being the little daughter
| Of the same "signor Jupe, the circus
| clown. And Bounderby advised Mr.. Grad
| grind to have the child put out OF the
school at once.
| The name of the clowns little daughter
was Cecilia, but every one called her
Sissy She was a dark-eyed, dark haired.
appealing child, froWned upon by MI.
Choakumchld, the schoolmaster, because
somehow many figures would not stay
in her head at one time. When the cir
Gus first came her father who loved her
very much, had brought herSto the Grad
grind house and begged that she be III
lowed to attend school. MIR. GradgrndS
had consented Now, however, ,at Boun-5
derby's advice, he wished he had not
done SO, and started off with the ether
to the ,Pegasus's Arms to find Signor
Jupe and deny to little Sissy the right
| OF any more schooling. i 3
Poor Jupe had beenin hard trouble that
day. For a long time he had felt that he
was growing too old for the circus bust
ness His joints We're getting stiff; he
missed in his tumbling, and he could no
longer make the people laugh8as he had
once done. He knew that before long
sleary would lie obliged to discharge him,
and this he thought he could not bear
to have Sissy see. He had therefore made
up his mind to leave the company and
disappear. He was too poor TO take
Sissy With him, so. loving her as lie did,
he decided to leave here there, where ut
least she had some friends He had come
to this melancholy conclusion this very
day, and had sent Sissy out, on an errand
so that he might slip away, accompanied
only by his dog, Merry-legs, while she
was absent. q
,-x-1,r NJr.i
Gradgrind and Bounderby, and came With
them to find her father But at, the pub
lie house she met only sympathizing
looks, for all Of the performers hau
guessed what her father had done. They
told her as gently as they could, but
poor Sissy was at first brokcn-hearted IN
her grief and comfortcd only by the
assurance that her father would certainly
| come back to her before long.
| While Sissy ,wept Mr.. Gradgrind had
| been pondering. He saw here an excel
| lent chance to put his system to the
| test. To take this .untaught girl and
bring her up from the start entirely on
facts would be a good experiment. With
this in view, then, he proposed to take
Sissy to his house and care for her and
teach fher, provided she promised to have
nothing further to do with tlleHcircus or
its members. Sissy knew how anxious
her father had been to have her learn,
SO she agreed, and was taken at once
to Stone Lodge and set to work upon
facts.
but alas! Mr.. Gradgrind's education
seemed to make Sissy low spirited, but
no wiser. Every day she watched ana
longed for some MESA &c. from her father,
but none came. She was loving and low
able, and Louisa liked her and comforted
her as well rs she could. But Louisa
! was far too unhappy herself to be Of
much help to her. 81
I Several years went by. Sissy's father
| had never returned. She had grown into
n quiet, lovely girl, the only ray Of light
in that gloomy home. Mr.. Gradgrlnd
had realized one Of his ambitions, had
been elected to Parliament and spent
much time In London. Mrs. Gradgrind
was yet ;feebler and more ailng. Tom
| had grown to be young man, a selfish
| and idle one,5 and Bounderby had made
| him clerk an his bank. louisa, not
| blind to her brothers. faults, but loving
| him devotedly, had become in this time,
| a particular object of Bounderby's notice.
Indeed, the manufacturer had deter
| mined to marry her. Louisa. had always
been repealed by his, coarseness and
| rough ways. and when he proposed to
| her father for her hand she shrank from
| the Thought If Mr.. Gradgrind had ever
| encouraged her confidence she might
| then have thrown herself on his breast
| and told him all that she felt, but mar
! rage to him was only n cold fact with
| no romance in it, and his manner chilled
her. Tom, in his utter selnshness.
| thought only of what q good thing 1t
4 would be for him II his sister married
| his employer. and urged it on her with
no regard whatever for her own liking.
At length. thinking. as long as she had
4 never been allowed to have q sentiment
J that could not DO put down IN black and
4 white that 1t did not much matter whom
| she married after all, and believing that
| at least 1t would help Toni, She con-
! sentcd She married Bounderby, the rich
| est man In Coketown, and went. TO I'VE
| in his fine house, while Mrs. Sparsit,
! angry and revengoful, found herself COM
/ PEELED to move into small rooms over
Bounderby's bank
!. 2.-The Robbery Of Bounder-
by's Bank.
n N ONE OF Bounderby's weaving mills
1 n man named Stephen Blackpool had
/ worked for years. He was STURDY
4 and honest. but had q stpoplns
i frame, q knitted brow and iron,
j gray hair. for in his forty years he mas
known great trouble 5t
! Many years before he had married
unhappily, for through no fault or falllnt
Of his own, his wlfo took to drink, LEI
off work. and became shame and
disgrace to the town, When Rhe could go
no money to buy drink with. she sol
his furniture, and often he would CONF
home from the mill to find the rooms
stripped of all their belongings and hi!
Wife stretched on the floor in drunken
slumber. AT last he was driven to pa!
her to stay away. and even then live'
In daily fear lest she return to disgrace
him alresh.
What made this harder for Stephen 4
bear was the true love he had for
sweet, patient working woman in the mil
named Rachel. Rachel had an oval, dell
cate face, with gentle eyes and dark
shninf hair, She knew his story an
loved aim too He could. not MARI
her because his own wife stood In III
way, nor could he even see or walk Wit
+ her often, for fear busy tongues nigh
T talk of It, but he watched every flute
/ OF her shawl.
l. One night Stephen went to his lodgn
$ TO find his wife returned. She was lyln