The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-01-11
LITTLE PTERRETTE.


Pierrette stood upon the threshold
and gazed out into the world from hel
1avorite point CT vantage al the top Of
the three dirty broken steps that led
to. the shop door. 1t was not a very big
world as she beheld 1t, only glimpse
OF people hurrying by on the noisy,
crowded boulevard, much as the figures
did on the sheet Of the old magic Ian
tern which was such a delight to chill
dren long before the cinematograph
was thought of.
The street itself was a very ordinary
one in one of the poorest quarters OF
Paris It was very narrow and paved
with cObbles, and the houses on either
side were so high that when Pierrette
came out on her doorstep in the even
ing there was only quite narrow strip
of sky for her to gaze at, and try and
count the stars in.
But today Pierrette is looking neither
at the boulevard nor the stars. She is
thinking hard, and presently a look OF
determination comes into the little face
as she muTmuFS. Il must do 1t, WIFI
Pierrette is a tall, slightly made child
about nine years old; very thin, very
pale, and looking as if she never had
quite enough to eat. Her face has the
grOwn-up, old-fashioned expression so
often seen on the faces of the children
Of the poor who have to fend for them
selves, but it is lighted by a pair OF
magnificent eyes. so soft and Wistful-
eyes that will make her friends Wher-
ever she goes. Her hair IS all brushed
up into a tight knot on the top OF her
head, but little curls that will not be
kept in order peep out here and there.
Altogether she is a Observation-Disclosures
child. hardly in keeping with her poor
clothes and squalid surroundings.
The shop is tiny and very dark.
~Conestibles' is written up over the
door and they take the form of strings
of onions, rows of sausages, cheeSeS in
every stage Of ripeness, a. pile of loaves
ar7rn oil of farIf D.
looking things in tubs. Altogether
most unsavory place, but Pterrette had
known no other home, and was very
well cOntented with this one-til yes
terday.
Yesterday! and it seems so long ago.
She was standing in this very place,
when she heard Granny Jourdain say
to a. customer inside the shop, Yes, it's
long time for one ledger, ten years;
but I don't think we shall have him
much longer. He is simply eating his
heart out. poor mani
Pierrette had suddenly realized that
they We're talking of her own dear
father, whom she loved with the pas
siOnate alteration of a little creature
that has all its affection eentered on
one object She had torn up the steep
staircase, burst open the door into the
attic room. and thrown herself into the
arms Of the man sitting there.
The man smiled at her and caressed
her soft hair What is it, little one?
L4OW lnOu dIl BdlilluS-
''Oh, daddy, dear daddy" was al
Pierrette could utter and she Rugged
him. He is quite a young man, not
much over thirty, with the same brown
eyes as Pierrette- But beside the half
starved look there is something hope
less and despairing about the man. He
has the face of one that has utterly
failed IN this LIES race, a. terrible look
10 see in one so young
Ten years before Pietro VivaIdi. a
handsome italian youth of about
twenty, had come to Paris to try his
fortune, with his fiddle and 1000
francs for all worldly possessions He !
had entered the conservatoire and stu
died successfully, having obtained a 1
professor who recognized the genius of !
his pupil and who prophesied a bril- /
liant future for him. And then Pietro /
met his Marie, singing student, |
young, orphaned like himself ana besttfz 4
tiful. And they were married and
lived for little while in a heaven Of 4
their own, still studying hard. and Civ |
Ing lessons or doing anything else to +
earn money And then Pierrette ar I
rived, TO complicate matters, and it I
was very hard to find enough for three /
But Pietro was soon to perform in /
public, and then the good time would /
come. So they moved to a still smaller /
room, this very one, in the attics over /
Neuve Jourdain's shop, while they
waited.
But one day poor Pietro came home
with racking headache, and next day !
he was delirious; they took him away I
to the hospital, where he lay two weary /
months. Then when he was able to |
crawl home again, Mother Jourdain I
met him, carrying the baby. and burst
ing into tears, told him that Marie was /
dead
She was very weak. and the shock of |
Fietro's illness was too much for her
She died less than a week after he was
taken away No wonder that Pfetro |
had to be carried back to the hospital [
and it was many day before he saw
his attic home again. Widow Jourdain
had cared for the baby as if it were her
own. She could not bear the idea of
parting with her now, and inplored
PietrO to stay in her house and to pay
when he could.
Then he went to see his professor.
and was met by another blow. He, too
was dead. of the same typhoid that had
nearly killed PietrO
And from this moment it was all a