The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-04-09
IAY Charles Dickens III
willy Flntwinch as her partner and told
Arthur coldly TO go his own way.
2.-"The Child Of the Marshal-

1.-THE Child OF the M arsha4l-
sea-"
!. the first night OF his return to
|F1 tic house Of his childhood Arthur
had noticed there a little seanl-
>>N- stress, with pale, transparent
face. $hazel eyes ard q figure as sm 1l as
a chtd's She wore spare thin dress E.
SPOKE little. and passed through tlle
rooms nolseless and shy. They addressed I'd. aast
her by the name Little Dorrit. .& she
came IN the morning and sewed quietly
)tilfnightfall, when she vanished. It mad
been 50 rare in the old days for airy
one to interest the inlpassiye mistress Of
that gloomy house that the little crea.-;
ture's presence there Interested Arthur
greatly and he longed to know something
Of her history. s4s3 s.
He soon learned there was nothing 70
be learned OF Flintwincl,s and SO one night
he5followed Little Dorrit when she left
the house. To his great surprise he saw
Ter finally enter a great bare building
surrounded with spiked walls and called
1.-THE A1arshalsea."
This WIS a famous prison where debtors
were kept. In those days the law per-
mitted a man to be put In jail for debt,
and there he was compelled to stay TIL
all lie owed was paid strange custom,
since while he was In jail he was unable
10 earn any EInOHey w Au-tr
come poor debtors had to stay there all
their lives Insidcsthc walls Of the Mar
salsea the wives and children ofSunfortu-'
nate prisoners were allowed to come TO
live with them Just as in a boarding house
or hotel but the debtors themselves could
never8pass out OF the gate. Arthur ems
tered the prison ignorant5of its rules and
SO stayed too long. for presently the bell
for closing rang, the gates were shut and
s,,yy Ia, iyi1f
not so pleasant, but It gave him chance
easily TO find out all of Little Dorrt'sI
history 81
Her father. before She was born. had
lost all his money through a business fatl-
ure, and had been thrown nto@ the Mar,
shnlsea. There Amy, or Little Dorrit, as
they came to call her. was born; there
her mo tlier had died, and there she had
always lived rnothering her pretty frivol-
Gus sister. Fannie. and her lazy, ne'er-.
do-wcll brother, Tip Her father had
been an inmate OF the prison so many
years that he was called The Father Of
the Marshalsea.'' From being q naughty
man Of wealth. he had become q shabby
old white-haired dgnitary with soft
manner who took little gifts OF money
which any one gave him half-shame-j
facedly and to the modification Of little
Dorrit alone. q;
the turnkey and Of all the prison, calling
the high. blank walls "home. When slie
was little slip of a girl she got her,
sister and brother sent to mig htyschool for
a time, and later taught herself fine.
sewing, SO that at the time Arthur Glen
nam returned to London she was working
every day outside the walls, for small
wages. Each night she retul ned 70 .the
prison to get her fathers supper, bring
Ing him whatever she could hide from
her own dinner at the house where she
scwed. loving him devotcdly through all
Slpa had a lover, too. The son OF the
turnkey young man with weak legs
and weak. light hair, soft hearted and
soft-headed. had long pursued her In.
vain, and was now seeking con- ISOLATION for
his blighted affection by composing cpl
taphs for his own tombstone. such as:
Here Lie the Mortal Remains Of
535 JOHN CH1YERY. s;5
Never Anything Worth Mentioning.
Who Died of a. Broken Heart, Re-
qucsting with His Last Breath that
the Word h II
Might be Inscribed Over His Ashes,
| which Was Done by His Afflicted
Parents.
Old Mr.. Dorrt held his position among
the NIarshalsea prisoners with great fan
cIed dignity and received all visitors and
newcomers In Ills room like a man OF
society at home. During that evening
Arthur called upon him and treated the
old man, with such consideration ana
talked with Little Dorrt with such kind
ness that she began to love him from
that moment. ~ III s. Isl y. E8 u.
Many things Of Little Dorritls pathetic
story Arthur learned that night. His
first surprise at finding her in the Glen,
man house mingled STRANGELY with his old
|. thought that his father on his deathbed
seemed to he troubled by some relnorse-
'fu memory; and as he slept In the
gloomy prison no dreamed that the little
seamstress was in some mysterious way
mingled with this wrong and ren,orse.
Next day with tho dream fresh In
his mind, he determined to find out all
he could about her fathers unfortunate
/ affairs,
He lad great difficulty in this. The
government had taken charge Of old
Mr.. Dorrit,s debts, and his affairs were
in tho hands. of what was called "the Cir
| cumlocutio.t Office" This was a depart-
l4ment with a great many clerks IN 1t.
every one of whom seemed to have nos
lsthInE to- do but to keep people from
troubling them ny finding out anyt hing
Arthur went to one clerk, who sent him
to a. Mr.. I3arnacle, a fat, ponlpous man
With a big collar, a big watch chain and
stiff boots. Mr. Barnacle treated him
quite as an outsider and would give
lin no information whatever. Then he
tried anot her department where they.
said they knew nothing Of the matter.
sill the third advised him not to bother.
about II. But at last he had to give 1t
ups quite discouraged, 4
Though he could do nothing for Little
porrps father, Arthur did b what he
could. lie paid " the debt of her lazy.
hrother, so that he was released from the
Aiarshalsea, and this kindness though.
Zip himself was ungrateful to the last
degree, end cared him sti more to-, Little.
Dorrlt, who needed his friendship SO
greatly, "
This night her brother was released she
came to {Arthurto thank him--al one saye
for a half -witted woman nai1led Ma ggie.
who believed she Herself was, only ten
years old and called LATHE DoErtt n IL
Mother and who used to SO with her