Evening journal., 1905-03-29
r1aGgy Darr's
Temptation
IorIglnaIl


the few dollars she owed her to shift
for herself.
Maggy's mother was n 'Sidow with
one child besides Maggy, a boy two
years old 1t so happened that at the
time OF the girls discharge her moth
er fell sick. and the money Maggy
brought hme from her mistress was
all the meaps the family possessed to
pay rent and Tie doctor and buy food
and medicines. The consequence was
that II was moreAthan exhausted with
in a few days.
One night Aiaggy' left her sick moth
Ter and her little brcdhev, who was cry
ing for food. and wem' out with des-
pcratlOn I'm her heart (She was walk
ing along the street crying when she
was stopped by a rough looking man
with the question:
"Hello, little grill Whatti the mat
terY
Maggy gave an account on her con
dition and the reasons for it.
young woman said the m an. IF
you don't take care o. yourself 10 one
won't take care o. you I'm an est aped
jailbird myself. Nobody won't give me
no work and I've got to take villa l
need, whether the law allows or IA d.
Say, I've been watchin house arouA i
the corner. There's a window open
Just enough for a girl like you TO
crawl through Besides, you'd step
lighter n me. You go in and get some
swag, while ] watch for cops outside
But one vision danced before Mag
gy's eyes-carrying home food to stop
/ the crying Of her little brother. Her
brain was not very capacious, and
there was no room in it for more than
one thought at a time. The immortality
/ of the means by which she intended to
procure the coveted result was crowd
ed out She went with the man, who
showed her the window and, handing
her a revolver and q dark lantern. told
her to use the former If it would save
her from being caught. Maggy was so
beside herself with her proposed work
that she took both mechanically, not
knowing what she did. Entering the
house and not finding anything Of
value I'm the lower rooms. she went up
stairs. The door of a bedroom stood
ajar, and she threw the light into the
room on a bed lay a girl about her
own age, sleeping. She was perfect
picture Of tranquility, her face an ex-
preston Of absolute innocence. Mag
gy's light flashed on a dressing table,
lighting up jewels that had been laid
aside for the night. Then she turned
the rays again on her from whom she
was TO take these jewels.
Maggy was no more Of a burglar
than the sleeper She was not even
naturally dishonest. a coincidence
her meeting with the convict, his point
p ing out way by which to gain relief
p had been too much for her young pow
D ers of resistance. This defenseless in
4 nocence cast as sudden a light into
Mnggy's moral nature as her Lantern
cast upon the sleeper
Now. beside the bed in which the
= girl lay was an electric light button
The sleeper, when Maggy had flashed
, the light in her face, partly awakenet
, and listened, but hearing nothing, was
/ about to sink to sleep again when she
t, turned the button, and the room wa
, Illuminated.
Perhaps no one ever saw more nov
J. ell sight. A girl about her own age was
/. on her knees in the middle Of the floor
! with her hands clasped and her eye
raised in prayer ON one side of he
=, on the hoor was lantern, on the othe
a revolver. There was little time Il
= gaze on the picture, for In momen
door without opened and a voic
2 said,
There's somebody in the house"
u The awakened girl must have had
IL brain capable Of taking in great dea
Il on sudden notice. AT any rate, she say
vision of her visitor marched to 1ai
and at the same time she devise
~ means to prevent such a result.
10 Bring those things and put them III
%. der the bed. Quickw she said
10 Maggy, called to herself by her dar
q. ger obeyed.
NJ Now get into bed with me-"
- Maggy had no sooner disappeared III
der the covers than her bcdfellOw turn
~ ed the button, and the room was dar
Il again. A man came TO the door wit
,s candle IN one hand and a pistol in III
y other, asked the girl if she had seen {
y. heard anything, went away, prowle
:! for awhile about the house, then wei
- back to bed.
In the darkness. covered by the san
bedclothes as her protector, Maggy tol
Sc her story. Just before day both cir
rs arose and stole softly downstairs, an
ed Maggy, after peeplng through a craS
he TO make sure that her tempter had goI
he away. walked out of the front door
ds The next dsy the girl Maggy had 4
OF tended TO rob came to visit the Da
10 family. She carried many bundle
he which gladdered the hearts of all, G
70. pecially those things that Maggy hi
no told her the invalid needed. From tn
,lf time forward she took them all und
40 her especial care. and when she enter'
the social world and required the ser
ices Of a maid she installed Maggy
the position. Her father never kne
20. that the object of his daughters bou
no ~ indeed his daughters maid, had fin
mi entered the house as a burglar. n
,rt daughters act is not held up as
ts. model for other young women. Indee
nv she should have acted only with {
~ consent Of her father. But in this ca
90 no harm resulted, for Maggy, after
he few years IN her service, married
n, we'll to do carpenter.