The sun. (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1905-1908, 1906-09-29

snnunl URING this time that Jurgis
TA was looking for work occur
rcd the death of little, KRIS.
toforas, one Of the children
6A6w OF Teta Elzbieta, Both Kris.
tof0raS and his brother.
Juozapas, were cripples, the latter
having lost one leg by having 1t run
over, and Kristoforas having congen-
ital dislocation of the hip, which made
1t impossible for him ever to walk.
He was the last Of Teta Elzbieta's
children, and perhaps he had been In.
tended by nature to let her know that
she had had enough. AT any rate he
was wretchediy sick and understood;
he had the ricketts,, and though he
was over three years old, he was no
bigger than an ordinary child of one.
All day long he would crawl around
the floor In "a filthy little dress, whin.
ing and fretting: because the floor
was full Of draugnts he was always
cntcning cold and snufling because
his nose ran. This made him d nuil
Bhnce, and d source of endless trouble
In the family For his mother, with
unnatural perversity, loved him best
or all her children, and made per-
petual fuss over him-would let him
do anything undisturbed, and would
burst into tears when his fretting
drove Jurgis wild.
And now he died. Perhaps It was
the smoked sausage he had eaten that
morning-which may have been made
out Of some of the tubercular pork
that was condemned as unfit for ex.
port AT any rate, an hour after eat.
Ing 1t the child began I'd cry with
pain, and In another hour he was
rolling around on the floor In convul-
sions Little Kotrina, who was all
alone with him, ran out screaming for
help, and after a while a doctor
came, but not until Kristoforas had
howled his last howl. No one was
really sorry about this except poor
Elzbieta, who was inconsOlable. Jur-
gis announced that so far az he was
concerned the child would have to be
buried by the city. since they had no
money for a funeral; and at this the
poor woman almost, went out Of her
senses, wringing her hands and
screaming !, with grief and despair.
Her child to be buried In a pauper's
grave! And her stepdaughter stand
by and hear It said without protest
Ing! 1t was enough to make Ona's
father rise up out Of his, grave to re.
buke her! IL 1t had come to this they
might as well give up at once, and, be
buried all of them together! In the
end Maria said that she would help
with ten dollars; and Jurgis being
still obdurate, Elzbieta went In tears
and begged the money from the neigh
bors, and so little Kristoforas had a
mass and q hearse with white plumes
on IL, and a tiny plot In graveyard
Win a wooden cross to mark the
place. The poor mother was not the
samo for months after that; the mere
sight Of the floor where little Krlsto-
foras had crawled about would make
her weep. He had never had fair
chance, poor little fellow, she would
say. He had been handicapped from
his birth. II only she had heard about
1t In time, 30 that she might have had
that great doctor to cure him Of his
iameness. Some time ago, Elzbieta
was told, a Chicago Millionaire had
paid fortune to bring a great Euro
pean surgeon over to cure his little
daughter Of the same disease from
which Kristoforas had suffered. And
because this surgeon had to have bod
les to demonstrate upon he announc-
ed that he would treat the children OF
the poor, a piece Of magnanimity over
which the papers became eloquent.
Elzbieta, alas, did not read the pa
pers, and no one had told her; but
perhaps II was as well, for just then
they would not have had the carfare
to spare to go every day to wait upon
the surgeon, nor for that matter any