The Morris County chronicle., 1906-07-24

! little needed She shuddered and
turned and slowly crept away. The
great clock struck three. Lily was
lost now as well as Dfttmer. She was
quite alone in the world. and penniless.
But the fog was gone, the black wall
Of darkness had rolled away.
| know not where she wandered. It
was no more beside those black
waters, but along the streets-silent
now and deserted save for the occa-
sional step Of the policeman. 1t is
strange to think OF the great city with
all its four millions of people asleep
and its streets empty. Even the worst
and the wickedest are asleep at three
in the mornings 1t is the hour of in
nocence; the Devil himself sleeps No
one met the girl as she walked aim
lessly along. She could no longer think
or feel or look forward or dread any
thing. She sunk on a doorstep and fell
asleep again.
At five o'clock she was awakened by
the hand of policeman.
Come" he said, not unkindly, you
mustn't sleep in the streets, you know.
Haven't you got anywhere to go?"
She got up and began to understand
what had happened Another day was
going to begin; she had spent two
nights in the street. Another dayt
And she had no money. Another day
oh! how long?
Il have nowhere to CO." she said.
"And have no money.
Won't you go home to your
friendsg
81 have no friends"
She did not look n the least like
most of the girls who have no friends.
Haven't you got any money at aIl?"
Il have no money, and no friends,
and no work
Then this policeman looked up and
down the street suspiciously. as men
do who are about to commit very
bad action. There was nobody look
ing; there was nobody stirring yet; no
one would believe in the bare word of
the girl unsupported by any corrobora-
tive evidence; he would neve- be
found out; he did it. He put his hand
in his pocket and produced shilling
coin which is of much greater i'm
portance to policeman than to you,
dear reader-at least. / hope so-and
he placed this shilling in Katharine's
hand.
"Therer' he said you look as If
you were to be pitied. Lord knows
who you are or what you are-but
therei get something to eat at any
rate"
Then he marched stolidly away, and
Katharine sat down again upon the
doorstep and burst into tears. she had
not wept through all that long night
in st. James Park--to be sure, she
had Dittmer then for protection; she
shed no tears all the long dark and
dreadful Sunday; she had been
dragged by Lily to put an end to her
life without tears-but now she sat
down and sobbed and cried because
the one unexpected touch of kindness
more than the cruel scourge of mis-
fortune, revealed her most wretched
and despairing condition.
''In the darkest moment, my dear"
she heard the voice of Miss Beatrice
plainly speaking whispering, but
speaking out plainly-'in the darkest
moment, when the clouds are blacklist
and the world is hardest and your suf-
fering is more than you can bear, GOD
viii help you, and that in the most un-
expected way
1t was very little thing; shilling
is not much. but it touched her heart
as a single ray Of sunshine lights up
a whole hillside. And so she sat down
and cried, and presently rose up and
went on the way by which she was
led.
My friends we live in an unbeliev-
ing and skeptiea1 generation. and the
old phraseology is laughed at, and
there is now, to many of us, no Father
who loves and guides His children and
orders their lives as is best for them,
as we are once taught to believe; all
is blind chance--even that policeman's
shilling -even what followed, this very
morning.
Katharine's wandering feet led her
to Covent Garden Market, where the
coffee houses are astir and doing good
business long before the rest of the
world is thinking of the new days
work. She went into one and had
breakfast-a substantial breakfast
with an egg and loaf and great cup
of hot brown coffee. Then-she went
to sleep again, and another good Sa-
maritan befriended her. 1t was the
woman who waited-only q common.
rough-tongued coarse creature-but
she saw that the sleeping girl looked
respectable. and that she looked tired
out; and she let her sleep.