The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-11-01

WOW COULD SHE 90 RACk AFTER
HEETENa PETER FAM

ineff ~ y WnNtm Dy AoUto ancient post
or other which recommends either q long
drink AZ the bar ~ knowledge or no drink
~ al. The story ~ Mag. the Iittls slavey.
~ n was unfoldei yesterday In the chill
drons court goes some hetle way OwRrd
growing the proposition.
The charge against Mag was that she
was a hayward girl Mrs. pfington made
che charge. and Mrs. ufHGsxsun ouSas TO
know. a. she told the Judge in such
agitation that the black talfeta costume
Of state In which she was arrayed crackled
az every breath:
"I've had her for twelve years. And
I've lone all a piOus woman could do 90
save her soul. hut. Judge. IL was no Use,
When l took her from the asylum she
was rve then they told me they didn't
know her father name, and we'll. I saw
II coming. Judge. in spite Of everything"
And yet there are some things in the
story which Mrs. Ellington. to judge from
what she told the Judge yesterday. doesn't
know az all.
Mrs. Elvira Ellington. widow. conducts
q most respectable boarding house In n
certain square which. being the very heart
OF Greenwich village. is as secluded and
sufficient 10 itself as "A square could
very well be. In the square lived Mrs.
Ellington and Mag for twelve years. The
girls excursions terminated 70 the shops
In the southern wall, where she went with
Mrs. Ellington daily for the marketing.
What sort Of world lay beyond the sombre
brown walls Of the square she never
dreamed.
~ course. she didn't have much time
FOR such a thing Ms dreaming. anyway.
For almost from the day Of her entrance
into Mrs. Vningtons house she had beon
the omnibus factotum. The bed. the dishes,
the sweeping all day long that had been
hers TO DO almost from the beginning.
That was part of the redemption which Mrs.
Ellington had planned for her. Between
this and the regular Sunday afternoon
sessions with Rible and hymn nook behind
the locked doors of the dark front parlor
with its gray pictures and black furniture
the soul Of the most worthless OF children
surely ought to he saved
Well, perhaps Mrs. Ellington was right.
Perhaps she could nave saved this particu-
lar soul and kept Mag. Il and pretty,
though last name unknown, safe within
the four walls OF the sIuare and ignorant
Of everything that darkled and sparkled
outside. Hut the inevitable trouble maker
entered. His name was Briggs. and he was
a clean looking young idealist from a settle
ment house somewhere In the vicinity.
Lack Of room had forced him into Mrs.
Umngton's for bed and breakfast. and
Mag waited on him
No one can blame the amateur sociologist
for what he tried to do for Mag. His in
tcntions were good. He called her Margaret.
That didn't seem to be much. But il had
a remarkable effect upon Mag the name
less, which showed principally in a wind
ing Of her brown raids around her head
instead of their dangling down her back,
In a new glossiness of the same. and in a
certain manner when she brought him
his ham and eggs every morning.
Then he asked her questions, and when
she told him about what she could remem-
Ter OF her life he cried out in amazement
which was ~tactless. Then after due ar
rangement with the very ~scrupulous Mrs.
Ellington, Briggs and Mag sailed forth
of an evening for to see the world, bright
lights, hddlers, a play. Three days later
Briggs learned that his mother was dying
in Chicago and left late at night without
q ohanc to tell Margaret good-by.
Mrs. Ellington never could understand
the change that came over Mag the name
less. What had happened that the child
should he found actually playing with a
doll, that her hair was arranged in three
different way on three successive DAYS,
that she should be porting into picture books
intended for children of 10 and IL in the
kitchen after supper, when any girl who
had had so much done for her in the way
Of soul saving as Mrs. Ellington had done
for Mag ought to have known tina she
should be washing the dishes.
IL was six months ago when Mag left. !
For she did leave. Mrs. Ellington, as -,
she said in court yesterday, Just couldn't
explain 1.-THE home she'd given to that
child and the care and watching. She
o her only pretty dress, did Mag, and
a silver watch Mrs. Maytham. the star
boarder On the women's side, had given
her. and $3.50 she'd saved up from Christ
mas tips for years back. and just went.
And yesterday. when they asked her why,
while there stood Mrs. Ellington in high
nosed. taffeJa sheathed indignation, there
was Mag saying she'd rather die than tell
a word while that old thing, who had al
ways hated her and ground her down. was
there.
st was that play did it. Judge" Mag
said in pretty plain tones considering the
difficulty she had in controlling her voice.
That play that Mr.. Briggs took me 10.
1t was a nice play, oh. such a nice play, |
full OF a lot o kids and fairies and the fun-
NEST big brown dog you ever see, and a
felLer by the name OF Peter Pan-say. he
was great. | just shined G him the minute
~ CuIuc OHs ludb hHF 'FHy I Whubf0 10 !
be-play and play and never grow up too.
What was the trouble with me l knew.
They had what they was always talking
about. And no wonder Peter Pan never
growed up there. with all that. I guess l
was born growed up. | never had a chance
even to play. Youth inc the ~fairies2 Not
fer me. Judge-not down there at Mrs.
Uhington's.
And when ! went Out on Broadway
with Mr.. Briggs again | knew it never would
be the same for I knew I couldn't 90 back
and wash and scrub mornin' and night like
before fer that old thing. l just couldn't.
And that's-why l went away. I knew
II couldn't be so bad outside. I just had
to get out OF that dreary old place. At
first | couldn't see why Peter Pan couldn't
come around and get me. the way he did
those other kids; and when he didn't come
and the same things to do came up day
after day. | knew Peter Pan couldn't really
he. He was just somebody out OF a story
book. INC all I remembered was the
lights and the music and the other girls