The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-12-16
The Romance Of an Old Coat

were strictly limited, but every year
she contrived to spare from them
sufficient to give a day at the sea-
side to number of poor children
known to her through her charitable
work in Glasgow's slums.
This year she had selected Salt
coats for the scene of the annual pic
mic. At the appointed place of meet
ing the others were waiting, with
faces that had at least been busted
for the occasion, and in one or two
instances washed.
Where is Teddy?" asked Miss Rae
burn, missing that one of her pets
whom she was most anxious should
have. few hours of fresh air and
sunshine afar from the dismal den
he called home.
But even as she spoke he appeared,
and at sight of him she stood aghast.
lied! What in the worldwide has
allowed you to appear like this?"
Teddy, the youngest and smallest
of the party, shook a tangle of f1axen
curls out of his great brown eyes,
lifted one bare foot and set it across
the other, and replied with the sub
lime Indifference to appearances pecu-
liar to his sex at the early age:
"My ma said I'd do fine.''
Your ma is"
Miss Raeburn snapped off her SEN
tence abruptly. There was nothing to
be gained by expressing to the child
her plain unvarnished opinion of Mrs.
Edward Graham. Teddy's condition
only too plainly indicated what had
been her own when she sent him
forth.
A week ago she had presented her
self to Miss Raeburn, bringing with
her the usual environment of whis-
key, and demanding information as to
whether her boy was Ito get going
the trip as we'll as Mrs. Paterson's
Willie" Eva had delicately alluded
to deficiencies of Teddy's wardrobe,
and confessed to her own lack of
funds and of wearing apparel suitable
for him. 1t appeared that Mrs. Ora
ham was in precisely similar case.
TITS not my fault if he hasn't good
Clothes" she asserted, rather I'M
truthfully. eff his father had done
what was right, we'd never have need
ed to ask anything from anybody;
but, the way I'm placed now, I
haven't halfpenny nor rag to put
on the poor wee thing. And that's
the truth I'm telling you, Miss Rae
burn, so it isl
Eva reflected. Her clothespress was
almost empty, but in it there still
hung an old frock-coat made for a
man of ample proportions, and she
produced it, though rather doubtfully
There is enough material here to
make Teddy quite nice suit" she
said. 81 can lend you a pattern if
you think you can cut it out and make
it.; but, if not"
ooh, I'm not just useless, Miss"
Mrs. Graham protested, clutching the
garment eagerly. ..-.-..r-..---
"You won't pawn it, will you?" Eva
asked appealingly.
What would I pawn it for?" de-
manded the other lady in righteous
wrath. "The taste of drink never
darkened my mouth, if that's what
you mean. Besides" she added, after
inspecting the garment more closely,
with a disappointed air, II don't be-
lieve they'd lend anything on these
kind of coats"
So Eva permitted herself to hope
that Mrs. Graham's tailoring opera
tons would keep her out of harms
way for time, and even enable her
to regain shred of long-lost self-re-
spect in the effort to clothe the child
decently.
And here he was, his thin legs
thrust into the sleeves of the coat, it's
tails drawn over his shoulders,
crossed on his chest, and fastened be-
hind with a huge hairpin! Passersby
looked from the grotesque little figure
to the tall fair girl in her modest
gray garb, sweet and fresh as a flow
er, but brought, by the struggle
against both laughter and weeping,
to the verge of hysteria.
We'll miss the train!" hazarded
Willie Paterson at last. Clothing,
especially that of other people, was
not matter of Importance to him.
''You can't go with us today, Ted
dy." Eva pronounced sentence with
some difficulty. Il can't possibly take
you as you are. But you shall go an
other day, and soon-Tll manage it
somehow. There's a penny for you,
and now run home, like a good boy!
Come children, we've no time to
spare"
Reluctantly the girl turned, pain
fully aware of what she was sending
him back to, painfully conscious that
he was standing still, staring after
her, stunned by the unexpected blow,
which even the presentation of a
penny had failed to soften. Poor lit
tie Ted! "Oh, to be able to take him
away forever from his wretched sur
roundings!" she thought, as the train