The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1914-12-17

"Now. go on with your story, said !
"How about this game you were Civ
ing this morning.
We'll III tell you, cap, Us fellers
has got to lay fer ever nickel, cause
none Of us is bondholders; and they s
days and days together when We don't
make enough to even starve on What
mean is, we ony make enough to pay
fer aggreyatin' our appetites with jist
about enough chuck TO keep US starvin'-
hungry. So. you see, when a Teller
clint got nothin else to do, and his
appetite won't sleep in the same bunk
9th him. he's bound to git on to
someu!n crooked and git up all sorts
o lodges to git along. Some gives
'em one thing, and some another, but
you bet they got to be mighty slick
now. cause people wont have
orphans, and fits, and 'cripples,' and
drunk fathers, and mothers that eats
morphine. and 'white-swellin',' and
consumption and all that sort O.
tany, Got to git 'er down finer'n that!
But been a-gittin' in my work all the
same, don't you fergit! You won't ever
blow, now?'
"How could ! blow, and what II !
did. don't live here | replied.
"Well, you better never blow, any.
now; cause il ever US buffers would
git on to it you'd be spilled OYSTER"
Go on" | said. with an assuring
tone
The lay I'm on list now" he con
tinued, dropping his voice and looking
cautiously around, is a-hidin' my box
and a-rushin in, suddent-like, where
theys crowd O nobs a-talkin politics
e. somepin, and a-jist startin' in, and
fore they know what's a-Comin' m
a.Aashiu up a nickel or a dime, and
a.tellin' en- If ! only had enough more
20 make 80 cents ! could buy blackia
box, and couldn't have to asst no boot
o. my grandmother, And two minutes
chitnin does it, don't you see, cause
they don't know uothin bout blackin.
boxes they're fist as soft as you air,
They got an Idly, maybe. that blackin'
boxes comes all the way from Chiny,
with cokeynut whiskers packed round
'em. and ! make it solid by asayin'
I'm on'y goin' TO git a secondhand box
see? But that amt the p'int-its
the Mr.. Nickel already got on itll
paralyze EN- ever time, Sometimes
Sellers'll make up Is cents or a dollar.
and tell me to git a new box, and go
into the business right That's thing
that always rattles me Now, il they d
ony growl a little and look like they
was jst a-puttin up cause the first
one did, can stand It; but when they
go 10 pattin' me on the head and
a'clln' me that's right. ana not TO
be afrarcd o'work.' and III come out
oil right and a tellm' me 10 git "A good
substantial box while I'm a.gittin',
and aponyin up handsome there's
where J weaken--I do, honest And
never so plainly as at that moment
did see within his face and in his
eyes the light Of true nobility
You see" he went on. in tone of
voice half courage half apology, Il got
family on my hands. and jist got
TO git along somehow! could Kit along
on the square deal as long as mother
was aliye-'cause she'd work but ever
bence she died-and that was winter
fore last-lve kind q had TO double
on the old thing all sorts o ways But
Sis don't know It, Sis, she thinks I'm
the squarest muldoon in the business
and even side by side with the homely
utterance great sigh faltered from
his lips
and who is Sis" ] inquired with
new interest
Sis he repeated, knocking my foo,
from the box. and leaning back still
in the old position, his hat now lying
on the ground beside him, aud his
frowZy hair tossed backward from the
fun, broad Who's Sis?' he re-
peated with an upward smile that a.
most dazzled me-'W'y, Sis Isis
wy, Sis p the boss girl and don't you
1ergit II"
No need had be TO tell me more thar
this knew who Sis" was by tn,
light OF pride In the uplifted eyes,
1new who Sis was by the exultatlof
IN the broken voice, and the halfde
fant tossing OF the frow2y head;
knew who Sis" was by the little
naked hands thrown upward openly:
knew who Sis was by tho tear tha
dared 10 tricklc through the dirt upor
her ragged brothers. face And dom
you forget a.
Q that boy down there upon his
knees --ihere in the cludcrs and IN,
dirt-so far far down beneath us tina
we trample on his breast and grind ouI
heels into his very heart, o that DO,
there, with his lifted eyes. and God.
Iwn glory shining IN biz face. hal
taught me. with an eloqucnce beyont
the trick Of understanding word
snd metaphor, that love may find
purer home beneath the rags Of pow
erty and vice than In all the grea
warm heart Of Charity
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