Middletown transcript., 1914-12-12
InstaIIment Two.

Now, 60 on with your story" said /.
How about this game you were Civ
ing this morning?"
We'll, I'll 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
Imean is, we on'y make enough to pay
fer aggrevatin' our appetites with jist
about enough chuck to keep us starvin'-
hungry. So, you see, when a feller
amt got nothin' else to do, and his
appetite won't sleep in the same bunk
with him, he's bound to git on to
somepin' 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 won't have
orphans, and fits, and 'cripples,' and
drunk fathers, and mothers that eats
morphine and 'white-swellin',' and
consumption, and all that sort o.
taffy! Got to git er down fner'n that!
But been a-gittin' in my work all the
same, don't you fergit! You won't ever
blow, now?"
How could 1 'bloR, and what If 1
did? I don't live here" replied.
We'll, you better never blow, any
how; cause if ever US dufers would
GIT on to it you'd be spilled oyster!"
Go on" l 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
they's crowd O. nobs a-talkin' politics
.er somepin', and a-jist startin' in, and
fore they know what's a-comin' I'm
a-f1ashini up a nickel er dime, and
a-tellin' 'em if only had enough more
to make so cents I could buy blacki1
box, and wouldn't have to asst no boot
O. my grandmother! And two minutes
chinnin' does it, don't you see, cause
they don't know nothin bout blackin'
boxes; they're jist as soft as you air.
They got an idy, maybe, that blackin'
BOAC0 NOAACD oil IlC way lAOAA OAAAJS
with cokeynut whiskers packed round
'em; and I make it solid by a-sayin'
I'm On'y goin' to git a secondhand box
see? But that amt the p'int-it's
the Mr.. Nickel already got Oh! it'll
paralyze 'em ever time! Sometimes
fellersn make up rs cents er dollar,
and tell me to git new box, and go
Into the business right That's thing
that always rattles me. Now, if they'd
on'y growl a little and look like they
was jist a-puttin' up cause the first
one did, can stand it; but when they
go to pattin' me on the head, and
a-tellin' me that's right and not to
be afeared O. work. and I'll come out
all right and tellin' me to git good
substantial box while I'm a-gittin'.
and a-ponyin' up handsome, there's
where weaken 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, "P got
a family on my hands, and 2 fist got
to git along somehow! could git along
on the square deal as long as mother
was alive-'cause she'd workout ever
sence she died-and that was winter
fore last-I've kind o. had to double
on the old thing all sorts o. ways. But
Sis don't know it. Sis, she thinks Pm
the squarest muldoon in the business"
and even side by side with the homeIy
utterance great sigh faltered from
his lips.
And who is sis?" I inquired with
new interest.
Sis?" he repeated, knocking my foot
from the box, and leaning back, still
In the old position, his hat now lying
on the ground beside him, and his
frowzy hair tossed backward from the
full. broad brow-'eW Who's sis?" he re-
lpeated with an upward smile. that al
most dazzled me-"W'y, Sis isis
wy, Sis is the boss girl-and don't you
fergit it,"
No need had he to tell me more than
this. l knew who isis" was by the
light Of pride in the uplifted eyes; /
knew who isis" was by the exultation
In the broken voice. and the half-de-
fant tossing Of the frowzy. head; l
knew who isis" was by the little,
naked hands thrown upward openly; /
knew who sis" was by the tear that
dared to trickle through the dirt upon
her ragged brothers face. And don't
you forget itl
o that boy down there upon his
kneesl-there in the cinders and the
dirt-so far, far down beneath us that
we trample on his breast and grind our
heels into his very heart; o that boy
there, with his lifted eyes, and Gods
own glory shining in his sace, has
taught me, with an eloquence beyond
the trick OF understanding words
and metaphor, that love may find a
purer home beneath the rags Of pow
erty and vice than in all the great
warm heart Of Charity.