Show Is cTh t J < L 4 ffi HOW THE KING PARDONED LITTLE ROSIE OGRADY BY MELVILLE CHATER Copyright 189S by Melville Chater Music is often only an acquired taste Also music hath charms to soothe the savage In the case of the king however how-ever it roused the savage What he was king of doesnt concern us here It was immense andit was incorporated it had officers who received large salaries sal-aries employees who received small salaries and stockholders who received nothing at all If you frequent lower Broadway dur ing the midmorning hours you may have seen the king a hundred times as he stalked down town to nurse his royal sinecure He is a thickset man of 50 immaculately groomed from the gloss cf his hat to the gloss of his boots He has closeeropped steelgray hair small hard steelgray eyes and a square deanshaven face so inflexible in expression it might have been forged from the same nietah His bearing and walk are infued with equal rigidity and his voice resembles the clang of a hamimsvupon a section of armor plate He oulfl make an imposing figurehead for a nr t8jas9 uaitieship Eery mofmlng t1 e < kin Stalks south ward figure erect and eyes front If he doesnt know you he doesnt see you if he foes you may or may not receU a steely lad according to his royal mood YOu must bow and scrape in any case He expects and receives it all the way down the street then the doorkeeper crapes the bootblack sorapEE the elevator boy scrapes and i the entire court rises up and makes profound obeisance The day over salaams sa-laams are repeated and he stalks northward to his great handsome lonely lone-ly bachelor apartments and spends his evpning heaven knms > how Certainly not at concerts He hated music of every kind save the harsh jangle and roar cf down town trallic He might have replaced the pipe and bowl of that i other TKnurch by a drink and a cigar 1 the fiddlers three be would certainly 1 have strangled Which brings me to a certain morning I morn-ing when he stalked stlflly southward I nith an ugly look in his eye and strangulation stran-gulation in his thoughts And he didnt allow anyon to divert his attention from it either The doorkeeper the i bootblack and the elevator boy bowed and scraped in vain and the entire court rose up antI saiaamed to utter vacancy He ascended his throne presfd a button and stared his calendar calen-dar out of countenance until the mi perial stenographer arrived when he isunk lower in his seal thrust his fists deep in his pockets scowled ferociously at the toe of his boot and dictated as follows Editor of the New York Sir While heartily applauding the I complaints published Inyour columns I from time to time against petty nuisances nui-sances I regret that the most abominable abomin-able outrage practiced upon New Yorkers York-ers has so for escaped censure I allude al-lude to 10 theblackmailing practices of those Italian vagabonds who until the necessary bribe is extorted grind out their earsplitting discords beneath their victims windows I am not an invalid 1 in-valid nbr a cranl on the contrary normal and goodl tnpered Here the imperial stenographer felt his eye turned on her and moved not a muscle mus-cle But sir could the inventor of the piano organ be found today i should unhesitatingly say strangle him and as for these mendicants and their equally criminal supporters nothing noth-ing short of sow torture would do them justice I war racked all last evening by one of these hideous instruments S and tho neighborhood of my office is positively haunted by a certain rascally rascal-ly Italian blackmailer who renders Vork absolutely impossible by the repetition repe-tition of maudlin ballads I allude es JWU peciallyto the present epidemic of But Micro he was interrupted > > Sweeet Rosie OGraaady My dear little Rose Theblackmailer had arrived Alord nwaiting rushed to the window The ting grasped a paper weight and stood Sy The imperial stenographer shud jered The wizened little Italian below melted into a joyous smile poor deluded de-luded l wretch and waved his band playfully j Sheeej iny steady laaady 4 Most eieryonei < What most everyone did Vas never 1 divulged Thg blackmailer trpndled his i rgan off still wearing the joyous mile The lordinwaiting was dispatched dis-patched to the street with orders to ae hlm arrested if hecontinued with n earsh The Imperial stenographer esumedFbeE pencil with f trembling fingers ivhile I hismajesty stalking up and down continued vhit heat He I closed wjtbt powerful perbratlon Why are these gross violations of I public oraer permitted > by the authorities I author-ities Certainly daily life contains enough unavoidable nuisances without our fostering thisone1 which is a dis turbanceb alla pleasure to none and T repeat virtually a petty blackmailing black-mailing scheme Truly we are a longsuffering I long-suffering people A few htours later the king who possessed considerable Interests on the east riVer boarded a car and jolted across town That is the other pas senders jolted he retained his adamantine ada-mantine rigidity But fate decreed that a horse should drop suns truck across the track a block ensued and the royal J orsdcar was stalled quite a d stance s-tance Iromstne river The king who regarded re-garded any obstruction to his imperial I progress as i a personal affront fretted I andfum d pulled out his watch and tried to make himself believe he was ins I in-s tremendous hurry apparently the horse a dozen blocks awav was an anarchistic beast and wouldnt truckle i to royalty < His majesty might have got I off and walked but the sun was hot send the yyl unsheltered so he preferred pre-ferred toj3op his brow and soowl up the cross street I It was a thort one consisting of grimy stunted houses and one large handsome building at the further end The front of each house was decorated with its inmates underwear and on each doorstep sat a small dirty child holding a baby The king had never seen so manT chiJdreTrbefore he was 1 reminded of a swarm of flies In a hndy corner sat a knot of laborers drinking from tin pails devouring im niense sandwiches and smoking clay pipes while on the housetODs were stretched dizzy labyrinths of clothesline clothes-line and more underwear Every one seemed to be on the most intimate terms and the exact season might have lieen ascertained by a careful study of the refuse vegetable matter Disgusted with the prospect the king closed his eyes and ruminated over certain stocks but presently a shrill chatter broke the ncpnday lull and Jooking abroad once more he beheld coming down the street led by a little 110yearold slattern his friend the I I blackmailer pulling his organ after him waving his hand playfully at the children chil-dren and welTing the same joyous smile whicn it appears was chronic The king clutched his knees gasped arid nearly broke a blood vessel Twen tJ yards off the blackmailer halted And ib seems almost like a sly joke on I the Dart of fate that the first sounds should have been I i mQt everyone knows I And whtfii we arc married AITi g vrrle i How happy well be1 M love < sweet Rosie OGraaady And Rosie OGrady loves meee By this time the babies had been forgotten for-gotten the doorsteps deserted and a snore of frowsy heads had appeared at the upper windows The blackmailer Smiling upon the circle of upturned faces adjusted a lever and started off again oman Irish jig tTJhen two of the children entered the ring A lean ragged little pair they were not over S years old but with what zest what sense of rhythm and I even a sort of rough grace they danced there under the scorching sun Face to face back to back side by side with I quick steps outkicked feet swaying bodies arms akimbo heads aslant and I noV clutching fast to each other they circled about in a jaunty little east > ide waltz And how their faces brfghtencdl And how the rest watched and beattime on the cobbles eager for their tugis And when the two fell out exhausted another couple took their place i then another and another until i they had all danced and the Blackmailers Black-mailers < repertoire was exhausted At length when sBweet Rosie OGrady was reached again the little one who had brought him executed a solo in humble imitation of some costumed cos-tumed performer seen from the gallery of a Bowery music hall Fingering her ragged skirts as though they were beautiful tinsel and gauze waving her thin grimy arms as though theywere white and fair to look upon pirouetting pirouet-ting about on tiptoe as though her shoes were gilded and dainty instead of three times too large buttonless down at thfe heel and broken at the sides In fact a very miniature of the heavenly fairlike original in the old clothes of poverty and the clumsy graces of the slums But how the rest cheered And how the frowzyheads at the windows called Go it Rosie Shure its foine it is Do it ain Rosie Wfiile even a few of the big rough laborers strolled across to watch and said she was a I purty slip av a gurrl and loike me own little Katey And when the Blackmailer Black-mailer began to blackmail not a child but had a longhoarded cent to drop in the hat one of the men tossed him A nickel with Here yare Pedro and Strangely enough he afterwards found a quarter amongst the coppers and blessed the saints wondering in his own happy Italian way however it came there But suddenly with a cry of Th cop Th cop the children scattered 1 ilfflhIIIJ ai I I I m j A 4ii M i f7 P Id 1 4i f1 f = = = I I THE BANKER WATCHED EOSIE OGRADY 1 f 1 I I I seized their respective babies and slammed and locked their respective doors leaving the Blackmailer Rosie and the cop with a harid on each It rriay seem lncrediblO but the king was standing close by As tQ why he was there andhow long he had been there I know nothing but his car had disappeared dis-appeared and there he stood feet apart and fists thrust deep in his pockets regarding the trio curiously almost concernedly from under his bushy brows I It may seem still more incredible but when the coP threateningawful things had re1cased the terrifiedtchild andre iiuestedtthfe fairitly fjsnfiling Blackmailer Black-mailer to git his majesty advanced and demanded brusquelythough that was his usual manner the reason of all this At first the cop would say only orders but presently under I gentler questioning explained that the street locally known as Babies block was a noisy one at best but that the I piancforgan Was more than the hospital hos-pital on the corner could stand and that he had stopped it at the directors request which was kind and humanitarian humani-tarian of him though he hadnt mentioned men-tioned quite all the circumstances He useter come regler lIe concluded con-cluded an now th kids bring him down when I aint round Shes the worstindicatin the premier danseuse dan-seuse Whohad taken refuge on the opposite doorstep her own being blocked by the terrible cop Fresh little piece Apnie OGrady but they call her Rosie after th song And he strolled off swinging his club and whistling the chorus Meanwhile the deserted OGrady had dropped his battle and abandoned himself him-self to the yell of baffled babyhood A big barearmed fury rushed out and seizing the truant nurse by the back of the neck propelled her toward her sphere of duty crying Yer little divil yer Slap Yer Will foller th orpin when I put yer ter Tnoindth baby Slap Eh Slap slap Sit down there If yer move an inch Ill break ivery lazy bone in yer body Slap slap slap She disappeared dis-appeared In the house and Rosie OGrady put down her head and sobbed and the baby drooped his bottle again and squalled in concert Now the street was hot and dusty the king hated a crying child even more than U piano organ and there was a pjtssing car on which he might have escaped But he advanced instead in-stead mopping his brow and growled Will you kindly stop thatan damned child Rosie OGrady looked up and gulped with amazement As If in sympathy the baby slid into a happy coo and grasped in the air at imaginary bottles King and culprit surveyed each other She noticed his steely appearance and shrank back fearfully He noted her dirty little tearstained face and paused a moment Then he proceeded to administer ad-minister justice So you are the young lady who follows fol-lows pijno organs haJi He shot off the last wdr like a minute gun in a storm tind waited for reply It was a trembling one tI It Ye es siFtS I j t siFt-S JJd i And you incite theeLahmep in defiance of the law haT ha-T e culprit expr inapprehension by opening her mouth and saying nothing noth-ing You bring them hereagainst the po licemans orders > Only Ii twicet sirYshe faltered Sadie ast me ter They wanted to dance dancAnd And you support these ahrvag rants You dropped somethinglm that mans hat How much ha Aa cent whispered the culprit looking more a culprit than ever Please sir it was mine I saved it The king drew himself up judicially No doubt no doubt But what right had you to use it in support of a public pub-lic nuisance I was racked all last evening by one of these hideous instruments instru-ments he continued quoting from his letter which he had composed in I the sleepless watches of the night and knew it by heart Certainly daily life contains enough unavoidable nuisances without our fostering this one which is a disturbance to all a pleasure to none ahem That is to few very few For I judge by the demonstration that you made just now you Ho take a cer ain kind of enjoymentin thoseah organs Like them Imean Do you The culprit while conrtswhat stunned managed to grasp the meaning of the last few words and replied timidly Yees sir i Ha Very much Yees sir Then stil more timidly 11 love em The king paused Ha And do the other children er = love them as you put it Yes sir g Ha And the king paused again His thoughts were interrupted by the culprit who fat redCln awed amazement amaze-ment Dont you sir1 IS > He hesitated over several scathing replies and ended by shaking his head nssilence 3 When you hear em dont you wan terdance The king actually smileda hard grim smile > I do she continuedtaking courage Th chunes is lovely jlst like th thee ayter L j Youve been thereC said the king How often f v Wunst Her face brightened They wuz lots er songs an a lady she danced It was fine I told the rest all about it Theyd never been ha No sir But then th orgin comer come-r und every Saturdayvit wuz an wed save up an watch ferit an come out an dance But th cop he wouldnt let him come no more So Id go out an fetch him An Sadieast me ter this mornih She couldnt dance cause shes sick in bed but she could hear it Ha And what are yOU going to do now that this ah public nuisance has been stopped 11 dunno sir And the tears actually actu-ally sprang to her eyes The king perceived per-ceived it in horror Ahem he said ferociously that she jumped Have you a back yard in this streeta goodsized one Yes sir back er ouVnouse And the number of your house is Twentyone sir The kns was abit of a < wag in his own unpleasant ironical way He raised hIS hat E Thank you Go after nah Miss O Grady He stalked into the throne room that evening long after his accustomed hour as grim and morose as ever anci selecting a certain letter from the heap of unsigned mail read and reread it most carefully then glaring out of the window tore it into small fragments threw them into the basket and turned abruptly with on the imperial stenographer r withTake a letter Miss Rosia OGra dy Excuse me she faltered amazed Did you say 0 Miss Rosie OGrady reiterated the king still glaring out of the windoW with stern disregard Twentyone Ahem Babies block City Ahhem My dear Miss Grady There was sensation next day in Babies block when a messenger boy I arrived riCh a letter for Misa Rosie OGrady who broke the seal and la borlously spelled out the following Referring to the subject upon which I conversed with you yesterday afternoon after-noon while I still hold tho same to be a public nuisance in which you are a guilty participant yet as proof of my personal forgivenneis and in acknowledgement acknowl-edgement of the able manner in which you defended your unworthy cause I tender herewith a slight mark of my esteem and beg you to believe me my dear Miss OGrady i w Your obedient sqryantVetc Just then an express wagon rounded he corner with a large case for No 21 and a chorus of shrill squeals arose when the same wag opened and found to contain a great beautiful shining piano organ The king continues tQ stalk through life < the same steely individual but he has subsided somewhat the subject jf piano organs and when one starts outside his window simply growls Tell that fellow to move on And here Give him this His business takes him to the East river oftener than of old and it has been declared that if you follow him on these excursions you will see Him turndown turn-down a dirty little street and enter a dirty little house followed by a swarm of children Then you will hear muffled sounds of a piano organ mixed with shrill voices and laughter and presently pres-ently he will slip guiltily out into the street turn the corner and stalk stifilv back into the world grimmer steelier and more unapproachable than ever l I repeat music is often only an ab quireM taste Ii |