Show lit GO 0 SMALL SYNOPSIS 7 while trundling the clean washing up clipper hill mary alice brown Is set upon by some mischievous boys who spill the washing into the dirt she la Is rescued and taken to her home in calvert street by francis willett Wll lett a galahad knight she is punished by ber her drunken father tor for returning without the wash money mary alice wanders away from bome takes a trolley ride into the country and spends the night at the farmhouse of sam thomas in the morning she meets meet s little charlie 1 e thomas a cripple sam takes mary alice home and finds that tie be and mrs brown are old sam am takes her and mary alice to his home tor for a visit while lem brown the drunken rather father Is serving a workhouse sentence charlie Is made a galahad knight francis visits the farm and la is saved from drowning toy mary alice j one of the burdens of ex poverty Is that the poor must live in surroundings which S j drag body and soul to greater creater X ia ia mise misery ry A person of true re can endure shabby clothing bad food bare feces jj X cities but borass associations j ugly environment brutality these make a headpiece of j thorns 1 CHAPTER V continued well then be botn to sta beys once in ft a while and ill be there every day doln up bundles I 1 wonder if you would come and see me just a minute once in a while you you been awful nice toto to to charlie thomas I 1 never knew a boy just like you the boys idour in our neighborhood are nasty oh mary alice said hali francis feeling the red creep into his face he became suddenly very awkward he lost all Us his swagger all his complacence oh mary alice he said you I 1 reever did anything any thin dont you go mahln fun of me now if you dont stop guying me I 1 wont come to see bee you at the store they had turned into mrs travers side yard francis willett suddenly remembered that he might be late to supper he dropped the wagon tongue and dashed hurriedly out of the gate and disappeared in the heavy shadows cast bythe bytha by the tha street area mary alice collected her doll arand severity seventy five cents and started down clipper hill with her empty rattling wagon magon gods goin to make me well charlie tag had said suppose no it happen but charlie was sure of it better be tike charlie and ana believe that somehow the thing that you wanted tto to happen must happen 1 I guess fihe ebe thought though tt goda all ri right abt when the when he around to you mary alice did not L now that a great many people who are ace always making excuses for god always trying to explain away the apparent discrepancies or contradictions in gods procedure would have been deeply shocked to hear bear her guess that god was all right and would no mo more than mary alice herself have bave realized that she wits waa perfectly reverent and entirely prayerful Stace stachys staceys Sta ceya ys paid mary alice four dollars a week and set her up in a sort of lookout box back of the glove counter where she inserted the purchases of customers in envelopes and manipulated one end of a pneumatic tube which completed the analogy between her perch and a small armed turret the girls pay and sirs mrs browns earnings from her few laundry customers made the little family more comfortable for table than it had been for many months sam thomas came to sheffield two or three times a week and frequently went out of 0 hla his way to see mrs brown and litt little le dick if thrifty sam was no plutocrat yet he hardly ever C called without bringing some small gift half a barrel of 0 Ls assorted sorted vegetables a little butter some eggs once martha sent cent three pairs of knitted mittens large medium m and small email the deserve luck mary alice said maid mrs brown ithee re always and forever up some to do for someone I 1 guess maybe the reason were so poor poop la Is because were selfish did you bring home the shinbone imeln M bm it mt cost ten cents a pound it used to be e eight ill 1111 put it right on to stew when its done you can take a bowl of it in to mrs airs bloomer ashes kind of allin mary alice had not told anybody an about francis willetts willetta doctor uncle she dared not tor fear of oc disappointment men francis said une uncle 16 billy jaak jackson was waa away in europe and be back until midwinter he know whether his father had told sam thomas about doctor docton jackson he rather thought not francis developed in an extraordinary fancy tor for cloves mm mr willett roar meled and mr willett c chuckled buckled he bad seen mary alice brown she was a vice nice little girl she had saved his bis boys life he be approved of francis friendship tor for her and of the common interests that drew them together he wanted his boy to be both democratic and chivalrous francis was the apple of his eye john willett had a soft heart wherever suffering was concerned it pleased him to see his boy display signs of a similar tenderness if the galahad knights was francis idea john willetts Wll letts pocketbook was an essential of its success for the latter chure and incidental expenses more than ate up the twenty five cent ices ees willett was delighted to help for he be was pretty well to do and prided himself that he had bad never been selfish with his hia money from the first day he had ever earned a dollar there was now but one cloud upon the immediate horizon of the brown family this cloud would woud grow bigger for the res rest t of the three xee months of lem browns stay in the work workhouse hous e and then goodness knew what would happen mrs brown and mary alice contemplated the possibilities with dread men are not reformed in jails lem would cherge emerge sober but with the determination to remedy that undesired condition at the first opportunity lie ile would have no job even if he be kept sober for a while he would be a burden upon the family that he should keep away from drink more than a very few days was inconceivable the two room tenement in the house off calvert streit street was almost cozy now it was a home clean and warm the browns ate quite regularly little dick was fat and rosy always there was an atmosphere of good cheer and comfort the thought gripp grippe 4 them what bat would lem brown do to it all sam thomas came as usual and one day he broached the subject 1 I bate bale to get personal lottle lottie he be raid ald it aint any of my business pr araps aps but I 1 been wonder won derin ln about lem mrs brown looked up at him but said nothing there was nothing to say why dont you move away from here so he be wont find you this Is a pretty bild big town you could ko go clear way over on the east side your rent be no higher 1 I know I 1 know said mrs R own but but im lem browns alel well ill be bedl the queerest of all human beins said sam why say you yon dont for a minute think theres a chance tit of re reform formin ln lem do you ton youve tried that long enough aint you hes my husband said lottle lottie hopelessly she went about her work absently squeezing the sudsy water from a succession of white garments sam sat eat 1 I so long lottle lottie come on lem helplessly helpless ly by studying her face he could remember when it had been a mighty pretty face too a good deal like little mary Ali alices cels only mary alice so BO sparkling as her mother had been not much sparkle left now poor thing 1 goldart Gol darn said sam and arose 1 I got to be goin next time I 1 come in ill bring you a couple of cabbages we got moren we need he stumped off down the stairs mrs brown cried a little into her washtub on oa the he day of his release lena lem brown came home in rold afternoon As AB he turned turne d into the alley off calvert street a man stepped out of the grocery store on the opposite corner comer and took up a post across oss the alley from the brown tenement where he waited ten or fifteen minutes 1 I guess lva its time enough now 11 the MILU man said eald to himself and climbed the stairs mrs mra brown was occupied with her customary business when lem came in he was quite it a different lem from the dominant bate she ehe had seen on an that distressing night she pitted pitied him this was waa what lem wanted 1111 hullo ullo lot he said seating beating himself near the tubs how you gettin along I hullo lullo lem she replied and kept her eyes on her work aint you glad to see mo me of course have you had a hard bard time fretful so methIn awful aufill work work work from til night and halt balf starved all the time that workhouse Is a torture hole it if there ever was one he was working up a fine case of self pity ile he had been very badly treated mrs brown noticed that he be was clean that his hair was trimmed and he was not in the least thin buti but on the contrary looked cooled very well fed 1 I spose I 1 got to go look for a job said lem 1 I got to have a little ch cul fare mrs brown looked vp up do you mean that lem lein she asked da do you really want money for c car ar fare how much do you want where are you going to look for a job the pale light ol of hope burned in her eyes long years of experience seemed to have taught her nothing this th thing ing had happened oh so many times before lem drew a very long woe be gone face its night work he said over at the docks steve stevedoring dorin the hardest kind of work cargo in ships but I 1 spose I 1 got to sport my camly I 1 always have managed to I 1 when I 1 had one 0 m slip blip ups but that aint coln to happen no more im through im a reformed man all I 1 want Is three dollars to get me some overalls an a dinner pall pail an pay my fare to the docks nee clin men and I 1 can go right on tonight walt wait a minute said his wife she went into the bedroom lem looked after her and treated himself to a wink the door from the hall opened and a man stepped into the brown kitchen it was sam thomas 1111 hullo ullo lem brown he said lem looked up tip startled when a man has been beem in jail one cant tell what may happen you been away I 1 hear bear said sam pointedly youre coln away again aint you what me gow goin away again oh ob no I 1 was just tellin lottle lottie I 1 ire he stopper stop perl for his wife had come in she held three one dollar bills in her hand which she hastily thrust be hind her looking very guilty as it if sam thomas had caught her stealing the money hullo lottle lottie said sam 1 I see lems back yes said mrs brown hes hea got a job over at the docks hes coln right over there now arent you lem IM AI hm im goin right over there this afternoon after I 1 get me some overalls and a dinner pall and and it a half a dozen drinks of whisky put in sam thomas coldly oh ob no no sam certainly not protested lem certainly not never again for me no sir im coln to work I 1 got a abod job night work you know cargo ln in you lie he lem that lems artificial look ing eyes stared with dull surprise at sam you lie persisted sam you got a job ob they aint leadin no vessels over at toe the docks now and they hardly ever work nights when they do aw sam whined lem so help me I 1 coln botn to help you but he aint coln to help you to no drinks but sam I 1 got to have sone BO overalls it if I 1 go to work P git overalls all right all right git else too come on now well lie be on our way what d you mean sam ive got you a job lem A good job a right swell job like it lem cause I 1 know you love hard work but sam im riot not very strong I 1 been sick you been sick and youre a big lazy hog bog fat liar lem brown you give me another word of your sass and ill hand you the grandest whalan you ever had bad lu in your life sam shook a fist as big as a cago ham under the nose of the aston dished and lem then he be turned to the wife who had bad stood mutely and uncomprehendingly by a of yours youra has got to go to work and im coln to see that he does ive been needful help on the place for a long time lem wont make first class help but I 1 aint goin to pay him much it if he cant be handled im I 1 m gain to have him sent sene back to jail and this time be the penitentiary for assault ln you yon and mary alice that night and listen lottle lottie maybe he dont look it but somehow ive got a suspicion dicion that there may be the makins of a man in that mis lable able carcass yet anyhow im coln to undertake the job so long lottle lottie see you yon next week come com on lem waya do you believe there it Is Z j i enough iron in lems soul ia enough m manhood burl burled ed away t j in him to stick at this job and 11 ji make good X WS mf TUIE CONTINUED |