The Harvest of Years Part 33

"To-night, I think. Give them a good room and good food, and I will remunerate you as far as money goes. I would like you to take them; you are so neat and thrifty, and will treat them well. When they get settled we will see just what to do for them," said Louis, and we drove on to the village. Our next stopping-place was found in the narrowest street there, and where a few small and inconvenient dwellings had been erected by the mill owners for such of their help as could afford to pay only for these miserable homes. They looked as if they had fallen together there by mistake. And the plot of ground which held the six houses seemed to me to be only a good-sized house lot. We stopped at the third one and were admitted by a careworn woman, who looked about fifty years of age. She greeted us gladly, though when Louis introduced me, I knew she felt the meager surroundings and wished he had been alone, for her face flushed and her manner was nervous. I spoke kindly and took the chair she proffered, being very careful not to appear to notice the scantily furnished room.

"Well," said Louis, "Mrs. Moore, are you ready to let your boy go with me?"

"Oh, sir," she said, "only too willing; but I have been afraid you would not come. It seemed so strange that you should make us such an offer--so strange that you can afford to do it, and be willing, too, for experience has taught us to expect nothing, especially from those who have money. But Willie's clothes, sir, are sadly worn. I have patched them beyond holding together, almost; but I could get no new ones."

"Never mind that," said Louis. "We will go to the mill for him and his little friend, too, if he can go."

"Oh! yes, sir; he can, and I am so glad, for the father is a miserably discouraged man. He drinks to drown trouble, and it seems to me he will drown them all after a little. A pleasant man, too. His wife says poor health first caused him to use liquor."

We then called on the woman in question and obtained her tearful consent, for while the promise of a home for her boy was a bright gleam, she said:

"He is the oldest. Oh! I shall miss him when we are sick."

"He shall come to you any time," said Louis, "and you shall visit him."

And in a few moments we were at the mill. Entering the office, Louis was cordially greeted by one of the three gentlemen who had called on us. He evidently antic.i.p.ated his errand, for he said:

"So, you are come for Willie Moore and Burton Brown?"

"Yes, sir," Louis replied. "Can I go to the room for them?"

"As you please, Mr. Desmonde, I can call them down. Their room is not a very desirable place for a lady to visit."

Louis looked at him as if to remind him of something, while I said:

"My place is beside my husband."

"Yes," added Louis, "we work together. Come, Emily," and he led the way to the fourth floor, where, under the flat roof in a long, low room, were the little wool pickers. I thought at first I could not breathe, the air was so close and sickening. And here were twenty boys, not one of them more than twelve or thirteen years old, working through long hours. The heat was stifling, and the fuzz from the wool made it worse.

They wore no stockings or shoes, nothing but a shirt and overalls, and these were drenched as with rain.

As we entered Louis whispered, "See the pictures," and it was a bright, glad light that came suddenly into all their eyes at sight of their friend. He spoke to them all, introducing me as we pa.s.sed through the long line that lay between the two rows of boys. When we came to Willie and Burton, Louis whispered to them:

"Get ready to go with me."

They went into the adjoining hall to put on the garments which they wore to and from the mill, and in less time than it takes me to write it, they stood ready for a start. As we pa.s.sed again between the lines of boys Louis dropped into every palm a silver piece, saying, as he did so:

"Hold on, boys, work with good courage, and we will see you all in a different place one of these days."

"Thank you, sir;" and "yes, sir, we will," fell upon our ears as we pa.s.sed out. Our two little proteges ran out in advance. And as I looked back a moment, standing on the threshold of the large door, I said:

"It is a beautiful picture, Louis. You are a master artist."

After again stopping in the office for a few words of conversation with Mr. Damon, Louis was ready, the boys clambered into our carriage, and we were on our way to their homes, first stopping to purchase for each of them a suit of clothes, a large straw hat, and a black cap. The boys said nothing, but looked a world of wondering thanks.

Louis made an arrangement for the boys to live with Jane, and to go to our town school when it began in the fall.

"This summer," he said to their mothers, "they need all the out-door air and free life they can have to help their pale cheeks grow rosy, and to give to their weak muscles a little of the strength they require. I desire no papers to pa.s.s between us, for I am not taking your children from you, only helping you to give them the rest and change they need to save their lives. They are the weakest boys in the mill and this is why I chose them first. Every Sat.u.r.day they shall come home to you, and stay over the Sabbath if you desire, and they shall also bring to you as much as they could earn in the mill. Will this be satisfactory?"

Both these mothers bowed their heads in silent appreciation of the real service he was rendering, and I knew his labor was not lost. I felt like adding my tribute to his, and said:

"Your boys will be well cared for, and you shall come often to see us.

We expect you to enjoy a little with them."

"Oh! mother, will you come over and bring the children?" said Willie.

"And you, too, mother," echoed Burton.

Weary Mrs. Moore said:

"I would like to breathe again in the woods and on the mountains, but I have five little ones left here to care for;" and Mrs. Brown added:

"I could only come on Sat.u.r.day, and the mill lets out an hour earlier, and your father needs me on that day more than any other."

Her sad face and tearful eyes told my woman's heart that this was the day he was tempted more than all others, and I afterward gathered as much from Burton.

"Well, we must turn toward home," said Louis, and the boys kissed their mothers and their little brothers and sisters, and said "good-bye," and each with his bundles turned to the carriage. Louis untied Gipsy, and I said to the mothers:

"Were they ever away over night?"

"No, never," said both at once.

"I will arrange for them. You shall hear to-morrow how the first night pa.s.ses with them."

"I was just thinking of that," said Mrs. Brown; "G.o.d bless you for your thoughtfulness," and getting into the carriage, we all waved our good-byes, and turned toward home. We told Jane all we could to interest her, and particularly asked her to make everything pleasant for them, that they should not be homesick. Louis went to their room with them, and when we left them at Jones' gate, Willie Moore shouted after us:

"It's just heaven here, ain't it?"

He was an uncommonly bright little boy, and yet had no education whatever beyond spelling words of three letters. He was twelve years of age, and for three years he had worked in the mill. Clara and all at home were delighted with our work, and Aunt Hildy said:

"Ef Jane North does well by them boys, she oughter have a pension from the Gov'ment, and sence I know that'll never give her a cent, I'll do it myself. I've got an idee in my head."

Then Southern Mary and her husband laughed, not in derision, for they admired Aunt Hildy, and Mr. Waterman said:

"If men had your backbone, Mrs. Patten, there would be a different state of things altogether."

"My husband is almost an Abolitionist," said Mary. "Some of our people dislike him greatly; but my father is a good man and he does not illtreat one of his people. He is one of the exceptional cases. But the system is, I know, accursed by G.o.d. I believe it to be a huge scale that fell from the serpent's back in the Garden, and I feel the day will dawn when the accursed presence of slavery will be no longer known."

"Good!" said Aunt Hildy, "and there's more kinds than one. Them little children is slaves--or was."

"When you get ready to make out your pension papers, Mrs. Patten," said Mary, "let me help jest a little; I would like to lay a corner-stone somewhere in this village for some one's benefit. You know this is the site of a drama in my life; I pray never to enact its like again."

"I'll give you a chance," said Aunt Hildy.

Louis went over to Jane's in the morning, and the boys returned with him to tell us what a good supper and breakfast they had had.

"And such a nice bed," added Burton. "When we looked out of the window this morning I wished mother could come."

"Poor little soul!" I said, "your mother shall come. We will move every obstacle from her path."