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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1e26cc3 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #53826 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53826) diff --git a/old/53826-0.txt b/old/53826-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index db0080d..0000000 --- a/old/53826-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1226 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Janet, or, The Christmas Stockings, by Louise -Élise Gibbons - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Janet, or, The Christmas Stockings - - -Author: Louise Élise Gibbons - - - -Release Date: December 29, 2016 [eBook #53826] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JANET, OR, THE CHRISTMAS -STOCKINGS*** - - -E-text prepared by MFR and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -(http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by -Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/stream/janetorchristmas00gibb#page/n7/mode/2up - - -Transcriber’s note: - - Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). - - - - - -JANET - -Or - -The Christmas Stockings - -by - -LOUISE ÉLISE GIBBONS - -Author of “Truth” and Other Stories - - - - - - - -The Knickerbocker Press -New York -1899 - - - - - DEDICATED - - (BY PERMISSION) - - TO THE RIGHT REVEREND - - HENRY CODMAN POTTER, D.D., D.C.L. - - BISHOP OF NEW YORK - - - - - JANET - - I - - -IN the doorway of an old tenement-house, far down in the slums of New -York, two women were standing, their heads close together as they -gossiped about the passers-by. - -A young girl—she might have been thirteen—tripped along the sidewalk, -kicking her legs out in front of her as she went, so that she could see -her stockings. - -Her odd movements caught the women’s eyes, and they asked each other -what could be the cause of them. - -“I never see her act like that before. Puttin’ on such airs! Dear! dear! -Saw ye ever the likes of it?” - -“Oh, see her new stockings!” said the younger woman. “What mighty fine -ones! Did you ever?” - -“I doubt she came by them in no good way,” said the other. “Janet, young -un! See here!” - -The child stopped, holding up her tattered gown to show her pretty -stockings. “Who give you _them_?” cried the woman who had called her. - -The girl replied quietly, “’Twas the Bishop give me ’em.” - -At this the women exclaimed in chorus, “The Bishop! That’s a fine tale! -How’d you know it was the Bishop?” - -Janet said Roy, the newsboy, told her; and the women asked her, “How is -it your father hasn’t got hold of ’em? He’d sell ’em for drink inside of -a minute.” - -“Oh, I only wears ’em on the street,” said Janet, “and I takes ’em off -an’ hides ’em before I go home.” - -The women begged her to tell them all about it, and settled themselves -comfortably to hear the story. - -The girl’s tale ran thus: one day a lot of children were dancing on the -sidewalk to the tune of an old organ-grinder, and she began dancing with -them. Roy then came by with his newspapers, and, putting them down on a -step, seized her round the waist and whirled her off among the little -children. He stopped suddenly, for a gentleman who was passing wanted a -paper. The girl was overheated with her dancing, and began to fan -herself with one of Roy’s papers; Roy said afterwards her eyes were as -bright as stars. - -The gentleman asked her name, and where she lived; and when she told -him, he said, “Janet, if you will come to yonder church,” pointing to -the steeple, “at seven o’clock on Christmas night, I will give you -something to take home with you.” Then he paid Roy for the paper, and -gave the change to Janet, saying with a smile, “This will buy some -refreshments for the ball.” - -“Thank you, sir,” she said. “I am very hungry. I have had nothing to eat -since yesterday noon.” - -At this the gentleman didn’t smile any more, but looked sad. “Why did -you dance, then?” he said. - -Roy spoke before she had a chance to answer: “Sir, Janet was hungry and -cold, and that was the best way to get warm.” The gentleman walked away, -and she could see him rub the back of his hand across his eyes. She -asked Roy what his name was, and he said he didn’t know, but it was the -Bishop. - -She bought something to eat with the money, and divided it with Roy, and -he ran off to sell his papers. The organ-grinder went on his way, and -the children stopped dancing. - -So on Christmas night, Janet went early to the big church, as the Bishop -had told her to do. When she got inside the door, she stood still with -wonder, for there was a great tree, as big as an out-door tree, all -lighted with little candles from the floor to the top, and all over it -were hanging sparkling toys. And when she came near to it, she saw the -Bishop standing by it. - -She did not think he would know her again, but he smiled and said, -“Janet, I was expecting you.” And then he took a stick with a hook on -the end of it, and, reaching over the heads of some fine ladies who were -arranging things at the foot of the tree, he took the stockings down and -put them in her hands. Then he put his white hands on her head, and -said, “God bless you, my child! Remember, keep yourself pure and clean -to your life’s end.” Each stocking had a silver dollar in the toe, and -was filled with candy, and tied around the top with a blue ribbon to -keep the candy in. - -“See!” said Janet, as she told the story, “I tie the ribbon on each leg -to keep me from getting out.” She lifted the ragged gown to show the -ribbon garters. She said she skipped out of the great big church, -hugging the stockings close to her and covering them with a bit of her -shawl to hide her treasure from the people she passed. - -“Don’t you know such a fine bishop’s name?” asked one of the women. - -“No,” said the child, “but Roy said he was the good Bishop who stays -down here with us, and don’t go away frolicking. And now I must go to -see Roy. There he is calling his extras at the corner.” - -“Well, I never!” said one of the women, as the child skipped away. “She -seems to make friends, don’t she? She and that boy are awful fond of -each other; and now there ’s this Bishop!” - -“Well,” said the other, “Janet is a pretty girl, with her dark eyes, and -her hair always braided in one long plait down her back—and even if she -is in rags, her hair is always tidy.” - -“Her father sells everything that people give her—it ’s a wonder he -don’t cut off her hair and sell that. Well, the girl has a white skin, -and a pretty mouth, and a straight nose just like her mother’s. She -don’t look and she don’t act like as if she was born and raised here -among us poor folks.” - -“That she don’t; and she ’s such a little mite for her age, with those -little hands and feet. You wouldn’t take her to be fourteen, would you, -now?” - -While the women were talking her over, Janet went to find Roy, who stood -at the corner shivering with the cold, with his papers under his arm. - -“Hello, Roy!” said she, “see my beautiful stockings! That Bishop gave -’em to me off the tree, and they was full of candy and money!” Coming -close to him, she said in a whisper, “Here ’s some for you!” and she -took a little paper bag full of candy from under her ragged shawl where -she had hidden it. - -“Oh, Roy,” she said, “it was the finest tree you ever did see! And the -Bishop gave me the stockings his own self, and when he gave them to me -he put his hands on my head, and what do you think he said? He said, -‘God bless you, my child! Remember to keep yourself pure and clean to -the end of your life.’ And when he was a-saying it, he looked up at a -sugar boy with shiny wings that was hanging on the top of the tree.” - -The boy and girl parted at the corner, he to sell his papers through the -cold and the mire of the slums, and she to go to her poor, wretched -home. - -She mounted the rickety stairs of an old tenement-house, up to the top -floor, where, in one small garret, the whole family lived. In one corner -of the room was an old ragged straw mattress, on which the father, -mother, and baby slept. The baby was asleep now, the father was drinking -in a saloon near by. In another corner was a pile of straw where Janet -and her sister Bessie slept; and in yet another, on a heap of rags and -paper, lay two pretty little boys, sound asleep, unconscious of the fact -that they were cold and hungry. One could see, in spite of rags and -dirt, that they were like cherubs, with their sunny curls. - -The poor mother sat by the feeble light of a candle, the wick burned -nearly down to the bottle which served for a candlestick. She was sewing -on a coarse garment that she wanted to finish, in order to buy bread for -the children with the few pennies she would get for it. - -All that any of them had eaten that day was some candy that Janet had -slyly put in their mouths, not letting them know where she kept it. -Janet went to her mother, the poor, tired, sick woman, and, bidding her -open her mouth, she fed her with sweet chocolate and brought her a drink -of water. - -Then she sat down by the suffering woman, and hugged her poor cold feet -to her heart, trying to warm them. In a low voice, so as not to waken -the sleeping children, she gave her mother a description of the -beautiful tree, and how the Bishop had given her the stockings himself. - -“I take them off and hide them when I get home,” she said, “so father -will not sell them; and the candy I hid last night under my pile of -straw—that’s how I had these good chocolates for you now.” - -And then she repeated again to her mother the words of the good Bishop, -“Remember, keep yourself pure and clean to the end of your life.” - -The mother swallowed hard, as though her throat hurt her, and she became -deadly pale. - -“Oh, mother!” said the child, “the Bishop has made me feel so happy—and -even this old garret looks better than it did, because I am so happy.” - -The mother said: “I feel peaceful and happy too while I listen to you. -You make my thoughts go back to when I was a little girl. I remember a -hymn I used to sing in Sunday-school.” And in a broken way, gasping for -breath, she repeated the last two lines: - - “Cover my—defenceless head - With the shadow—of—Thy wing.” - -She leaned back, raising her eyes, as though she could see the angels -looking down upon her, though to the outward eye only the rough, -weather-stained rafters were above her. - -Janet fell asleep at her mother’s feet. The woman’s head fell forward on -the unfinished work. The candle burned down, and the fallen wick -spluttered in the grease. - -Heavy steps ascended the stairs. An unsteady hand opened the door; and a -large man fell heavily to the floor. It was the drunken father, -returning from the saloon.... The gray streaks of early dawn came into -the dingy garret, and revealed the face of the dead man. - -A few hours later the body was removed. The two dollars the Bishop had -given Janet was paid out for back rent, so the poor woman and her -children were allowed to stay in the wretched room a little longer. -Janet took her mother’s work back to the shop, which was some distance -away. She trudged through the snow, cold, wet, and hungry. - -When she returned late in the afternoon, climbed the rickety stairs, and -entered the room, she stood speechless in the middle of the floor. - -The sun was shining through the broken panes of the one window in the -garret, and its rays fell like a shower of gold all over the child as -she stood there, crowning her head as with a halo. But she heeded not -its beauty. She stood there, struck dumb with astonishment. - -There was absolutely nothing and no one in the room but herself! Father, -mother, children, mattress, straw—all gone—the room utterly empty! - -She knew not how long she had stood there, speechless in her misery, -when she heard steps ascending the stairs. Some one fumbled in the dark -hall for the latch, and finally opened the door. Two burly men entered, -and asked Janet who she was. From them she learned that the people who -had lived there were gone, that they had the room to rent, and would -take the key at six o’clock, by which time she must be gone. - -When they went out, she did not move from the sunshine. A child of the -slums, she was used to rough men and women, and was not afraid of them. -But she was stunned with this new trouble—with her absolute loneliness. -Where were her people? What did it all mean? Where should she go to find -them? - -Light steps came swiftly up the stairs, and after a gentle knock the -door was opened. It was Roy who stepped into the spot of fading sunshine -beside her. - -“Oh, Janet!” said he. - -“Oh, Roy!” was all she could answer. - -And the boy and girl stood crowned with the golden halo, in absolute -silence. - -At last, as the sun’s rays were passing away, Roy spoke: - -“Janet, they’re all gone! Taken away while you went with the work. -Janet, the baby was dead in the night.” - -The child said but one word, “Froze?” - -“No,” said Roy, “it was the dipthery. And your mother had it, too. -Somebody told on ’em, an’ so the Board of Health sent in a jiffy, an’ a -great black ambulance came an’ took her an’ all the children, and then -some men came and took everything out and burned it all, and did -something to the room. I came and looked at them awhile, but they sent -me away. I see the ambulance drive off. I was close to it.” - -“Where?” Janet gasped. - -“I don’t know,” said the boy. - -Again there was silence. The children of the slums, born in poverty, -sorrow, and disgrace, do not cry. Life is too stern a reality. - -Then Roy spoke in a whisper, as if in his untutored mind he felt that in -the presence of such sorrow a loud word would be a sacrilege—“Janet!” - -She turned and looked him in the face. He was pale and trembling, and -the words came painfully, as if he feared to hurt her any more. - -“Janet—when they took your mother out of here, she was dead. I seed her -face. I didn’t say nothin’, but I know she was dead, and I come now to -tell you. But I wish I hadn’t—you look so white and scared.” - -The only sound was a choking gasp from the poor child. - -Roy took her hand in his. “Janet, I love you! Don’t look so white! It -scares me. If anything happened to you it would kill me. You’re all I’ve -got in the world. Don’t look so—I can’t stand it. I’ll take care of you. -I earn a good bit of money some days. I’ll work hard, and then when we -are older——” - -“What?” said the girl simply. - -“Why, then we’ll get the good Bishop to marry us. There now, Janet, be a -good girl and come away, before the men come back, for I saw them goin’ -out in the street, an’ if they catch us here when they come for the key, -they’ll say we have it too, and they’ll take us away in that ugly black -ambulance.” - -So she let him lead her out of that garret so full of memories, down the -dark rickety stairs, into the cold street. They were homeless, -friendless orphans, starting out on life’s stormy sea, hungry, cold, -forsaken. - -They walked hand in hand until they were several blocks away, in another -part of the slums, where Janet had never been. Then, standing in the -shelter of a doorway, they looked at each other for some time in -silence. At last Roy spoke: - -“Janet, dear—I don’t know where to take you.” - -“Where do you go, Roy, at night?” said she. - -“Oh, anywheres! Sometimes us boys sleeps in boxes, and sometimes they -have straw in ’em, and more times not. But you see, Janet, that won’t do -for the likes of you.” - -He thought in silence for a moment. “Let me see,” he said. “I’ve got ten -cents in my pocket. That ought to lodge you for one night—but where? Oh, -I know! Now, Janet, listen to me, and do just what I tell you. I’m going -to take you to an old apple-woman near here, and don’t you open your -mouth about the dipthery, and don’t say nothin’ ’bout where you lived or -that you had any people, nor nothin’, ’cause if you do nobody ’ll let us -come near ’em; and I’ll do what I can with the cross old apple-woman. -She sort o’ takes to me, an’ she gives me specked apples for runnin’ -errands for her.” - -So they went on until they came to the apple-stand, over which a torch -was burning. - -“Aunt Betsy,” said Roy, “here ’s a poor little girl that can’t be left -out on the street to freeze. Won’t you let the kid sleep on your floor -for to-night?” - -“Now, Roy,” said the old woman, “you know you’ve picked up a -good-for-nothing vagabone on the street. Why don’t you take her to the -’ciety?” - -“Lawks, Aunt Betsy, I don’t know nothin’ ’bout ’cieties, an’ fore we -could find one she’d be froze stiff, so if you won’t take her in, she’ll -have to lie down any place and die. I’ve got ten cents in my pocket, and -I’ll give it to you if you’ll keep the kid to-night.” - -“Oh, you’ve got ten cents, have you? Well, all right, she can sleep on a -bit of a mat on my floor. And where might you be goin’?” - -“Well,” said he, “I’ve got to sell some extrys late to-night, and I’ll -scare up a box to turn in somewheres. Say,” he added, “she’s awful -hungry. If you’ll give her a bit of grub, I’ll pay you for it to-morrow -when I come round, and give you a paper.” - -“All right, Roy, I’ll do what I kin.” - -So Janet was settled for the night. It is true she had to sleep on the -floor and put up with some scraps to eat. But things go by comparison in -this world, and to poor, cold, starving Janet it seemed like living in a -palace. Tired and worn out, she slept soundly, forgetting all her -sorrows. - -At last the sun rose in the glory of a new day, making the icicles -sparkle in its light, and decking vines, bushes, and trees with a -covering of diamonds. Dame Nature in all her glory of sparkling jewels -smiled at the ladies of the world, wearing their paltry gems, as they -drove to the slums to leave some little dolls, and wooden horses, and -tin watches that wouldn’t go, for starving, ragged, weary children. Dame -Nature longed to teach them if they would learn of her; for, besides her -beauty, she was very wise in all things. But they thought they knew, and -turned a deaf ear to all her teachings. - - - - - II - - -WHEN Janet opened her eyes, she rubbed them hard to collect her -scattered senses. After a few minutes everything came back to her, and -with a heart full of sorrow she realized her desolation. Mother, -brothers, sisters, all she loved—gone! Even the drunken father did not -seem so bad, now she had no one to love her. Yes, there was Roy! And -then her heart seemed filled to overflowing with love and gratitude to -him. - -She got up and asked the apple-woman if she had any chores for her to -do. The old woman gave her some apples to shine and pile, with the red -side up, to tempt the customers as they passed by. After this was done, -she gave her one of them, and a piece of bread. - -About noon Roy came along, with three cents and a paper. Then Janet -remembered the thirty cents she had been paid for her mother’s sewing; -she had been too full of other things to think of it before. Roy -invested them in matches and pins, and started her out to sell them on -the street. He thought they would be doing well if, between them, they -could make enough to keep body and soul together and find some shelter -at night. - -Janet could make no plans. She only knew enough to do as Roy told her. A -child of the slums, she had never been inside of any house but the most -wretched tenement. She was ignorant of the names and use of the simplest -things; so it was impossible to find a place of service for her. All she -had ever seen were the windows of forlorn second-hand clothing stores, -pawnshops, saloons, and factories. Roy’s sale of papers took him into a -wider field, so that he knew a little more about civilized life. - -The old apple-woman had a mongrel dog that she had raised. He helped to -guard her stand, and was a very sagacious animal. Janet and the dog -became fast friends, and he would leave the stand and follow her on her -rounds. This did not please old Aunt Betsy, so she tied him to the -stand. Janet and the dog, however, still continued the best of friends. - -The morning that Janet had gone with her mother’s work, she had dressed -herself in a short skirt of her mother’s and an old straw hat with a bit -of black ribbon round the crown, while over her shoulders was a coarse -woollen shawl. These garments were patched and mended, but they were -better than the rags the poor child wore when we first saw her, dancing -on the pavement. - -The winter passed away, and the blessed summer, which is so much easier -for the poor, came in its turn. Then Janet could sleep out-of-doors -under some shed. - -But the summer, too, went on its way; and now October was here, with its -chilly, windy nights; and the poor child was forced to appeal to the old -apple-woman again. She consented to let her stay for five cents a night, -provided she would bring enough sticks for the fire, and shine the -apples, and scrub the floor. When this was done, the child, often very -weary, would start out to sell her wares. Her appearance was so pitiful -and appealing that although she only tried to sell to those who were -nearly as poor as herself, she generally made at least enough to pay -Aunt Betsy her five cents and get herself some food. - -Roy was now employed by a regular newsdealer, so he made somewhat more. -But their clothes were now very ragged, and Janet’s feet were nearly -bare. - -A few days after the Christmas when Janet got the stockings, the good -Bishop was called out of town. Not forgetting the poor little waif he -had befriended, he gave special instructions to some of his -fellow-workers to investigate the case, and if it was found worthy, to -minister to the wants of the family. They endeavored to carry out his -instructions, but found the miserable garret occupied by strangers who -knew nothing of little Janet or her family. When they inquired of the -neighbors, they were told that the whole family had died of diphtheria, -and everything that was in the room had been destroyed. Believing this -report, of course they made no further effort to find poor little Janet. -It seemed as if a network of misery had enveloped her, as if every -avenue of relief had been blocked up. - -But she still had Roy, and he had Janet, and each kept hope alive in the -heart of the other. It was hope on which the two children lived day by -day. It gave them sweet dreams at night, and with its beacon-light -before them they were even happy in the midst of their miserable -surroundings. - -One day in October, Janet was trying to sell her wares along the Bowery; -Roy was calling some extras on the other side, a little farther up the -street. - -Suddenly Janet missed the shrill voice, and looking to see what had -become of him, she saw a crowd collecting about the spot where only a -few minutes before she had seen Roy. - -In an agony of dread, she hurried over, and, pushing her way through the -crowd, followed the men who were carrying something into a drugstore. -There she found poor Roy, stretched out, bleeding, on the floor. In -crossing the street, he had been knocked down by a heavy wagon, and the -wheel had crushed him. - -With a cry of pain, she pushed her way to him and knelt down by his -side. He opened his eyes when he heard her voice. They met hers in one -long gaze. Their hands clasped; his lips moved. Bending over him, she -heard him whisper, “Good-by, Janet!” - -Roy was gone from her, and she was left alone. - -She felt a warm breath on the hand that still held Roy’s, and, looking -down, she saw the mongrel dog, who had broken away from the apple-stand -and followed her. He licked her hand, and her tears fell on his head. As -she put her arms round him, she felt that he was now her only friend. - -The men who carried poor Roy away pushed her roughly aside, and in a -bewildered way she followed the dog, who seemed trying to lead her to -the apple-woman. When Aunt Betsy saw the dog, she gave Janet an apple -for bringing him back. But Janet could not eat it, though she had had -nothing all day. - -She tried to tell the woman about Roy, but the words would not come. -Death, to Janet, meant only the agony of separation. An hour ago, she -had Roy with her—and now he was not with her. This was all there was in -it to the poor child—nothing beyond, no hope of meeting again. Is it to -be wondered at? Uneducated, she knew nothing but her toiling daily life. -She had never been in a church but that one Christmas night, and so had -learned nothing through that channel of a life beyond. When Roy’s dying -lips murmured “Good-by, Janet!” it was forever. No home, no books, no -intelligence in her life, she was but little above the plane of her only -friend, the dog. - -To others, death is but the change from darkness to light. But to Janet -and to the dog it meant the end. She was only so much above the dumb -brute that she could look into life a little farther, and so could -suffer more. - -A newsboy came along and told the apple-woman the tale Janet was unable -to tell. She was shocked for the moment, for she had in her rough way -liked Roy. But the hard, business part of her nature was uppermost in a -little while. Here she was with this child on her hands. When Janet -could sell nothing, as was often the case, Roy generally had a few cents -to give her, so she had always felt that she was sure of some little pay -for the poor shelter she gave the child. But now the case was different, -and so she told Janet in no gentle way: - -“You must get away from here.” - -“Where?” asked Janet in a bewildered tone. - -“Oh, I don’t know. Go to some of the s’cieties, or to that Bishop as -gave you them old ragged stockings you think so much of.” - -“I can’t,” said the girl, despairingly. “I don’t know where to find -him.” - -“Well,” said the woman, “you can stay here to-night, and I’ll give you a -bit to eat in the morning before you go.” - -Janet cried all night for her companion, for she knew that in the -morning she would not hear his voice calling the papers. Roy was gone -from her—had he not said “Good-by” to her? The dog slept beside her on -the floor, and tried in every way he knew to comfort her, as he felt her -tears fall upon his head. While the old woman slept, he stole to the box -and brought Janet an apple in his mouth. Somehow his kindness comforted -her; she dried her tears and kissed his shaggy head. For his sake she -ate the apple and tried, but in vain, to sleep. - -Morning at length dawned, and Janet rose, her plans all made. She did -the work for the old woman, ate the dry bread and drank the weak coffee -that was given her, and, after tying the dog, went forth again into the -cold, hard world. The dog whined so piteously when Janet kissed him, and -gave her such a pleading look which she could not misunderstand, that it -was impossible to resist it. She left him tied, but in such a way that -if he tried he could wriggle himself loose. She bade the old woman -good-by, and thanked her for the shelter she had given her. - -Roy had told her once that there was a beautiful park somewhere in the -city, but it was a great way off. He told her there was lovely green -grass in the park, and big, shady trees, and quiet pools of water; that -the birds sang there all day long, and beautiful flowers bloomed there -until almost winter-time. So the heart of the lonely waif, deserted and -cast out by all mankind, turned to this beautiful spot of nature. She -gathered her rags about her and started to walk to the park. She was not -strong—starvation and exposure do not give strength to children—and when -hope dies, the cup of sorrow runs over, and the little strength left is -soon exhausted. - -So she trudged along, sometimes stopping for a moment to look at what -she passed, and often gazing at the food displayed in the shop-windows, -for she was very hungry. Something in her wan, white face must have -appealed to a man who passed her, for he stopped and gave her a penny. -She bought a roll with it, devoured it like an animal, not like a child, -and then walked on. - -At last a lady passed her and asked her to carry one of the many bundles -she was laden with a few blocks for her. Janet rose to oblige her, for -she was sitting on the steps of a house to rest. When she had carried -the bundle as far as was desired, the woman gave her five cents, and, -noticing how utterly miserable the child looked, asked her where she was -going. - -“To the park,” replied Janet. - -“Why, my child,” she said, “that is very far away from here. You had -better ride in the cars.” - -“But I don’t know how to get the right one,” said Janet. - -The woman showed her the car, and with the five cents she rode and -rested at the same time. - -At last she came to what she knew must be the beautiful park. After she -had entered it, she went along in a timid, fearful way till at last she -came to a secluded spot. She seated herself on one of the benches, but -from time to time she looked over her shoulder to see if the policeman -(the greatest terror of the poor) was coming. - -She rested a long time under the overhanging branches of a large -tree—how long she did not know. After a while she saw throngs of people -on the road, driving in gay carriages. She wondered if she could cross -over to the water, where Roy had told her there were boats; but she was -afraid to move, for fear the police would lay hold of such a -ragged-looking thing as she felt herself to be. - -On this beautiful October afternoon the grass, lately mowed, looked like -an emerald carpet spread down. The sunbeams and the shadows chased each -other across it, as the leaves of the trees stirred in the gentle -breeze. Now and then some dry, crisp leaves fell around Janet, for there -had been a frost already in the early autumn. - -Little Janet was very hungry, and the look of starvation in her young -eyes was enough to melt a heart of stone. She kept her feet carefully on -the path, for fear of touching the grass, for all around she saw the -signs, “Keep off the grass,” and she was afraid of trespassing. - -At last a thought struck her. She could make herself look a little -better! Putting her hand in her bosom, she pulled out the stockings the -Bishop had given her. Taking off her ragged, rusty shoes, she carefully -drew them on. - -They were very different now from what they were when the Bishop took -them off the tree and handed them to her. In each one there was a hole -in the toe and a hole in the heel, and a number of other smaller holes -all the way up, until they all joined at the top to make a ragged edge. -It was not easy to get the torn stockings on, but she pulled them up -tight, and tied a bit of string around them to keep them in place. Then -she pulled them about so as to show the fewest holes, and dexterously -drew the old shoes over them. She patted the stockings lovingly, as her -thoughts went back to that Christmas and the tree in the church, saying -softly to herself: “And the Bishop said to me, ‘God bless you, my child! -Remember to keep yourself clean and pure to the end of your life.’ And -he looked up at that sugar boy with the shining wings on the top of the -tree. Now I wonder who that was, and what he meant when he said, ‘God -bless you, my child’? Who is God? ‘Remember to keep yourself clean to -the end of your life.’ I’m ragged, but I guess I’m clean. And pure, he -said, too. I wonder what ‘pure’ means? I can’t make it all out. I do -wish grand people would say words poor, ragged little girls like me -could make out; but I suppose the Bishop couldn’t do that. And I’ll -never know what he wanted me to do. Well! I’ll try to find them boats -Roy told me about.” - -She looked carefully around, and, watching her chance when the -policeman’s back was turned towards her, she passed behind him across -the walk, and then sped away to the water’s edge, still hiding behind -trees and bushes. - -When she got to the water, she was struck dumb with the beautiful scenes -around her. On the top of the bank, on the drive, walked another -policeman. She skipped behind a tree at the edge of the water. Then she -saw ducks, swans, and geese, swimming right up to the land. She saw -troops of children of all ages, children of the rich, beautiful, with -plump cheeks and curly hair, and such lovely clothes. She saw little -tots, with bonnets almost as large as themselves. They were joyous and -happy, laughing and talking as they fed the feathered tribe. To Janet’s -horror, these favored children pulled grass by the handfuls, and fed the -waterfowl, while the policemen talked to the nurses on the drive. Little -Janet always had before her eyes the sign, “Keep off the grass.” - -A pretty child dropped a biscuit on the ground. Janet’s hungry eyes were -fixed upon it, but she dared not touch it, for fear of the dreaded -policeman. The lovely child looked up and caught the glance; and, like -children in their fraternal, natural way, she said, “Do you want it, -little girl?” Janet nodded, and the child picked it up and gave it to -her, to feed the swans with. - -Just then the nurse looked up from her novel and saw the child talking -and handing something to this ragged little creature. She screamed, with -horror in her voice, “Susie! Come here this instant! What are you doing -with that ragged vagrant?” And to Janet: “Be off with you! I’ll tell the -policeman to take you away. Such vagabonds as you are not allowed in the -park!” - -Janet moved off with a full heart, wondering why she had not good -clothes and pretty curls like those children, and why the nurses and -every one drove her away from them. She was too weary and bewildered to -think any more. She was near the boat-house, so, sitting down on the -steps, she ate her biscuit, and dipped up water in her hand and drank it -to quench her thirst. At the top of the bank she saw more policemen, but -they were interested in more important things; so she passed on by the -edge of the water until she came to a hill densely covered with trees -and bushes. She turned away from the drive and climbed the hill. - -When she got to the top, she sat down on the ground and took off her -stockings because the twigs caught in the holes and tripped her. She -took one off slowly, and dropped it on the walk in a little heap, and -then its mate in another little heap. - -She was so exhausted that she crawled under a bush whose branches bent -over and touched the ground. There, completely hidden, she felt safe. No -people passing, no policemen, no one to call her ragged. This seemed a -forsaken and lonely spot, apparently not worth guarding. So she soon -fell asleep and forgot all her woes. - -She slept for hours, and woke with a chill, wondering where she could -be. It was some time before she could remember and tell how she got -there. Then memory asserted itself, and all her misery rushed back upon -her. - -She sat up and crept out of her hiding-place, feeling that she was alone -in the world. No father, mother, sisters, or brothers, no Roy, no one in -the wide, wide world. - -Not only no one to love her, but no one even to know that she existed. -Alone—all alone! - -The throngs of people had left the park and gone to their homes, to eat, -drink, and be merry. Little children were tucked snugly in their beds, -and all the great city was at its ease. Janet was alone in the silence -of the night. No sound was heard in the darkness. The night was cloudy, -and she was cold, hungry, and miserable. - -Her brain was weak from starvation, and she said in a whisper: “Yes, -Bishop, I’ve kept myself clean and pure. Your stockings are here, -Bishop. There’s a hole in the toe, a hole in the heel, and holes all -between the toe and the heel—but I’ve got them yet.” - -She put on the old shoes, and seemed to be looking for something. Her -braided hair had come loose, and fell like a veil about her. Her eyes -were raised to the sky. The clouds parted and a bright star appeared. - -She cried out with delight: “Oh, there you are! I’ve been looking for -you a long time. I was afraid you had forgotten me. You need not blink -at me and twinkle so. I see you! I know you! I promised to see you -to-night, so I’ve come on this hill to be near you. You know what I -want. Don’t go away and leave me! It’s so dark, it frightens me. I’m -coming to you! You are the only friend I have. - - I’m coming! Pretty star, stay! - I’m coming! Don’t, oh don’t go away. - Don’t leave me alone, little star! - For I am down here, and you are so far.” - -Other children had been put to bed hours before, and told that angels -would guard their beds through the night. The little ones thought they -came down on ladders, from some place they were taught to call heaven. -Janet knew nothing of warm beds, good food, or fine clothes—of heaven, -or of angels that came down on ladders. - -There was a rustling of the dried leaves on the bank, near the water. -Janet held her breath in fear, but the sound died away. Then she -continued to whisper to the star, “You have talked to me so many nights, -blinking at me through the window. I’m coming!” - -The child of ignorance, poverty, and despair stood on a stone to be -nearer the star. The wind had risen, and wrapped the girl’s black hair -around her like a mantle. Her arms were stretched out to the star, and -her eyes were fixed with unutterable love on the shining orb. And who -shall say that there were no angels, waiting for her to ascend on high? - -Silently the child stood there, with clasped hands and wide, staring -eyes, until the star went out, as she thought. Then she looked down into -the water, and saw the star there, for the clouds had parted once more, -and it seemed nearer to her than it did up above. - - * * * * * - -As the clouds rolled away, the silence of the night was broken by -crackling twigs and loosened stones rolling down the steep side of the -hill. A splash in the water, which seemed to smile, as it rippled in -circle after circle, until it again settled into stillness; and the star -shone brilliantly as ever, but told nothing of what it had seen. - - * * * * * - -Standing on the avenue after midnight was a watchful policeman. Out of -the park came a mongrel dog, which ran up to him and with a piteous -whine put his paws upon him and looked up into his face. - -The policeman was a kindly man, and, taking some food from his pocket, -he offered it to the dog, talking to him and patting him. But the dog -refused all kindness for himself. That was not what he wanted. It seemed -as if tears were almost in his eyes, and he spoke as plainly as a dog -could speak, looking from the policeman over to the great lonely park. -The officer more than half understood him, but he was not allowed to -leave his beat. The dog continued his pleading until he saw that it was -of no avail. He ran back into the park and up the hill to the top, where -on the walk he sniffed around the Bishop’s stockings that lay where -Janet had dropped them. Then, with a piteous cry, he sprang down the -steep side of the hill, and the water once more seemed to smile as it -gently rippled to the bank. - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - -Transcriber’s note: - -Punctuation has been made consistent. - -Variations in hyphenation have been retained as they were in the -original publication. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JANET, OR, THE CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS*** - - -******* This file should be named 53826-0.txt or 53826-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/3/8/2/53826 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at <a -href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you are not -located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this ebook.</p> -<p>Title: Janet, or, The Christmas Stockings</p> -<p>Author: Louise Élise Gibbons</p> -<p>Release Date: December 29, 2016 [eBook #53826]</p> -<p>Language: English</p> -<p>Character set encoding: UTF-8</p> -<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JANET, OR, THE CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS***</p> -<p> </p> -<h4>E-text prepared by MFR<br /> - and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> - (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> - from page images generously made available by<br /> - Internet Archive<br /> - (<a href="https://archive.org">https://archive.org</a>)</h4> -<p> </p> -<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - Note: - </td> - <td> - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - <a href="https://archive.org/stream/janetorchristmas00gibb#page/n7/mode/2up"> - https://archive.org/stream/janetorchristmas00gibb#page/n7/mode/2up</a> - </td> - </tr> -</table> -<p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/title.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div> - <h1 class='c000'><span class='xlarge'><b>JANET</b></span> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='small'>OR</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='xlarge'>THE CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS</span></b></h1> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div><b>BY</b></div> - <div class='c002'><b><span class='large'>LOUISE ÉLISE GIBBONS</span></b></div> - <div><b><span class='small'>Author of “Truth” and Other Stories</span></b></div> - <div class='c001'><b><span class='small'>The Knickerbocker Press</span></b></div> - <div><b><span class='small'>New York</span></b></div> - <div><b><span class='small'>1899</span></b></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div><b>DEDICATED</b></div> - <div class='c002'><b><span class='xsmall'>(BY PERMISSION)</span></b></div> - <div class='c002'><b>TO THE RIGHT REVEREND</b></div> - <div class='c002'><b>HENRY CODMAN POTTER, D.D., D.C.L.</b></div> - <div class='c002'><b><span class='small'>BISHOP OF NEW YORK</span></b></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span><span class='xxlarge'><b>JANET</b></span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c003'><b>I</b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c004'>IN the doorway of an old tenement-house, far -down in the slums of New York, two women -were standing, their heads close together as they -gossiped about the passers-by.</p> - -<p class='c005'>A young girl—she might have been thirteen—tripped -along the sidewalk, kicking her legs out in -front of her as she went, so that she could see her -stockings.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Her odd movements caught the women’s eyes, -and they asked each other what could be the cause -of them.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I never see her act like that before. Puttin’ -on such airs! Dear! dear! Saw ye ever the likes -of it?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, see her new stockings!” said the younger -<span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span>woman. “What mighty fine ones! Did you -ever?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I doubt she came by them in no good way,” -said the other. “Janet, young un! See here!”</p> - -<p class='c005'>The child stopped, holding up her tattered gown -to show her pretty stockings. “Who give you -<i>them</i>?” cried the woman who had called her.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The girl replied quietly, “’Twas the Bishop -give me ’em.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>At this the women exclaimed in chorus, “The -Bishop! That’s a fine tale! How’d you know it -was the Bishop?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Janet said Roy, the newsboy, told her; and the -women asked her, “How is it your father hasn’t -got hold of ’em? He’d sell ’em for drink inside -of a minute.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, I only wears ’em on the street,” said -Janet, “and I takes ’em off an’ hides ’em before -I go home.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>The women begged her to tell them all about it, -and settled themselves comfortably to hear the -story.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>The girl’s tale ran thus: one day a lot of children -were dancing on the sidewalk to the tune of -an old organ-grinder, and she began dancing with -them. Roy then came by with his newspapers, -and, putting them down on a step, seized her -round the waist and whirled her off among the little -children. He stopped suddenly, for a gentleman -who was passing wanted a paper. The girl was -overheated with her dancing, and began to fan -herself with one of Roy’s papers; Roy said afterwards -her eyes were as bright as stars.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The gentleman asked her name, and where she -lived; and when she told him, he said, “Janet, if -you will come to yonder church,” pointing to the -steeple, “at seven o’clock on Christmas night, I -will give you something to take home with you.” -Then he paid Roy for the paper, and gave the -change to Janet, saying with a smile, “This will -buy some refreshments for the ball.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Thank you, sir,” she said. “I am very -hungry. I have had nothing to eat since yesterday -noon.”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>At this the gentleman didn’t smile any more, -but looked sad. “Why did you dance, then?” -he said.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Roy spoke before she had a chance to answer: -“Sir, Janet was hungry and cold, and that was the -best way to get warm.” The gentleman walked -away, and she could see him rub the back of his -hand across his eyes. She asked Roy what his -name was, and he said he didn’t know, but it was -the Bishop.</p> - -<p class='c005'>She bought something to eat with the money, -and divided it with Roy, and he ran off to sell his -papers. The organ-grinder went on his way, and -the children stopped dancing.</p> - -<p class='c005'>So on Christmas night, Janet went early to the -big church, as the Bishop had told her to do. -When she got inside the door, she stood still with -wonder, for there was a great tree, as big as an -out-door tree, all lighted with little candles from -the floor to the top, and all over it were hanging -sparkling toys. And when she came near to it, -she saw the Bishop standing by it.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>She did not think he would know her again, but -he smiled and said, “Janet, I was expecting you.” -And then he took a stick with a hook on the end -of it, and, reaching over the heads of some fine -ladies who were arranging things at the foot of the -tree, he took the stockings down and put them in -her hands. Then he put his white hands on her -head, and said, “God bless you, my child! Remember, -keep yourself pure and clean to your life’s -end.” Each stocking had a silver dollar in the -toe, and was filled with candy, and tied around -the top with a blue ribbon to keep the candy in.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“See!” said Janet, as she told the story, “I tie -the ribbon on each leg to keep me from getting -out.” She lifted the ragged gown to show the ribbon -garters. She said she skipped out of the great -big church, hugging the stockings close to her and -covering them with a bit of her shawl to hide her -treasure from the people she passed.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Don’t you know such a fine bishop’s name?” -asked one of the women.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No,” said the child, “but Roy said he was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>the good Bishop who stays down here with us, and -don’t go away frolicking. And now I must go to see -Roy. There he is calling his extras at the corner.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Well, I never!” said one of the women, as the -child skipped away. “She seems to make friends, -don’t she? She and that boy are awful fond of -each other; and now there ’s this Bishop!”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Well,” said the other, “Janet is a pretty girl, -with her dark eyes, and her hair always braided in -one long plait down her back—and even if she is -in rags, her hair is always tidy.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Her father sells everything that people give -her—it ’s a wonder he don’t cut off her hair and -sell that. Well, the girl has a white skin, and a -pretty mouth, and a straight nose just like her -mother’s. She don’t look and she don’t act like -as if she was born and raised here among us poor -folks.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“That she don’t; and she ’s such a little mite -for her age, with those little hands and feet. You -wouldn’t take her to be fourteen, would you, -now?”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>While the women were talking her over, Janet -went to find Roy, who stood at the corner shivering -with the cold, with his papers under his arm.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Hello, Roy!” said she, “see my beautiful -stockings! That Bishop gave ’em to me off the -tree, and they was full of candy and money!” -Coming close to him, she said in a whisper, -“Here ’s some for you!” and she took a little -paper bag full of candy from under her ragged -shawl where she had hidden it.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, Roy,” she said, “it was the finest tree -you ever did see! And the Bishop gave me the -stockings his own self, and when he gave them to -me he put his hands on my head, and what do -you think he said? He said, ‘God bless you, my -child! Remember to keep yourself pure and clean -to the end of your life.’ And when he was a-saying -it, he looked up at a sugar boy with shiny -wings that was hanging on the top of the tree.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>The boy and girl parted at the corner, he to sell -his papers through the cold and the mire of the -slums, and she to go to her poor, wretched home.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>She mounted the rickety stairs of an old tenement-house, -up to the top floor, where, in one -small garret, the whole family lived. In one -corner of the room was an old ragged straw mattress, -on which the father, mother, and baby slept. -The baby was asleep now, the father was drinking -in a saloon near by. In another corner was a pile -of straw where Janet and her sister Bessie slept; -and in yet another, on a heap of rags and paper, -lay two pretty little boys, sound asleep, unconscious -of the fact that they were cold and hungry. -One could see, in spite of rags and dirt, that they -were like cherubs, with their sunny curls.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The poor mother sat by the feeble light of a -candle, the wick burned nearly down to the bottle -which served for a candlestick. She was sewing -on a coarse garment that she wanted to finish, in -order to buy bread for the children with the few -pennies she would get for it.</p> - -<p class='c005'>All that any of them had eaten that day was -some candy that Janet had slyly put in their -mouths, not letting them know where she kept it. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>Janet went to her mother, the poor, tired, sick -woman, and, bidding her open her mouth, she fed -her with sweet chocolate and brought her a drink -of water.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Then she sat down by the suffering woman, and -hugged her poor cold feet to her heart, trying to -warm them. In a low voice, so as not to waken -the sleeping children, she gave her mother a description -of the beautiful tree, and how the Bishop -had given her the stockings himself.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I take them off and hide them when I get -home,” she said, “so father will not sell them; -and the candy I hid last night under my pile of -straw—that’s how I had these good chocolates for -you now.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>And then she repeated again to her mother the -words of the good Bishop, “Remember, keep -yourself pure and clean to the end of your life.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>The mother swallowed hard, as though her -throat hurt her, and she became deadly pale.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, mother!” said the child, “the Bishop -has made me feel so happy—and even this old -<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>garret looks better than it did, because I am so -happy.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>The mother said: “I feel peaceful and happy -too while I listen to you. You make my thoughts -go back to when I was a little girl. I remember a -hymn I used to sing in Sunday-school.” And in -a broken way, gasping for breath, she repeated the -last two lines:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Cover my—defenceless head</div> - <div class='line in4'>With the shadow—of—Thy wing.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>She leaned back, raising her eyes, as though she -could see the angels looking down upon her, -though to the outward eye only the rough, weather-stained -rafters were above her.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Janet fell asleep at her mother’s feet. The -woman’s head fell forward on the unfinished work. -The candle burned down, and the fallen wick -spluttered in the grease.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Heavy steps ascended the stairs. An unsteady -hand opened the door; and a large man fell heavily -to the floor. It was the drunken father, returning -<span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>from the saloon.... The gray streaks of -early dawn came into the dingy garret, and revealed -the face of the dead man.</p> - -<p class='c005'>A few hours later the body was removed. The -two dollars the Bishop had given Janet was paid -out for back rent, so the poor woman and her children -were allowed to stay in the wretched room a -little longer. Janet took her mother’s work back -to the shop, which was some distance away. She -trudged through the snow, cold, wet, and hungry.</p> - -<p class='c005'>When she returned late in the afternoon, climbed -the rickety stairs, and entered the room, she stood -speechless in the middle of the floor.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The sun was shining through the broken panes -of the one window in the garret, and its rays fell -like a shower of gold all over the child as she stood -there, crowning her head as with a halo. But she -heeded not its beauty. She stood there, struck -dumb with astonishment.</p> - -<p class='c005'>There was absolutely nothing and no one in the -room but herself! Father, mother, children, mattress, -straw—all gone—the room utterly empty!</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>She knew not how long she had stood there, -speechless in her misery, when she heard steps ascending -the stairs. Some one fumbled in the dark -hall for the latch, and finally opened the door. -Two burly men entered, and asked Janet who she -was. From them she learned that the people who -had lived there were gone, that they had the room -to rent, and would take the key at six o’clock, by -which time she must be gone.</p> - -<p class='c005'>When they went out, she did not move from the -sunshine. A child of the slums, she was used to -rough men and women, and was not afraid of -them. But she was stunned with this new trouble—with -her absolute loneliness. Where were her -people? What did it all mean? Where should -she go to find them?</p> - -<p class='c005'>Light steps came swiftly up the stairs, and after -a gentle knock the door was opened. It was Roy -who stepped into the spot of fading sunshine beside -her.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, Janet!” said he.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, Roy!” was all she could answer.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>And the boy and girl stood crowned with the -golden halo, in absolute silence.</p> - -<p class='c005'>At last, as the sun’s rays were passing away, Roy -spoke:</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Janet, they’re all gone! Taken away while -you went with the work. Janet, the baby was -dead in the night.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>The child said but one word, “Froze?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No,” said Roy, “it was the dipthery. And -your mother had it, too. Somebody told on ’em, -an’ so the Board of Health sent in a jiffy, an’ a -great black ambulance came an’ took her an’ all -the children, and then some men came and took -everything out and burned it all, and did something -to the room. I came and looked at them -awhile, but they sent me away. I see the ambulance -drive off. I was close to it.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Where?” Janet gasped.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I don’t know,” said the boy.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Again there was silence. The children of the -slums, born in poverty, sorrow, and disgrace, do -not cry. Life is too stern a reality.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>Then Roy spoke in a whisper, as if in his untutored -mind he felt that in the presence of such -sorrow a loud word would be a sacrilege—“Janet!”</p> - -<p class='c005'>She turned and looked him in the face. He -was pale and trembling, and the words came painfully, -as if he feared to hurt her any more.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Janet—when they took your mother out of -here, she was dead. I seed her face. I didn’t -say nothin’, but I know she was dead, and I come -now to tell you. But I wish I hadn’t—you look -so white and scared.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>The only sound was a choking gasp from the -poor child.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Roy took her hand in his. “Janet, I love you! -Don’t look so white! It scares me. If anything -happened to you it would kill me. You’re all -I’ve got in the world. Don’t look so—I can’t -stand it. I’ll take care of you. I earn a good -bit of money some days. I’ll work hard, and -then when we are older——”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“What?” said the girl simply.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>“Why, then we’ll get the good Bishop to marry -us. There now, Janet, be a good girl and come -away, before the men come back, for I saw them -goin’ out in the street, an’ if they catch us here -when they come for the key, they’ll say we have -it too, and they’ll take us away in that ugly black -ambulance.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>So she let him lead her out of that garret so full -of memories, down the dark rickety stairs, into -the cold street. They were homeless, friendless -orphans, starting out on life’s stormy sea, hungry, -cold, forsaken.</p> - -<p class='c005'>They walked hand in hand until they were -several blocks away, in another part of the slums, -where Janet had never been. Then, standing in -the shelter of a doorway, they looked at each other -for some time in silence. At last Roy spoke:</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Janet, dear—I don’t know where to take -you.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Where do you go, Roy, at night?” said she.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, anywheres! Sometimes us boys sleeps in -boxes, and sometimes they have straw in ’em, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>more times not. But you see, Janet, that won’t -do for the likes of you.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>He thought in silence for a moment. “Let me -see,” he said. “I’ve got ten cents in my pocket. -That ought to lodge you for one night—but where? -Oh, I know! Now, Janet, listen to me, and do -just what I tell you. I’m going to take you to an -old apple-woman near here, and don’t you open -your mouth about the dipthery, and don’t say -nothin’ ’bout where you lived or that you had any -people, nor nothin’, ’cause if you do nobody ’ll let -us come near ’em; and I’ll do what I can with -the cross old apple-woman. She sort o’ takes to -me, an’ she gives me specked apples for runnin’ -errands for her.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>So they went on until they came to the apple-stand, -over which a torch was burning.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Aunt Betsy,” said Roy, “here ’s a poor little -girl that can’t be left out on the street to freeze. -Won’t you let the kid sleep on your floor for -to-night?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Now, Roy,” said the old woman, “you know -<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>you’ve picked up a good-for-nothing vagabone -on the street. Why don’t you take her to the -’ciety?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Lawks, Aunt Betsy, I don’t know nothin’ -’bout ’cieties, an’ fore we could find one she’d -be froze stiff, so if you won’t take her in, she’ll -have to lie down any place and die. I’ve got ten -cents in my pocket, and I’ll give it to you if -you’ll keep the kid to-night.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, you’ve got ten cents, have you? Well, -all right, she can sleep on a bit of a mat on my -floor. And where might you be goin’?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Well,” said he, “I’ve got to sell some extrys -late to-night, and I’ll scare up a box to turn in -somewheres. Say,” he added, “she’s awful -hungry. If you’ll give her a bit of grub, I’ll pay -you for it to-morrow when I come round, and give -you a paper.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“All right, Roy, I’ll do what I kin.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>So Janet was settled for the night. It is true -she had to sleep on the floor and put up with some -scraps to eat. But things go by comparison in this -<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>world, and to poor, cold, starving Janet it seemed -like living in a palace. Tired and worn out, she -slept soundly, forgetting all her sorrows.</p> - -<p class='c005'>At last the sun rose in the glory of a new day, -making the icicles sparkle in its light, and decking -vines, bushes, and trees with a covering of diamonds. -Dame Nature in all her glory of sparkling -jewels smiled at the ladies of the world, wearing -their paltry gems, as they drove to the slums to -leave some little dolls, and wooden horses, and tin -watches that wouldn’t go, for starving, ragged, -weary children. Dame Nature longed to teach -them if they would learn of her; for, besides her -beauty, she was very wise in all things. But they -thought they knew, and turned a deaf ear to all -her teachings.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span> - <h2 class='c003'><b>II</b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c004'>WHEN Janet opened her eyes, she rubbed -them hard to collect her scattered senses. -After a few minutes everything came back to her, -and with a heart full of sorrow she realized her -desolation. Mother, brothers, sisters, all she -loved—gone! Even the drunken father did not -seem so bad, now she had no one to love her. -Yes, there was Roy! And then her heart seemed -filled to overflowing with love and gratitude to -him.</p> - -<p class='c005'>She got up and asked the apple-woman if she -had any chores for her to do. The old woman -gave her some apples to shine and pile, with the -red side up, to tempt the customers as they passed -by. After this was done, she gave her one of -them, and a piece of bread.</p> - -<p class='c005'>About noon Roy came along, with three cents -and a paper. Then Janet remembered the thirty -<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>cents she had been paid for her mother’s sewing; -she had been too full of other things to think of it -before. Roy invested them in matches and pins, -and started her out to sell them on the street. He -thought they would be doing well if, between -them, they could make enough to keep body and -soul together and find some shelter at night.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Janet could make no plans. She only knew -enough to do as Roy told her. A child of the -slums, she had never been inside of any house but -the most wretched tenement. She was ignorant of -the names and use of the simplest things; so it -was impossible to find a place of service for her. -All she had ever seen were the windows of forlorn -second-hand clothing stores, pawnshops, saloons, -and factories. Roy’s sale of papers took him into -a wider field, so that he knew a little more about -civilized life.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The old apple-woman had a mongrel dog that -she had raised. He helped to guard her stand, -and was a very sagacious animal. Janet and the -dog became fast friends, and he would leave the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>stand and follow her on her rounds. This did not -please old Aunt Betsy, so she tied him to the -stand. Janet and the dog, however, still continued -the best of friends.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The morning that Janet had gone with her -mother’s work, she had dressed herself in a short -skirt of her mother’s and an old straw hat with a -bit of black ribbon round the crown, while over -her shoulders was a coarse woollen shawl. These -garments were patched and mended, but they were -better than the rags the poor child wore when we -first saw her, dancing on the pavement.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The winter passed away, and the blessed summer, -which is so much easier for the poor, came in -its turn. Then Janet could sleep out-of-doors under -some shed.</p> - -<p class='c005'>But the summer, too, went on its way; and now -October was here, with its chilly, windy nights; -and the poor child was forced to appeal to the old -apple-woman again. She consented to let her stay -for five cents a night, provided she would bring -enough sticks for the fire, and shine the apples, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>and scrub the floor. When this was done, the -child, often very weary, would start out to sell her -wares. Her appearance was so pitiful and appealing -that although she only tried to sell to those -who were nearly as poor as herself, she generally -made at least enough to pay Aunt Betsy her five -cents and get herself some food.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Roy was now employed by a regular newsdealer, -so he made somewhat more. But their clothes -were now very ragged, and Janet’s feet were -nearly bare.</p> - -<p class='c005'>A few days after the Christmas when Janet got -the stockings, the good Bishop was called out of -town. Not forgetting the poor little waif he had -befriended, he gave special instructions to some of -his fellow-workers to investigate the case, and if it -was found worthy, to minister to the wants of the -family. They endeavored to carry out his instructions, -but found the miserable garret occupied by -strangers who knew nothing of little Janet or her -family. When they inquired of the neighbors, -they were told that the whole family had died of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>diphtheria, and everything that was in the room -had been destroyed. Believing this report, of -course they made no further effort to find poor -little Janet. It seemed as if a network of misery -had enveloped her, as if every avenue of relief had -been blocked up.</p> - -<p class='c005'>But she still had Roy, and he had Janet, and -each kept hope alive in the heart of the other. It -was hope on which the two children lived day by -day. It gave them sweet dreams at night, and -with its beacon-light before them they were even -happy in the midst of their miserable surroundings.</p> - -<p class='c005'>One day in October, Janet was trying to sell her -wares along the Bowery; Roy was calling some -extras on the other side, a little farther up the -street.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Suddenly Janet missed the shrill voice, and -looking to see what had become of him, she saw a -crowd collecting about the spot where only a few -minutes before she had seen Roy.</p> - -<p class='c005'>In an agony of dread, she hurried over, and, -pushing her way through the crowd, followed the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>men who were carrying something into a drugstore. -There she found poor Roy, stretched out, -bleeding, on the floor. In crossing the street, he -had been knocked down by a heavy wagon, and -the wheel had crushed him.</p> - -<p class='c005'>With a cry of pain, she pushed her way to him -and knelt down by his side. He opened his eyes -when he heard her voice. They met hers in one -long gaze. Their hands clasped; his lips moved. -Bending over him, she heard him whisper, “Good-by, -Janet!”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Roy was gone from her, and she was left alone.</p> - -<p class='c005'>She felt a warm breath on the hand that still -held Roy’s, and, looking down, she saw the mongrel -dog, who had broken away from the apple-stand -and followed her. He licked her hand, and -her tears fell on his head. As she put her arms -round him, she felt that he was now her only -friend.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The men who carried poor Roy away pushed -her roughly aside, and in a bewildered way she -followed the dog, who seemed trying to lead her to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>the apple-woman. When Aunt Betsy saw the dog, -she gave Janet an apple for bringing him back. -But Janet could not eat it, though she had had -nothing all day.</p> - -<p class='c005'>She tried to tell the woman about Roy, but the -words would not come. Death, to Janet, meant -only the agony of separation. An hour ago, she -had Roy with her—and now he was not with her. -This was all there was in it to the poor child—nothing -beyond, no hope of meeting again. Is it -to be wondered at? Uneducated, she knew -nothing but her toiling daily life. She had never -been in a church but that one Christmas night, -and so had learned nothing through that channel -of a life beyond. When Roy’s dying lips murmured -“Good-by, Janet!” it was forever. No -home, no books, no intelligence in her life, she -was but little above the plane of her only friend, -the dog.</p> - -<p class='c005'>To others, death is but the change from darkness -to light. But to Janet and to the dog it -meant the end. She was only so much above the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>dumb brute that she could look into life a little -farther, and so could suffer more.</p> - -<p class='c005'>A newsboy came along and told the apple-woman -the tale Janet was unable to tell. She was shocked -for the moment, for she had in her rough way liked -Roy. But the hard, business part of her nature -was uppermost in a little while. Here she was -with this child on her hands. When Janet could -sell nothing, as was often the case, Roy generally -had a few cents to give her, so she had always felt -that she was sure of some little pay for the poor -shelter she gave the child. But now the case was -different, and so she told Janet in no gentle -way:</p> - -<p class='c005'>“You must get away from here.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Where?” asked Janet in a bewildered tone.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, I don’t know. Go to some of the s’cieties, -or to that Bishop as gave you them old ragged -stockings you think so much of.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I can’t,” said the girl, despairingly. “I -don’t know where to find him.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Well,” said the woman, “you can stay here -<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>to-night, and I’ll give you a bit to eat in the -morning before you go.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Janet cried all night for her companion, for she -knew that in the morning she would not hear his -voice calling the papers. Roy was gone from her—had -he not said “Good-by” to her? The dog -slept beside her on the floor, and tried in every -way he knew to comfort her, as he felt her tears -fall upon his head. While the old woman slept, -he stole to the box and brought Janet an apple in -his mouth. Somehow his kindness comforted her; -she dried her tears and kissed his shaggy head. -For his sake she ate the apple and tried, but in -vain, to sleep.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Morning at length dawned, and Janet rose, her -plans all made. She did the work for the old -woman, ate the dry bread and drank the weak -coffee that was given her, and, after tying the dog, -went forth again into the cold, hard world. The -dog whined so piteously when Janet kissed him, -and gave her such a pleading look which she could -not misunderstand, that it was impossible to resist -<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>it. She left him tied, but in such a way that if he -tried he could wriggle himself loose. She bade -the old woman good-by, and thanked her for the -shelter she had given her.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Roy had told her once that there was a beautiful -park somewhere in the city, but it was a great -way off. He told her there was lovely green grass -in the park, and big, shady trees, and quiet pools -of water; that the birds sang there all day long, -and beautiful flowers bloomed there until almost -winter-time. So the heart of the lonely waif, deserted -and cast out by all mankind, turned to this -beautiful spot of nature. She gathered her rags -about her and started to walk to the park. She -was not strong—starvation and exposure do not -give strength to children—and when hope dies, -the cup of sorrow runs over, and the little strength -left is soon exhausted.</p> - -<p class='c005'>So she trudged along, sometimes stopping for a -moment to look at what she passed, and often -gazing at the food displayed in the shop-windows, -for she was very hungry. Something in her wan, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>white face must have appealed to a man who -passed her, for he stopped and gave her a penny. -She bought a roll with it, devoured it like an -animal, not like a child, and then walked on.</p> - -<p class='c005'>At last a lady passed her and asked her to -carry one of the many bundles she was laden with -a few blocks for her. Janet rose to oblige her, for -she was sitting on the steps of a house to rest. -When she had carried the bundle as far as was desired, -the woman gave her five cents, and, noticing -how utterly miserable the child looked, asked her -where she was going.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“To the park,” replied Janet.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Why, my child,” she said, “that is very far -away from here. You had better ride in the -cars.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But I don’t know how to get the right one,” -said Janet.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The woman showed her the car, and with the -five cents she rode and rested at the same time.</p> - -<p class='c005'>At last she came to what she knew must be the -beautiful park. After she had entered it, she went -<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>along in a timid, fearful way till at last she came -to a secluded spot. She seated herself on one of -the benches, but from time to time she looked over -her shoulder to see if the policeman (the greatest -terror of the poor) was coming.</p> - -<p class='c005'>She rested a long time under the overhanging -branches of a large tree—how long she did not -know. After a while she saw throngs of people -on the road, driving in gay carriages. She wondered -if she could cross over to the water, where -Roy had told her there were boats; but she was -afraid to move, for fear the police would lay hold -of such a ragged-looking thing as she felt herself -to be.</p> - -<p class='c005'>On this beautiful October afternoon the grass, -lately mowed, looked like an emerald carpet -spread down. The sunbeams and the shadows -chased each other across it, as the leaves of the -trees stirred in the gentle breeze. Now and then -some dry, crisp leaves fell around Janet, for there -had been a frost already in the early autumn.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Little Janet was very hungry, and the look of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>starvation in her young eyes was enough to melt a -heart of stone. She kept her feet carefully on the -path, for fear of touching the grass, for all around -she saw the signs, “Keep off the grass,” and she -was afraid of trespassing.</p> - -<p class='c005'>At last a thought struck her. She could make -herself look a little better! Putting her hand in -her bosom, she pulled out the stockings the Bishop -had given her. Taking off her ragged, rusty -shoes, she carefully drew them on.</p> - -<p class='c005'>They were very different now from what they -were when the Bishop took them off the tree and -handed them to her. In each one there was a -hole in the toe and a hole in the heel, and a number -of other smaller holes all the way up, until they -all joined at the top to make a ragged edge. It -was not easy to get the torn stockings on, but she -pulled them up tight, and tied a bit of string -around them to keep them in place. Then she -pulled them about so as to show the fewest holes, -and dexterously drew the old shoes over them. -She patted the stockings lovingly, as her thoughts -<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>went back to that Christmas and the tree in the -church, saying softly to herself: “And the Bishop -said to me, ‘God bless you, my child! Remember -to keep yourself clean and pure to the end of your -life.’ And he looked up at that sugar boy with -the shining wings on the top of the tree. Now I -wonder who that was, and what he meant when he -said, ‘God bless you, my child’? Who is God? -‘Remember to keep yourself clean to the end of -your life.’ I’m ragged, but I guess I’m clean. -And pure, he said, too. I wonder what ‘pure’ -means? I can’t make it all out. I do wish grand -people would say words poor, ragged little girls -like me could make out; but I suppose the Bishop -couldn’t do that. And I’ll never know what he -wanted me to do. Well! I’ll try to find them -boats Roy told me about.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>She looked carefully around, and, watching her -chance when the policeman’s back was turned -towards her, she passed behind him across the -walk, and then sped away to the water’s edge, still -hiding behind trees and bushes.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>When she got to the water, she was struck dumb -with the beautiful scenes around her. On the top -of the bank, on the drive, walked another policeman. -She skipped behind a tree at the edge of -the water. Then she saw ducks, swans, and -geese, swimming right up to the land. She saw -troops of children of all ages, children of the rich, -beautiful, with plump cheeks and curly hair, and -such lovely clothes. She saw little tots, with bonnets -almost as large as themselves. They were -joyous and happy, laughing and talking as they -fed the feathered tribe. To Janet’s horror, these -favored children pulled grass by the handfuls, and -fed the waterfowl, while the policemen talked to -the nurses on the drive. Little Janet always had -before her eyes the sign, “Keep off the grass.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>A pretty child dropped a biscuit on the ground. -Janet’s hungry eyes were fixed upon it, but she -dared not touch it, for fear of the dreaded policeman. -The lovely child looked up and caught the -glance; and, like children in their fraternal, natural -way, she said, “Do you want it, little girl?” -<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>Janet nodded, and the child picked it up and gave -it to her, to feed the swans with.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Just then the nurse looked up from her novel -and saw the child talking and handing something -to this ragged little creature. She screamed, with -horror in her voice, “Susie! Come here this instant! -What are you doing with that ragged vagrant?” -And to Janet: “Be off with you! I’ll -tell the policeman to take you away. Such vagabonds -as you are not allowed in the park!”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Janet moved off with a full heart, wondering -why she had not good clothes and pretty curls like -those children, and why the nurses and every one -drove her away from them. She was too weary -and bewildered to think any more. She was near -the boat-house, so, sitting down on the steps, she -ate her biscuit, and dipped up water in her hand -and drank it to quench her thirst. At the top of -the bank she saw more policemen, but they were -interested in more important things; so she passed -on by the edge of the water until she came to a -hill densely covered with trees and bushes. She -<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>turned away from the drive and climbed the -hill.</p> - -<p class='c005'>When she got to the top, she sat down on the -ground and took off her stockings because the -twigs caught in the holes and tripped her. She -took one off slowly, and dropped it on the walk in -a little heap, and then its mate in another little -heap.</p> - -<p class='c005'>She was so exhausted that she crawled under a -bush whose branches bent over and touched the -ground. There, completely hidden, she felt safe. -No people passing, no policemen, no one to call -her ragged. This seemed a forsaken and lonely -spot, apparently not worth guarding. So she soon -fell asleep and forgot all her woes.</p> - -<p class='c005'>She slept for hours, and woke with a chill, wondering -where she could be. It was some time -before she could remember and tell how she got -there. Then memory asserted itself, and all her -misery rushed back upon her.</p> - -<p class='c005'>She sat up and crept out of her hiding-place, -feeling that she was alone in the world. No -<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>father, mother, sisters, or brothers, no Roy, no -one in the wide, wide world.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Not only no one to love her, but no one even to -know that she existed. Alone—all alone!</p> - -<p class='c005'>The throngs of people had left the park and -gone to their homes, to eat, drink, and be merry. -Little children were tucked snugly in their beds, -and all the great city was at its ease. Janet was -alone in the silence of the night. No sound was -heard in the darkness. The night was cloudy, -and she was cold, hungry, and miserable.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Her brain was weak from starvation, and she -said in a whisper: “Yes, Bishop, I’ve kept myself -clean and pure. Your stockings are here, -Bishop. There’s a hole in the toe, a hole in the -heel, and holes all between the toe and the heel—but -I’ve got them yet.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>She put on the old shoes, and seemed to be -looking for something. Her braided hair had -come loose, and fell like a veil about her. Her -eyes were raised to the sky. The clouds parted -and a bright star appeared.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>She cried out with delight: “Oh, there you are! -I’ve been looking for you a long time. I was -afraid you had forgotten me. You need not blink -at me and twinkle so. I see you! I know you! -I promised to see you to-night, so I’ve come on -this hill to be near you. You know what I want. -Don’t go away and leave me! It’s so dark, it -frightens me. I’m coming to you! You are the -only friend I have.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I’m coming! Pretty star, stay!</div> - <div class='line'>I’m coming! Don’t, oh don’t go away.</div> - <div class='line'>Don’t leave me alone, little star!</div> - <div class='line'>For I am down here, and you are so far.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>Other children had been put to bed hours before, -and told that angels would guard their beds -through the night. The little ones thought they -came down on ladders, from some place they were -taught to call heaven. Janet knew nothing of -warm beds, good food, or fine clothes—of heaven, -or of angels that came down on ladders.</p> - -<p class='c005'>There was a rustling of the dried leaves on the -bank, near the water. Janet held her breath in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>fear, but the sound died away. Then she continued -to whisper to the star, “You have talked -to me so many nights, blinking at me through the -window. I’m coming!”</p> - -<p class='c005'>The child of ignorance, poverty, and despair -stood on a stone to be nearer the star. The wind -had risen, and wrapped the girl’s black hair -around her like a mantle. Her arms were -stretched out to the star, and her eyes were fixed -with unutterable love on the shining orb. And -who shall say that there were no angels, waiting -for her to ascend on high?</p> - -<p class='c005'>Silently the child stood there, with clasped hands -and wide, staring eyes, until the star went out, as -she thought. Then she looked down into the -water, and saw the star there, for the clouds had -parted once more, and it seemed nearer to her -than it did up above.</p> - -<hr class='c006' /> - -<p class='c005'>As the clouds rolled away, the silence of the -night was broken by crackling twigs and loosened -stones rolling down the steep side of the hill. A -<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>splash in the water, which seemed to smile, as it -rippled in circle after circle, until it again settled -into stillness; and the star shone brilliantly as -ever, but told nothing of what it had seen.</p> - -<hr class='c006' /> - -<p class='c005'>Standing on the avenue after midnight was a -watchful policeman. Out of the park came a -mongrel dog, which ran up to him and with -a piteous whine put his paws upon him and looked -up into his face.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The policeman was a kindly man, and, taking -some food from his pocket, he offered it to the -dog, talking to him and patting him. But the dog -refused all kindness for himself. That was not -what he wanted. It seemed as if tears were almost -in his eyes, and he spoke as plainly as a dog could -speak, looking from the policeman over to the -great lonely park. The officer more than half -understood him, but he was not allowed to leave -his beat. The dog continued his pleading until he -saw that it was of no avail. He ran back into the -park and up the hill to the top, where on the walk -<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>he sniffed around the Bishop’s stockings that lay -where Janet had dropped them. Then, with a -piteous cry, he sprang down the steep side of the -hill, and the water once more seemed to smile as -it gently rippled to the bank.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c003'><b>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE</b></h2> -</div> -<p class='c007'>Punctuation has been made consistent.</p> -<p class='c007'>Variations in hyphenation have been retained -as they were in the original publication.</p> - -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JANET, OR, THE CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS***</p> -<p>******* This file should be named 53826-h.htm or 53826-h.zip *******</p> -<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> -<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/3/8/2/53826">http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/8/2/53826</a></p> -<p> -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed.</p> - -<p>Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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