Ellen North's Crumbs (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. It must be confessed that Ellen's first feeling was of anger and contempt for the miserable woman. A widow with children depending upon her, who might have earned their bread honestly, and lived a decent life, to go and waste their little all and leave them to starve, for the sake of drink! There was nothing too bad for such creatures as that; she wished they could be well punished with all her heart. But, there, it was no concern of hers. And she tried to sit down to her nice tea, and forget it; but it would not do. She could no more enjoy her meal with that dismal cry going on, than she could have eaten her breakfast in the old times without sparing a handful of crumbs to the robins on the window-sill. " I must just go and tell them it's of no usekeeping on like that," said she to herself, as a sort of excuse, and cutting a thick slice of bread and butter, she stepped across the passage to her neighbour's door. It was not locked, and when she pushed it open, there came out such a close unwholesome smell as nearly drove her back again. " Quite enough to make us all ill," she thought, as she looked in. The room was as miserable as might have been expected. Everything that would fetch a penny at the pawnbroker's was gone, and only a broken chair, a cracked mug and pitcher, and a bundle or two of dirty rags, were left. The grate held a handful of dust and ashes, and the floor had evidently not been touched for weeks. A ragged boy of seven was nursing a little girl of three, trying to hush her off to sleep, a task he had accomplished several times successfully, but which now seemed beyond his power. The poor child was too hungry for any coaxing and rocking; and though her crying stopped on the visitor's entrance, her swollen eyes and glazed cheeks told their o...