The Angel of the Tenement | Page 7

be a-givin' me, whin I tell her about th'
darlint, an' me a niver askin' fer nothin' at all, along of all mine bein'
boys. Sure an' I'll be a-beggin' her this very day, I will, whin I carry me
washin' home."
And Mrs. O'Malligan being as good as her word, and Mrs. Tony
successfully interviewed, the good Irish lady returned home in triumph
bearing a large bundle of cast-off garments, and at once summoned the
Tenement to her apartments.
The first arrived ladies were already giving vent to their appreciation of
the Tony generosity when Miss Carew and Miss Bonkowski arrived,
Mary's bony face, in deference to the angelic prejudices now ruling her,
red and smarting from an energetic application of the same soap as
ministered to her room's needs, but beaming with a grim pride as she
bore the radiant Angel, wild with delight at getting out of her narrow
quarters.
Yielding to the popular voice, though not without reluctance, Mary
placed her darling in Mrs. O'Malligan's lap, and the process of
exhibiting and trying on the garments began at once.
For a time her small ladyship yielded graciously, until seeing her pretty
feet bared that the little stockings and half worn shoes might be fitted,
she suddenly cast her eyes about the circle of ladies, and won by the
pretty, dark beauty of young Mrs. Repetto, the Tenement's bride of a
month's standing, imperiously demanded that lady to take the pink toes
to market.
Overcome with having the public attention thus drawn upon her, pretty
Mrs. Repetto in the best Italian-English she could muster, confessed her
inability to either understand or comply, whereupon the baby, bearing
no malice in her present high good-humor, proceeded to take them
herself.

"This little pig went to market," the angelic accents declared, while her
ladyship smiled sweetly upon Mrs. Repetto, and Mary Carew
breathlessly motioned for silence with all the pride of a doting parent.
"This little pig stayed home--" the ladies on the outskirts pressed near
that they too might hear.
"This little pig had bread and cheese," whereupon Mrs. Repetto
recovering, went down on her knees to be nearer the scene of exploit.
"This little pig had none;" the interest now was breathless, and as the
last little pig went squeaking home the ladies nearest fell upon the
darling and covered her with kisses.
"An' it's jus' that smart she is, all the time," declared Mary Carew
proudly, "an' 'taint like she's showin' off, either, is it, Norma?"
When at last the trying on was over, and the Tony generosity was
sufficiently enlarged upon, the ladies, as is the way with the best of the
sex, fell into a mild gossip before separating. And while racy bits of
Tenement shortcomings were being handed around, the small object of
this gathering, too young, alas, to know the joys denied her because of
her limited abilities to understand the nature of the conversation,
slipped down from Mrs. O'Malligan's lap, and eluding Mary's absent
hold, proceeded to journey about the room, until reaching the open
door, she took her way, unobserved, out of the O'Malligan first floor
front and leaving its glories of red plush furniture and lace curtains
behind her, forthwith made her way out the hall door into the street.
The hot, garbage-strewn pavements and sunbaked gutters swarmed
with the sons and daughters of the Tenement. Directly opposite its
five-storied front was the rear entrance to the Fourth Regiment Armory.
And there, at that moment, a sad-eyed, swarthy Italian,--swinging his
hand-organ down on the asphalt pavement in front of the Armory's
open doors, was beginning to grind out his melodies. And with the first
note, children came running, from doorstep and curb, from sidewalk
and gutter, while, at the same moment, in the open door of the Armory
appeared a small, chubby-cheeked boy, who had upon his head a

soldier cap so much too large for him as to cover the tips of his ears
entirely, and who, moreover, wore, buckled about his waist, a belt gay
as to trimmings and glittering with silver finishings. If the Fourth
Regiment boasted a Company of Lilliputian Guards here surely was a
member.
The Angel, in the Tenement door, was enchanted. How different a
world from that upstairs room under the roof! She kept step to the
music and nodded her head to the fascinating little boy in the Armory
door. And the sharp eyes of that young gentleman had no sooner espied
the nodding little creature in the doorway opposite, than heels together,
head erect, up went a quick hand to the military cap. The Angel was
being saluted, and while her ignorance of the fact prevented her
appreciating that honor, the friendliness of the little boy was alluring.
Down the steps she came,