Willie the Waif

Willie the Waif, by Minie
Herbert

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Title: Willie the Waif
Author: Minie Herbert
Release Date: November 27, 2006 [EBook #19936]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILLIE
THE WAIF ***

Produced by Andrew Hodson

WILLIE THE WAIF
BY MINIE HERBERT
FULLY ILLUSTRATED

LONDON S. W. PARTRIDGE & CO. 8 & 9 PATERNOSTER ROW
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. RUNNING AWAY FROM HOME. 7
II. A FRIEND IN NEED
III. THE MISSION SCHOOL
IV. A VISITOR FOR WILLIE
V. THE CHRISTMAS TREAT
VI. LITTLE BERTRAM

WILLIE THE WAIF
---o---
CHAPTER I
RUNNING AWAY FROM HOME
One hot summer's day the sun was trying to shine into a poor,
miserable alley in London. There are some places in that great city
where even the sun cannot find its way, and Primrose Place was one of
them.
It was a very narrow court, and the houses on both sides were so high
that the people who lived there had never seen the sunbeams shining on
the pavement or glinting on the windows. But even supposing the sun
could have shone into the court, it would not have been able to pierce
into the rooms, for the windows were too dirty. Most of them were
broken and patched with brown paper. The doors of the houses always

stood open, so that people could go in and out without knocking. Very
few of them could afford to pay enough rent to have two rooms all to
themselves, so that a whole family was generally huddled into one
room, in which they had to live during the day and sleep at night. But
most of the daytime was spent by the inhabitants of Primrose Place out
of doors, lounging about on the pavement, or sitting on the doorsteps.
On this day, if you had walked down the court, you would have seen
groups of women standing round the doors gossiping, with their sleeves
rolled up to their elbows, and nothing on their heads. This was the way
they all spent their time when they were not in the beershops, one of
which stood, as usual, at each corner of the court. These women never
had time to clean their rooms, even if they had known they were dirty.
But this fact they did not know. They had never seen them any other
way and they had become so used to their surroundings that they never
noticed the dirt.
The children ran about the court or played in the gutter, barefooted and
bareheaded. Poor little things! there was nobody in Primrose Place to
love or care for them, or teach them to be good. Their mothers would
not be troubled by them, and the children kept out of their way as much
as possible, and, of course, got into that of every body else. This was
the cause of a great deal of quarrelling among the mothers, because,
although they didn't care for their children themselves, they wouldn't let
any one else find fault with them. At the present time three or four boys
were playing at buttons. One of them accused another of cheating,
which he denied. This led to angry words, then to blows, when
suddenly one of the mothers called out:---"'Ere, you Tom, just you
leave my Bill alone, or I'll warm yer!" This was taken up by Tom's
mother, and the women fought the children's battle. In such scenes the
children of Primrose Place grew up---miserable, dirty, and generally
neglected.
Sitting alone on the pavement that evening, huddled close to the wall,
was a little boy of six or seven years of age. His fair hair hung in
tangled curls all round his head. His clothes, which had never been
made for him, were much too large, and so ragged that they could

scarcely hold together. As he sat there, with his little bare feet stretched
out on the pavement, he seemed to be watching for somebody, for he
kept continually; looking towards the end of the court which opened
out on to the main road. All at once he started up eagerly as [the one for
whom he had been watching turned the corner.] This was his brother, a
boy about ten years of age, a tired, miserable-looking little fellow,
carrying in his hand a broom. He had been spending the day trying to
earn a few pence by sweeping a crossing. His anxious face changed the
instant he caught