Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1883 — It Makes a Difference. [ARTICLE]

It Makes a Difference.

A tramp found a real female philan thropist in Detroit. She felt sorry for him and fed him, and said she knew that he was the victim of misfortune, and there were tears in her eyes as she gave him an old vest and told him to return next day and get - the coat to match. He told her of losing his family by a steamboat explosion—of having his home taken away on a mortgage— Of being a wanderer before whose eyes the lost wife and precious children were ever appearing to keep his heart big and his courage down, and if he had only remained five minutes longer she w;ould have wept outright. He went away thinking what a soft thing he had on this cold world, and a day or two subsequently he returned for the coat. The painters had been at work and just finished the floor of the veranda. As there was no board up, the tramp walked up • the steps and marched the whole length of the freshlypainted floor and rapped at the door, with his mouth puckered up into the proper mournful expression. It was opened by the woman, but she had no smiles nor tears. “Get off that paint, you good-for-nothing!” she yelled. “Get out o’here, you villain I” “Madam, that coat you !” “I’ll coat you! Look at your feet—look at that paint—look at the damage!” He was still looking, holding up first one foot and then the other, when the handle of a broom cracked across his back'fend he felt obliged to slide. “I came for that coat,” he remarked, as he stood on the grass. “You’ll get a prison coat if you don’t travel,” she replied. “Here, dog;here, dog; here, dog! Take hold of him, Bowser 1” The tramp moved on to the front, and, standing there with his hand on a shade-tree, he surveyed the house and muttered: “Why didn’t Shakspeare say that hell hath no fury like a woman cleaning house? Well, I’d better stop here and warn agents not to enter the shadder of death.”— M. Quad.