AN ANGEL'S TOUCH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6296, 21 January 1882, Page 7

AN ANGEL'S TOUCH.

One evening, notlongago, a little girl of nine or ten entered a place in an American city which is a bakery, grocery, and saloon in one, and asked for five cents' worth of tea. "How's your mother?" asked the boy who came forward to wait on her. " Awful sick, and hain't had anything to eat all day. The boy was just then called to wait upon some men who entered the saloon, and the girl sat down. In five minutes she was nodding and in seven she was sound asleep and leaning her head against a barrel, while she held the poor old nickel in a tight grip between thumb and finger. One of the men saw her as she came from the bar, and after asking who she was he said, ' Say, you drunkards, see here. Here we've been pouring down whiskey when this poor child and her mother want bread. Here's a two-dollar bill that says I've got some feelings left. "And I can add a dollar," observed-one. " And I'll give another." They made up a purse of an even five dollars, and the spokesman carefully put the bill between two of the sleeper's fingers, drew the nickel away, and whispered to his comrades, "Jist look a-there —the gal's dreamingSo she was. A big tear rolled out from her closed eyelid, but the face was covered with a smile. The men tip-toed out, and the clerk walked over and touched the sleeping child. She awoke with a laugh, and cried out, "What a beautiful dream! Ma wasn't siok any more, and we had lots to eat and to wear, and my hand burns yet where the angel touched it!" When she discovered that her nickel had been replaced by a bill, a dollar of which loaded her down with all she could carry, she innocently said, "Well now, but ma wont hardly believe that you sent up to heaven and got an angel to come down and clerk in your grocery !"