"I told Peggy to tell you we could do with a little help.
Pa--that's my old man--he's the best man that ever lived, ma'am. He'd
never do nothin' wrong. It's just the whiskey that gets in him. He's
kind and good-tempered and hard-workin'--long as he can let liquor
alone. It's made him lose his place."

"Our books show that you had help from the Charity office last winter,"
Miss Margery reminded her.

"Yes'm," responded Mrs. Callahan, "that was after his Christmas spree.
The man might 'a' overlooked that. But he got mighty mad. Some bad boys,
they see pa couldn't take care of the dray and they stole some things
offn it. Pa he couldn't get a job right away and I couldn't keep up my
reg'lar sewin'--the baby just being come--and so pa was up before the
judge for non-support. And the judge made him sign the pledge for a
year. Pa tried to keep it, ma'am, but his old gang wouldn't let him.
They watched for him goin' to work and they watched for him comin' from
work. He'd dodge 'em and go and come diff'rent ways. But they'd lay for
him here and there, with schooners of beer in their hands. Next thing,
he was drunk. The cops didn't catch him that time. But the pledge bein'
broke, look like he give up heart. He kept on with the drink, and lost
his job. Then the policeman nabbed him."

Mrs. Callahan did not tell that the drunken man had struck her and that
the children--seeing her fall to the floor as if dead--ran out
screaming, and that the frightened neighbors called a doctor and a
policeman. She made the tale as favorable to 'pa' as she could. She
went on to say that, having broken the pledge, he was sent to the
workhouse for sixty days and she was left without money, with seven
children to care for.

"They want me to put the children away to the 'sylums, but we want to
stay together, ma'am. We can get on elegant with a little help with the
rent and a teenchy bit grocery order now and then. Mine is helpful
children, ma'am, and t'ain't as if they were all little. Peggy's near
'leven though she's small for her age. And even them twins, ma'am, they
pick up sticks for kindlin' and help in ways untold."

"What have you to eat in the house?" asked Miss Margery.

"There's some potatoes, ma'am. They're mighty filling when they're
cold."

Miss Margery knit her brows and considered. There were many calls on the
limited fund at her command. "The money from the workhouse for your
husband's labor will pay the rent," she calculated.