In the cabin of the steamer St. John, coming up the
Hudson the other evening, sat a sad, serious-looking
man, who looked as if he might have been a clerk or
bookkeeper. The man seemed to be caring for a crying
baby, and was doing everything he could to still its
sobs. As the child became restless in the berth, the
gentleman took it in his arms and carried it to and fro
in the cabin. The sobs of the child irritated a rich
man, who was trying to read, until he blurted out loud
enough for the father to hear,

“What does he want to disturb the whole cabin with
that d— baby for?”

“Hush, baby, hush!” and then the man only nestled
the baby closer in his arms without saying a word.
Then the baby sobbed again.

“Where is the confounded mother that she don't
stop its noise?” continued the profane grumbler.

At this, the grief-stricken father came up to the man,
and with tears in his eyes, said: “I am sorry to disturh
you, sir, but my dear baby's mother is in her

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coffin down in the baggage room. I'm taking her back
to her father in Albany, where we used to live.”

The hard-hearted man buried his face in shame, but
in a moment, wilted by the terrible rebuke, he was by
the side of the grief-stricken father. They were both
tending the baby.

Mr. Gough is very fond of telling this story, and Eli
is glad of it, for it is a good story and a true one.