The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1853-02-23

= out of the midst of my rcvery by tw,
). loud, sharp knocks upon the street doc
"a sound certainly by no means uncom
mon. And. perhaps, if nothing more
had followed. might again have fallel
into my former thoughts but, as la,
: few moments listening. the door wa.
opened and then there followed sucl
strange, hurried exelamations-ha ot
= surprise, half Of alarm-mingled with
l such apparently irresistible bursts oi
laughter, that my first dull interest be
! gan very rapidly to change into fai
i more active feeling
L. Wy love. what's that ?" asked my
, father without looking up.
e. cant imagine !" my mother an.
, swe,cd in a puzzled tone, laying down
her book.
Just at this moment we heard quick
step running up the stairs ard all our
ey es with one accord turned to the door
which i'll two or three minutes was burst
open and to our extreme amazemel
i'll rushed our servant Ann. with little
halfnaked child in her arms.-Y es that
little creature. standing on the step. was
the only thing to be seen when she had
opened the door
Upon my word, this isgoing too far -
my father exclaimed. augrily. when he
had heard AIMS story " 1t isut two
months since the same trick was played
in town. Ann, call Tom to get Ian
tern Immediately. and follow me- We
must make search though, indeed
it's hopeless to think of catching any
one on such a night as this Whoever
has done it, is out of reach by this time
My dear"-hc turned round as lie was
hurrying out of the room" don't do
anything with the child until l come
back I'm afraid she's i'll :" and he
closed the door
] shall never forget what a poor OBJ
ject it was. 1t had scarcely an atom of
clothing upon it-just torn old frock
that would hardly hang together, aud
its poor little white shoulders and arms
were all bare. and wet with the heavy
rain. Her pretty fair hair. was wet too
but her face was what attracted and as
tonishcd me most. for, in spite of the
bitter coldness of the night, it was glow
ing like fire, with spot of the brightest
scarlet on each cheek. and Der large blue
eyes so unnaturally bright, that it was
quite painful to look at them. Yet such
a sweet face it was
My mother made her kneel beside me
on nv couch. and we talked to her, and
kissed her, and taking off the old wet
frock. wrapped my mothers shawl a
round her but all the time, and though |
she was certainly more than two years
old. she remained rs perfectly unmoyed
as though she had been little statue 4;
only those great bright eyes were fixed |
npon my face until began to get abso.
lutely frightened at her.
In about twenty minutes my father
returned from his useless search.
We can do nothing more tonight"
he said, in a tone of considerable vexa-
tion. as he joined us again Poor
child, she's very feverish indeed why
exposure on such a night is enough to
kill her My love. you must put her to
bed there's no help for it. and I'll see
what [ can do for her. But really it's
Il little too much to expect that all the
sick children of the neighborhood are
hot only to be cured for nothing, but to
be housed too, by the physician" And
my father left the room to change his
wet garments, in no very contented
state of mind.
My mother put out her hands to lift
the child from my side. and then for
the first time a moaning sound broke
from her, and leaning forward she caught
my dress with her little hands, and held
it tight, half crying, as if she feared to
90 away. Ipressed her to me and clasp
ed my arms around her | couldn't
help it. and she lot me do it, and laid
iown her head upon my bosom-the
lear child with the plaintive moaning
sound again.
| was almost weeping myself-half |
with pity, half with love for | loved
her so much already as we love all
things that cling to us. which, weaker
than ourselves appeal to us for protec
tion. And so-for | could not bear that
against her will she should be made to
leave me--still keeping her in my arms
| had th, couch wheeled into my bed
room and there in Kate's bed we laid
her-.poor. little weary suffering thing
1t would be too long to tell YOU all |
bout her illness for she was i'll for |
many weeks; how patient she was how
anxious we all were for her how, in
spite of a few cross words at first, my |
kind father tended her with as much |
care as he ever bestowed upon his veal |
thicst patient how my dear mother sat
mp night after night with her as though |
she had been her own child how the |
little thing erept so into all our hearts. |
that when at last one evening my father
pronounced her ont of danger, even his
voice was broken with emotion. and we
were fairly crying-both my mother and
/.
Nor will I trouble you with an ac-
count of all the fruitless search that was
made to discover who she was, or where
she came from but one thing | must
mention, because it perplexed us very
much, and added to our difficulty in de.
Gliding how to dispose of her II was
this that we began to suspect-what
at first had never entered our heads
that she had been stolen. and was not a
poor woman's child. 1t was her own
dim rccollections of past things that gave
rise to this supposition, tut the fever
had so confused all things in her poor
little head that we never could reach
any certainty upon the subject
Well, the end of it all was that we
could not part from her, for We had all