The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-09-02

ceaiment for dead body was examined. Shouts
wereF exchanged betweenI The different detach.
melfs, and occasional guns fred 10 attract the
attention OF Ella. if still alive, and elicit some
guiding voice Or sound in respopse.. The ech.
oes reverneratng through the woods, or flung
oscx oy tne nfis. soon died away upon the
winEy -, and al vas again siisut and voice.
lees as the grave. There was no sion to indi.
oaksthe direction che had taken. The frozer
eaeth fefnsed TO retain even a little footprint 70
gn.de the deliyerers upon her track. - a..
Stu that noble band of youths and men fal
tered not Cold, fatigue, and vakefulness, and
hsoesS combined 10 Cypress them. But what
vefe coaa, ezposares and hunger, TO them, when
they rsmsmbered that q lone child. the beloved
OF ell theiF hearts, was wandering, without food
or shelter, through gloomy solitudes q, d over
frozen earth, or that, perhaps, her fair little
form, sigidia deash, was lying uuburied 10 some
dark covert q exposed on some wintry hill I?
TIE thoaeh1 quickened sheirpaes and speeded
/ Bynoon Of the second day, The area ar of the
search had extended to more than Eve miles in
|sdseme.ers No ldihgs or sign 81 the lost child
bad been hoard, or sssa. Hops had clouded
into doubt, and doubt vas fast sinking in des
pam. About three o'clock in the afternoon, on
the circumference of the outermost circle of the
search, and in the direction of the Obion
swamp. freshly, torn fragment of come gar.
ment was found seliDging TO q bush. 1t was
identified a. OF piece with the apron worn by
httie Ella on the evening che left home. The
news was soon communicated to all, and at
once concentrated the company and the search
IN the direction which it vas now certain the
child had gone. -. s,.s l-.,...-...s 49,.
MI. and Mrs. Riley had kept even pace with
the rest until the morning Of the second day
Buoyed up with the hope Of finding their child
and driven almost to madness BY the toctured
agony OF q parents heart, they could not be
persuaded to absent themselves from the search.
They were compelled, at last, to weld to the
conviction, that two bitterly cold nights and
one hesk winter day had made them childless.
With grief too deep for tears, they returned
and awaited, in their nov desolate home, the
result of the search for the body of Ella. AlssI
for the riven hearts Of those Who sit in the
silence of an unuttefable sorrow, awaiting the
return of the lifsless form in which have been
gsrnered up the rich treasures of parent's
love. .-. Il
la q short time sfter the discovery of the
torn fragment Of Elias apron, her body was
found. 1t was lying upon the ground, cold and
perfectly rigid. She had evidently died of cold
and exhaustion many hours before. Fosmipg
rude heaFse of poles and bark, with an over
coat for covering, they placed the body upon
It, and began their fearful and silent procession,
towards the residencs Of Mr.. Riley. aa ,s
Ye who dwell ia great cities, and see the fu-
neral pageant Of the young sweep along the
crowded thorough fsres of fashion and commerce,
giittering with the trappings of wealth and
blszonry of pride, scorn not the severe simplici.
ty OF this rustic procession. 1t 10 the tear of
the mourner, and not the noddipg plume and
the sable drapery If the hearse, that sancti6es
and enncbles the funeral cortege in the eye of
reason and Of Heaven.
Few persons, indeed, could have witnessed
that rustic procession to the home of sorrow,
bearing the cause of that sorrow in their midst,
and withheld the tribute of tear to the scene
Innocence and beauty had faded from the
earth, and old men and young men mourned
tor its departure. A sweet voice was silent,
and forever, in those rural retreats, and all
wept that its cadence was stilled, and its melo.
dy gone, like the hushed tones of broken lutte,
to return no moie. The veil of darkness had
been drawn over the lustre of bright eyes; a
light had gone ont in the house of neighbor
were old men and yoGRg men i&rseaa r sid ethhEs
her lifeless form to the home of her parents.
With slow and measured step thew bore the
body of the little maiden, and deposited it in
the presence of the parents Little Ella was
buried the next day in the neighboring grave
yard, where neat tombstone, with the inscr o.
ton of her name, age, and catastrophe, points
out to the visitor the last resting place of the
lost child If our narrative. 1t was never
known how she came to wander off from home
on the fatal afternoon of her loss