New Oregon plaindealer. (New Oregon, Iowa) 1859-1866, 1859-12-09
Our Story.
DOD G E. S.

| N "oA A"A ''io law VI NY "e"l al
ice. But Alice was gone. In answer
to my inquiries, I ascertained that they
had lived for while in comparative
comfort and respectability, but that lat
terly they had come to want, and left
the village. Nothing more satisfactory
could be elicited-no clue to their
whereabouts. They had disappeared
mo one knew where. .
II spent a week in visiting the neigh
boring villages, and then returned home.
The joy of our household had departed
forever"
"About year afcrward, an opportu-
nifty occurred for engaging in business
as agent for a manufacturing company
which required travel in Vermont and
! Canada. In the course of this tour, one
cold day, in winter so cold and stor-
my that travelling was impracticable-I
found myself laid up at Dodge's, with
fair prospect of a weeks stay; and, to
tell the truth, Irather liked the idea. I
had in my travels become addicted to
the ardent; and as was the lion of the
place, the "rich stranger" who was so
liberal with his treats,iI found time few
swiftly, and--I blush to own it now, sir
pleasantly. The storm continued for
three days without intermission--one of
those cold, north west blows and snow
storms, that leave the snow piled in
huge drifts, or wreathed fancifully into
shapes of wondrous beauty"
"In the evening Of the third day, a
little girl, thinly clad, and benumbed
with cold, came softly into the bar-room
and smuggled in between the great stove
and the wall. I was not, as yet, thank
heaven! hardened to look upon the suf
fering unmoved; and I instinctively felt
an interest in the little stranger from
the moment that l saw her, and my in
tercst was greatly enhanced when I no
ticed that she timidly shrank from OBJ
servatlon, and seemed intently watching
for some one. I OWNED at once that
she was an angel of mercy, sent by some
lonely, suffering mother, to persuade
home some drunken reveler from this
miserable den of death. DrawinS my
chair close to the stove, and speaking
as kindly as possible, I asked her to
come to me-"
Don't, don't, please don't whip me,
sir" said the little one, sobbing.
No, my dear, I wish to help you.
What are you here for, this cold night?
please, sir, to find pa
is your pa here, my little one? Tell
me which is your pa?"
II can't see him, sir, but ma told me
to come and tell him that she was dying"
"Your mother dying-where does
your mother live? when did your pa go
away from home?"
"oh, a great while ago, sir, I don't
know how long. But I am going back.
We've not got any fire and nothing to
eat, and ma is cold"
"Wait, little one, said I, and sitting
her down behind the stove, / pushed
into room adjoining, where a few min
utes before I had seen Dodge enter, and
where I found that parsonage engaged
in assisting bleared and bloated indi-
vidual to Dress"
'Mr. Dodge" said I, ''there is little
girl in the bar-room who has come to
get her father"
"Tell her to 90 home, "said the drum
ken wretch whom Dodge was assisting.
''That voicew
"No, was not mistaken. Time and
intemperance had not been able wholly
to change it. I had heard it when it
inspired happier feelings, but I could
not be mistaken-it was the same voice
still.-The drunken wretch, who l af-
terward ascertained had been dead
drunk for three days, was GEORGE
IDANE." "
sThe true situation of affairs flashed
upon nv mind at once. I pictured to