The Union. [volume] (Georgetown, Del.) 1863-1866, 1863-11-27


lily at night with everything necessary for
the children the next day.
g In the morning, having made our ar
rangements, we went early to the cabin.
We heard, as we approached, digcord
Of mingled curses, screams and blows.
We entered and there was Lee, in a
drunken rage with the poker in his
hand He had driven the children into
a corner, and before the younger ones
stood Millie; covering them as hen COW
ers her brood, and meeting the eye of her
father with, such a look of reproach and
sadness that, demon as he was, he quail
ed beneath it. After we had gone away
the night before, the wretched man had sto-
len out to one of those dens where they would
sell rum to grinning skeleton if it only
had three cents in its hand. There pawn
ing the clothes that had been given him
for the funeral, he prepared himself for
the scene we witnessed.
+" Having disarmed him, and released
the trembling orphans, we insisted upon
taking them all away. Millie said we
might take Sallie and George and the
baby, but she would stay; for since her
mother was dead, there was no one else to
look after her father.
81 But, Millie, he will beat you; he will
kill you !" =
Maybe he will, sir" she answered,
"but yet must not leave him. He gets
drunk, know and then he is cross; but
still-he is my father" ..
+" L looked with wonder on that feeble
child. / thought of all she had suffered
from that brutal man, who never smiled
even on her childish prattle; thought of
all she had yet to fear from him, alone in
that cabin, and felt that no recorded in
stance of female heroism exceeded hers.
| We-reasoned and we plead, but Mile was
firm. We were obliged to leave her,
though with many sad forebodings.
awe heard nothing from her until the
next day. When she ran up to see the
baby, which was at my house, L asked her:
"How are you getting on at home now,
Millie?" ...''. III.
pretty well, | thank you" was her re-
ply.
:" Did your father get drunk last night"
She tried to keep back the tears as she
answered:
He came aalsyaG hS%e 9eu very Ilrfs fT qss sir"
ooh, not much. He only struck me
ty;cc and once it was with nothing but
$ And the other time ?-yes, l see it
,ros Nh the poker, and he made deep
"asb "n IN vou head! You must not stay
there, Nlillie." oh and
ooh, sir, it did not hS.rt me much, .a ahna anu
when he saw the blood it seehH " SUI
him little, and he threw down the I'PAei
and told me to tie up my face and go to
bed. And after was in bed he sat by
the fire and muttered to himself, and L
thought, by what l heard, that he felt sor-
ry because he struck me; and L don't
think that he will do so again"
"Poor patient, lovely, hopeful Millie !
She kissed the baby, and hurried back to
get supper for her father. ar
"That night was out late. l returned
by Lees cabin about eleven o'clock. Ash
approached, saw strange looking object
covering under the low caves. A cold
rain was falling. 1t was late in autumn.
! drew near, and there was Milie asleep,
wet to the skin Her father had driven
her out some hours before; she had laid
down to listen for the heavy snoring Of
his drunken slumbers, so that she might
creep back to bed. But before she heard
it, nature became exhausted, and she fell
into troubled sleep, with the rain drops
pattering on her. tried to take her
home with me, but no; true as martyr
= to his faith, she struggled from my arms
l. -, Har md CIl
cabin. Things went on so for weeks and
|, months. But at length Lee became less
} violent, even in his drunken fits, to his
> seIf-denying child; and one day when he
r awoke from a heavy slumber after de
0 bauch, and found her preparing breakfast
5 for him, and singing sweet childish song
: he turned to her, and with tone almos
f tender, said: Haalt
r "Millie, what makes you stay with meY
/. Because you are my father, and low
j, you" sa
r "You love me p repeated the wretche,
n man "Loue me" He looked at his bloat
1 ed limbs, his soiled and ragged clothes
d " Love me-" he still murmured. "Millie
q what makes you love me? am poo
II dfunkard everybody else despises me
1t Why don't you ~ a 9sr As aa
"Dear father" said the little girl, wit
i swimming eyes, /" mother taught me t
1T love you; and every nightlshe comes fror
a. heaven and stands by my little bed, an
IF says, e Millie, don't leave your father
Of Millie, love your father, he will get ava
s. from that Rum Fiend one of these day
r and then how happy you will be-"
Id alec buried his head in his hands, an
Id tears, the first for long time, trickie
through his fingers. He said no NOR
i but having eaten his breakfast, he wei
cy out. That night he came home sober
nj the first time for many years. He gay
to her dollar that he had earned, and talk'
to with her kindly until it was time to go
he bed, ~.
nd "Oh ! how bright and glad was 4
les heart of Millie Lee For hours she i
ny awake and wept for joy After she fl
asleep, the angels came to her in dream
al and oh I! how sweetly her mother smile
his Next morning she exerted her childish SIX
hel tn nre1,are n nice hrea kfasts for her faith,