The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1865-08-11
E L L E N /.
A TRUE STORY.


"The cars stopped with a great
cry, and the people all rushed out
II seemed to me a mipute and they
were all gone. Nobody was left but
me; when L got up and went to the
r-door, they looked just like shad-
ows going into the darkness, and be.
yond that there was world of black
houses. You have seen Columbusi
Sir?p .,s. .,.l..f / A
Mo' ..v h'I... psHa -l
"Ehen it would frighten you, in
her slow, grave way 81 suppose
there are not SO many people in all
the world beside" (It was Ellen S
only experience Of "a city, $50
was there alone at the depot, waiting
for Joe. 1 was so sure he would
come. There was trowd of men,
with whips, calling out and plucking
at my shawl. L was very afraid, so
l crept Off into dark corner and sat
down on box with my carpet bag
and basket The men drove Off with
their carriages. but there were half q
dozen others under shed quarrel
ling. l sat there an hour, thinking
surely Joe would be along. Then
the clock struck two. | got up and
went to the men under the she'd. |
said to them, do you know Joseph
Carrol?"
"The men raised up from where
they were lying, and stared at me-
I'm afraid, Sir, they had been drink
ing. So 1 said it, again. They
laughed and began to make Jokes
about me- l cried little-I couldn't
help it, SIR. I knew the Lord Jesus
was near me, but / couldn't help it,
One Of the men, whose clothes were
the raggedest and whose face was
very red, said,-
Boys, guess you're mistaken
Who are you, my girl?'
II told them / wasJoseph Carroll :
sister, and how it was l had come to
find him.
"'You'll have to help me, Sir |
said TO the red faced man; for have
q trouble in my head often, and ii
seems as II it was coming soon"
"Some Of the men laughed again,
but the man | had spoken to got up
and buttoned his coat He had to
lean against the fence, he was 50 un-
steady.
"'You stop that jeering, Jim
Flynn, he says, swearing. Cant
you see what the girl is? Where's
your money, Ellon?n
Then it was | found my money
was gone. | remembered putting il
on the seat beside me before we
changed cars at Urbana. SO | told
him. He looked at me steady"
4" l believe YOU he says. Come
along. The Twenty Fourth Ohio is
out in Camp Chase,--four miles out
You come to hotel to night and &C
out to Joe in the morning.
$50 he took me up to big house
and said to man there ] was de
cent girl, and gave him money to pay
for my bed and breakfast, and bic
me goodnight"
Early in the morning Ellen dressed
herself neatly, "to please Joe" ant
started'o ont to the camp carrying he
basket, asking her way as she went
The girl had wrought herself up nov
to such a certainty of seeing him tha
a disappointment was sure to be {
new and different shock from any
that had gone before. l suppose
too, the novel sight of the tents, thu
crouds Of armed men, excited her fee
bic mind beyond its powers. Sh'
came to the gate and asked the sen
try to tell Joseph Carol Of the Twen
ty-Fourth Ohio that his sister haC
come.
sit would need a long call to d,
that, my girl" said the man. eth
Twenty Fourth went Off to activ'
service yesterday"
"To where?"
"Virginia."
About mile from the camp liv
two childless old people who thel
were keepers of the toll gate on tn
road into town. | am ashamed to sa'
that | have forgotten their names,
being common one; but remembe
what their lives were, and l am sur
they who carry the record Of ever.
man hours TO add to the Great ReclS
oning must find in their haclneye,
name meaning even TO them of grea
truth and rare charity. The oil,
lady told me afterwards Of her find
ing Ellen sitting on the roadside nea
her well, her mind quite gone, ye
very gentle and grave even in h
madness. They took her home t
the toll-gate house, and kept her 70
two or three days, in which the
learned her story. ai
"My husband" she said, "telt
graphed to the Colonel of the reg
ment and found it was delayed Q
Bellaire; but as Ellen's health was /
so critical state, they thought
best to say nothing to her about he
brother, and l was resolved that sh
should not go on. We offered (wh,
we had never done before to any one
to adopt her, and treat her as on
child. People coming in and seein
the awkward country-gir would wol
der why we set such a sudden stol
by her, but in little while they
see as we did. think her pure sol
showed right through her homel