Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1868-07-30
= A Touching Incident.

The following incident Of travel is mar
rated by correspondent Of the Daily Sara
togian. 1t took place ON the Rensselaer,
and Saratoga Railroad, on one of the
northern trains, between Saratoga and
whitehall:
When the train halted at Saratoga,
among the passengers from the west came
man Of about thirty years Of age, elbow
ing his way through the crowd, and bear
ing in his arms child. he was a poor
man, his clothes were poor; he looked
poor. Around his hat was tied piece Of
soiled, worn Grape 1t was evidently all
the mourning his scanty means would per-
NIT, for the mother Of the child was dead
This man was rough in exterior, yet his
face was an honest one. He handled the
baby awkwardly, yet there was tender
ness in his sad look that showed the purity
Of o fathers love. The little fellow lay
asleep on his coarsely clad knee; a stray
sunbeam glanced across its tired face. They
were both tired, the father and the child,
as they had come from the far West; and
as he placed his hard, toll worn hand to
shield it from the golden rays, there was in
his look mixture Of sadness and care, as
if his pent up feelings had been so crowded
back into the inner cells of his heart that
even tears could have been no relief to the
hidden anguish that was making his life a
misery.
The poor child cried; it might be the lit
tie thing was tired; perhaps it was hungry;
perhaps it was sick. The tears rolled
down its baby cheeks; the father
wiped away the dewdrops as they fell, and
then tried to feed it. He was 80 awkward
with the bottle-his had been o life Of toll
and hardship-and he knew not how to
give his darling its nourishment. AS he
made effort after effort to stihe the cries
and check the tears of his motherless babe,
how he must have missed her who in his
life Of labor and privation had been his So
lace and comtortl An unbidden tear start
ed to his eye, but he brushed it quickly
away. ALI who saw him pittied him. At
length woman very richly appareled, with
an infant resting on the lap Of his nurse be-
side her-she had been Watching the man
said in gentle tone, ''Giye me the
child" The poor fellow looked at her with
look Of gratitude, for there was moth
er's Tenderness in her voice. With humble
resignation, as though it were pain to part
with him, even for a moment, he gave her
his boy. The, woman took it; its soiled
clothes rested ON her costly silk; its tiny
head was soon beneath her shawl, and
in moment all was still. Like the Grecian
daughter who, through the iron bars fed
her starving father, SO did this high-born
lady from her breast feed the hungry child,
and when on her gentle bosom the little
one lay in calm and unve1ed sleep, she put
aside the shawl ..l,'..-f
The fathers heartswelled with gratitude,
He said, as tear welled in his eye, and
his voice was thick with emotion, "Thank
you. I'll take him now" Then the wo-
mans nature spoke forth, as she gently an
swered, mot yet; you will wake him, and
for mile after mile that noble-hearted vo-
mad held that poor mans child, and it was
not until her own babe required such nour-
ishment as only mother can give, she
gently rose and placed the stranger boy
with its father.