Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1868-10-02
A True Woman.

The following incident of travel is narrated
by correspondent of the Daily Saratogian.
1t took place on the Rensselaer, and Saratoga
railroad: 3ii
When the train halted at Saratoga, among
the passengers from the West came man Of
about thirty years ofage, elbowing his way
through the crowd, and bearing in his arms a
child. He was poor man his clothes were
poor, he looked poor. Around his hat was
tied piece Of soiled, worn Grape. It was
evidently all the mourning his scanty means
would permit, for the mother of the child was
dead '.r,. lesson.
This man was homely, yet his face was an
honest one. He handled the baby awkward
ly, yet there was tenderness in his sad look
that showed the purity ola 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, for they had come from the far
West, and as he placed his hard, toil-worn
hand to shield it from the golden rays, there
was in his look a mixture of sadness and care,
as if his pent-up feelings had been SO crowd
ed 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 little
thing was tired; it might be it missed its
mother perhaps it was hungry; perhaps it
was sick, and 80 it cried. The tears rolled
down its baby cheeks: the fathes wipe away
the drops as they fell, and then tried to feed
it. He was SO awkward with tho bottle-his
had been life of toll and hardship-and
he knew not how to give his darling its
nourishment AS he made effort after eff
fort to stife the cries and check the tears of
his motherless babe, how he must have
missed her who in his life of laborGand pri-
walton had been his solave and comfort, An
unbidden tear started to his eye, but he
brushed it quickly away, All who saw him
pitied him. At length woman richly
appareled, with an infant resting on the lap
Of her nurse beside her-she had been wtach-
ing the man-said in gentle tone, "Give
me the child" The poor fellow looked at
her with look of gratitude, for there was a
mothers tenderness in her voice. With
humble resignation. as though it was pain
w pdl1 Will Lii, C9cu lOl u HloiiiOHu, Ao
gave his boy. The woman took it; its soil
ed clothes rested on her costly elk its tiny
head was soon beneath the shawl, and in a
moment all was still. Like the Grecian
daughter who, through the iron bars, fed
her starving father, so did thi, high born
lady from her breast feed the hungry child,
and when on her gentle bosom the little one
lay in calm and unvexed sleep, she put aside
the shawl .s s.. ttt..srvst}
The fathers heart swelled with gratitude.
He said, as tear welled in his eye, and his
voice was thick with emotion, "Thank you. "
Til take him now" Then the woman's ma
ture spoke forth, as she gently answered,
''Not yet; you will wake him. and for mile
after mile that noble-hearted woman held
that poor mans child, and it was not until
her own babe required such nourishment as
only mother can give, she gently rose and
placed the stranger boy with its father.