Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-05-05

yyJhe had found that kept him 3d.
re, there are the brass nails around
3Op and up the sides, and there is the
bn the cover"
ben Anderson leaned over and lifted it
! and set it on the clean sand of the
= Ach.
~ suppose it's locked" he said, lifting
he little fall of wet leather. To his sur
prise the lid lifted, the Jock was broken
short off, "Ah, / wouldn't have thought
it would have kept together like this. with
the lock broken" he said, glancing inside
and seeing confused mass of clothing in
half wet and very mixed condition. II
think you must be mistaken about the
exact place the gentleman wa" he added,
''there is nothing in trunk of child's
clothing, tumbled and wet like this, to at.
tract mans attention particularly"
But it did, anyway. Why, father,
don't know every inch of the beach by
heart? and saw him every time looked
up, and always in this one spot" he said,
positively.
az presume your every time all came
within less than five minutes" Mr.. .Ander-
son said, smiling at his earnestnessN" The
gentleman did not hurt the trunk by look
ing at it, even if it was for the length Of
time you fancy. Now let us take it up to
the house"
The child stood on the doorstep as they
came up the sandy, grass bordered path,
her great ewes shining like stars, aid her
coral lids parted and eager.
go, am 60 gladr' she cried, clapping
her hands, and then growing suddenly
grave as she remembered about her
mother her pale, beautiful mother, lying
so fearfully straight and still in the dark
ened front ROOM
She followed them in and knet down
on the floor by the trunk, while Mrs An
derson took out the garments one by one
and shook and folded them. There was a
few articles of womau's underC o. hing, q
book of engravings and small volume OF
SCOTS Poems, with "Genevieve" pen
cilled in clear, elegant, masculine hand,
on the fly leaf The remainder of the
contents consisted of child's clothing,
which Viola readily recognized. The
book of poems, too, she said her mother
had told her once were to be hers some
day, because her papa had bought them.
But though they looked long and care
fully, going over every article three or
four times, there was not scrap of paper
or q line written anywhere among them
all that they could find. And SO the
child's name remained still Q secret for
aught the little trunk revealed. Only one
thing they found, beside, bit of knife
blade about an inch long, broken short
OF
Viola cried bitterly and would not be COM
forted. What most children would scarce
" have noticed, was something dark and
terrible to her; the more 90, doubtless,
from the circumstances under which 1t
had been made known to her. Death, 20
fearful and repellant to every child, WAS
made more dreadful still to her, for it had
taken away at the same lime her mothers
life, and her own n4Le. leaving her
doubly orphaned. When Mr.. Anderson
told her Of the men whom he had met on
the shore, she stopped crying and looked
up, her eyes flashing through her tears
"If had seen them they should have
told me aboutmy mother" she cried, vehe-
mently.
"But they did not know, DEAR" Mrs
Anderson said, gently.
"They did The did, anyway. know
because when we went out on deck, and
she saw him she grew, o, so white! and
Captain Waite led her back to our cabin
again, and she said something about his
being there, and then she cried and the
the pretty color never came into her
cheeks again"
but who was it that she saw" per.
sisted Ralph.
II don't know his name, but know
him. His eyes are so queer-just the color
of my bronze slippers, with bits of yellow
in them sometimes-there was when ne
saw nv mamma. know twas him on
the beach, because he went in the boat,
and wasn't in the vessel after it was so
dreadful"
Ben Anderson remembered the odd
color of Mr.. DeVries' eyes, and asked il
thst was the name; but she did not know,
and the subject was dropped.
In the quiet, country burying- ground
there was new-m made grave, and nature,
who is the tender mother of us all, took
the fair stranger gently to her bosom, and
her plying hand -maidens, the birches and
walnuts, dropped their soft rain of gold
over her pulseless breast.
There was little definite the child could
tell Of her history. They had lived in
France, always, as far as she could remem-
Der, but her mother was not French.
They had boarded with an old woman
whom everybody called " Madame" Once,
q long time ago, q handsome, dark man
used to come and stay days and days with
them, and then they were all 80 very, very
happyl Her mother used to play on the
guitar, and sing, O, such lovely songs,
and sometimes he sang with her; and she
was 30 bright and pretty when he was
therei But one terrible day there CAM 9
letter to her mamma, and she just droppsd
down on the floor, and she never opened
her eyes or spoke all that day, but the
day after she told her that her papa, the
dark, handsome gentleman, was dead
drowned in crossing channel; she was
sure 1t was channel, she had always re-
membered that. After that her mother
never talked Of him again, but she cried
sometimes. and always when she received
. letter, which she did once in long time.
She had one just before they came away,
and It made her grow white and scared
looking, and the next day she told her
they were coming to America to live, and
then they came away from Madame's and
staid few days in strange, Lonesome
place, all alone but for an old colored
man, and then one dark night they came
on board the LIE Brun. This was al she