The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1874-06-12
A SAD STORY.

The car-door opened, there was a rat
tie and a rustic upon the platform out
side-and she came stumbling in. At
the same instant there came in with her
q ruddy-cheeked, blue-eyed boy, whose
years were not counted above ten. She
carried in her arms a bundle closely and
carefully wrapped, at n end of which
a tiny face appeared, a diminutive copy
of her own. Carefully placing this bun
die upon a seat, she next dragged in a
box and a basket, ond the strong odor
of bilge-water, such as ever pervades
the steerage or between decks of the
emigrant vessel, announced to the in
differently interested passengers that
my fellow-passengRw WAS an emigrant.
She was not .1fe than thirty ; she
was fair and appeared as strange and
timid as the antelope We saw from the
car-window gliding over the plains.
But no one spoke to her, no one pre-
sumed to claim acquaintance with this
travel-soiled, weary-looking young
woman, and as she sat upon the next
seat to my own, gazing YEARLY out upon
the wild, bleak monotony of the plains,
I observed several times during the day
that her large blue eyes filed with
tears, and that the little boy in Scotch
cap, knee-breeches and black hose
busted himself il q vain attempt to
comfort his mother" All this 1 OBJ
served from behind ny book, which
book proved a medium of communion
ton between my fel!ow-passenger and
myself.
She had been looking at the
back of my book attentively for some
time, when she broke the silence by
saying:
81 beg pardon, sir, but can you
tell me when we shall arrive 0ook-
ing at an envelope) at Bijou Station ?"
Tomorrow evening some time, if
all goes WE'LL" replied.
SIS the country out there as wild
and as sparsely settled as this, sir ?"
eyes, madam, or more so. 1t depends
very much uponthe portion of the Bijou
you go o."
The ice being broken between myself
and my fellow-passenger, she soon fella
victim to a professional American news
paper interviewer, to whom she told her
story.
But this story would have but little
interest for the general reader, were it
not for the sequel, which is herewith
given. will give her story as near as
possible in her own words:
"Yes, sir, 1 am from England. left
there three weeks ago. 1 observed you
reading Dickens, and l took the liberty
of speaking to you. Do admire Dick
ems? Yes, sir, 1 loved him. 1 am a
relative of his, and have ofttimes visit
ed him at his place at Gad's Hill. am
from Gloster. Do you know Gloster?
It is a dear old town. We lived Just
within the shadow of that great cathe-
dral "a sigh. Oh, the dear old town.
1 expect We will never meet again. 1t
is a great old structure, sir. You can
read all about it in Uncle Charles last
book, 'The Mystery of Edwin brood
He describes our town just as it is. We
all loved Mr.. Dickens. l walked with
him many times in the grand old struct-
ure, for he made our home his home
when he came to Gloster. He only lived
ten miles away, and frequently came to
see us while he was working upon his
last book. 1 observed you reading one
of his works, and I made SO free as to
speak, for ! am-oh ! so very lonesome
and strange here! Did l come all the
way alone, sir? Yes, sir. But it was
wrong in me to attempt it. Think
sometimes l shall give up before Ireach
my husband. But Charles is quite a
man to me. You have no idea, sir, how
clever and kind my little son has been
to me, both On the voyage and at Hall
fax, at Baltimore and Cincinnati. How