The Western advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1872-1874, 1874-04-18


"Me's doin to live with co."
"With mey"
"Es; my nanny tell'd me So"
"Your nanny told you so? Where IS
your mammy?"
"Her's don'd off,"
"What is your mammy's name?"
He looked at me from head to foot,
mentally gauging the extent of my
idiOcy, and then answered scornfully:
Nanny named naonsnay;; don't 90 know
dat?"
"And she said you were to live with
| me?"
"Es; her said if me would, oo'd dit me
| lots of pretty sings"
felt like the man who drew the ele-
phant by lottery. cts most deuced
COOL" said
"Es, it awfy tool" said the young man,
| rising; lets do in de house."
In the house and divested of his wraps
| he was as much at home as if he had lived
there always. The first thing he did was
to harness chair to the head of the
lounge with an old pair of suspenders,
and then to get on himself and commence
| driving, stalking horse" most uproar-
| iously
| "Get ape now, won't 'oo? Get ape!
| Whoa, Danuary! Do long dere, won't
oo?"
He was evidently all right; but what
sort of a fix was in? Well, to condense
the matter, gave him in charge of the
landlady, and went out to see if I could
find his mother. 1t was of no use; I ad-
vertised him in every possible way. No.
body claimed him, and concluded that
he had dropped out of the clouds for nv
especial benefit. Perhaps the bread had
thrown upon the waters had been meta
morphosed into meat, and in this shape
had returned to me sooner than I cx-
pected. would be careful how made
| another compact with my spirit friends.
But even yet it seemed that they had not
fully recOmpensed me 1or my kindness to
the children of the past Christmas.
l was sitting one evening with Dotty
by the fire, some six weeks after his ad-
vent, when there was slight shuffling in
the hall, and soon a tiny rap upon my
door. l opened it, and a little girl came
in timidly, with her little finger in her
mouth AT first the light dazzled her, but
she soon peered round the table and es
pied Dotty He, too, had seen her, and
with little scream he rushed toward her,
and then commenced the most extrava-
CANT demonstrations of joy l ever wit
messed in my life. Of course l was Gu
rious to know what it all meant, but they
did not answer my questions. They did
not seem to hear them. 1t was: 60
Dotty!" and 80 Lily!" kiss--kiss-
kiss, and "Tum up to de fire, Lily; ct
me shake de snow off oor cloak" and
"Where did 90 dit dat petty horsey,
Dotty?'' and then more exclamations and
more kissing. was utterly bewildered,
and after cudgeling my brains to an ex-
tent undreamed of in all my previous
years I gave it up as hopeless for that
night at least, and concluded to sleep
on it as soon as they got done
kissing. In the succeeding days
l found out, partly by questioning
and partly by guessing, that these
children were twins. Who they were, or
what the object in palming them off
upon me, remained profound mystery
for years. will just say, in passing,
seemed an objectionable liberty in thus
forcing great responsibility upon me, l
soon became not only reconciled, but in
f1nitely happier than l ever expected to
be. My darlings grew IN grace and
beauty, and became the very life of my
life. But from the moment Of their en-
tering my house was haunted by
woman, who, in spite of all my efforts,
baff1ed every attempt to see her plainly.
One summer evening, as sat in my little
sitting room with the children at dinner,
became conscious of some strange in
fuence near me, and, glancing around, I
saw her through the open window, just
melting out of sight in the dim darkness.
And many times after I caught partial
glimpses of thin, wasted form, but never
once was in position to catch or de-
tain her. At last, moved by compassion
for what | knew to be IN that poor
mothers heart, posted an advertisement
on all the conspicuous places near my
dwelling, which was something like this:
"If the mother of Dotty and Lily will
come to me openly, she shall see her chill
dren without reserve. But in case she
shall have reasons Of her own for not
coming, would like to let her know that
he to whom she gave them thanks her
with an humble and happy heart for her
precious gift, and will pledge himself
never to prove recreant to SO sacred a
trust"
Now, so far from this producing the
effect had desired, it seemed to Danish
the mother entirely away; and it was
nearly twelve years after the children
came to me that the next event happened
| TO us.
There was an exhibition in Lily's school,
and she was to have the leading character
| in some theatrical performance. She was
| pleased and excited quite beyond her nat
ural SELF She studied her part with
avidity, and with the most thrilling and
brilliant action she rehearsed it again and
again to me- When the night came, she
appeared on the stage IN character, ex-
quisitely dressed with court train and Jew
els. 1t was the first time I had
seen her out of short dresses. Who
was it she reminded me of? Surely had
known some one at some time of my
lite just like my splendid darling I
listened to her and watched her, with
what pride who can tell until the last act,
when the curtain falls upon her in tableau
with hands clasped upon her breast, her
tender eyes appraised, the whole wealth of
her pale golden hair falling in one curl
ing, misty cataract down to her waist, the
innocence of angels radiating from her,
and yelling her girlish form with a gentle
yrace, 80 wonderfully pure, so tenderly
touching. Through the happy tears that
filled my eyes saw halo encircle her
like rainbow; and then the curtain fell,
and l heard scream from some woman
in the audience. That scream pierced
my heart like knife, for, lifted out OF
myself as was by the intensity of my
feelings, there came to me perfect reve.
lation of all the inexplicable events of the
last few years-so full Of quiet content to
me, SO full of agony to others. In vain,
for some moments, I struggled to pene.
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