The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-07-16
TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION

the same instant there came IN with her
a rudy checked. blue-eyed boy, whose
years were not counted above ten. She
carried In her arms a bundle, closely
and carefully wrapped, at one end of
which tiny face appeared, a diminu-
tive copy OF her own. Carefully plRc-
ing this bundle upon a seat, she next
dragged in a box and basket, and the
strong odor of bilge-water, such as ever
peryades the Storage or between decks
OF the emigrant vessel, announced to
the lndiherently interested passengers
that my fellow-passenger was an emf
grant.
She was not more 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 presumed
to claim acquaintance with this travel
soiled, weary-looking young woman,
and as she ton the next seat to nv own,
gazing YEARLY out upon the wild, bleak
mouotony of the plains, observed sew
eral times during the day that her large
blue eyes filled with tears, and that the
little boy in Scotch cap, knee-breeches
and black hose busted himself in a vain
attempt to comfort his mother" All
this observed from behind my book,
which book proved medium of COM
munication between my fellow-passen-
ger and myself.
She hal been looking at the back of
my book attentively for some time,
when she broke the silence by saying /:
beg pardon, sir, but can you tell
me when we shall arrive Cooking at an
envelope) at Biiou Station 2"
Tomorrow evening sometime, If all
goes we'll" I replied.
g Is the country out there as wild and
| sparsely settled as this, sir ?"
Yes, madam, or more so. It de-
ponds very much upon the portion of
the Bijou you go to-"
The ice being broken between myself
and my fellow-passenger, she soon fell
a victim to a professional American
newspaper 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.
g Yes, sir, am from England. I left
there three weeks ago. / observed you
reading Dickens, and took the liberty
/ of speaking to You. Do admire Dick
ems ? Yes, sir, loved him. I am a
relative of his, and have ofttimes visi-
| ted him at his place at Gad's Hill. I
am from Gloster. Do you know Clos
! ter 1t is a dear old town. We lived
| Just within the shadow of that great ca
thedral "a sigh. Oh, the dear old town.
l expect we viii never meet again. It
is 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. 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 us while he was working upon
his last book. I observed you reading
| one of his works, and made so free as
to speak, for am-Oh so very lone
some and strange here Did I come
| all tle way alone, sir? Yes, sir. But
it was wrong in me to attempt it.
think sometimes shall give up before
1 reach my husband. But Charles is
quite a man to me. You have no idea
sir, how clever and kind my little FOR
has been to me, both on the voyage and
at Halifax, at Baltimore and Cincinnati
How do like the states, did you say
oh, sir, 1 don't like them at all like
the state of Cincinnati the best of any
have been in. I stopped at Halifax.
1t is a dull, cold, miserable place
They kept us three days in Baltimore
to discharge cargo. At Cincinnati my
luggage was smashed, and had to pur
chase deal boxes to pack in. They
charged me a sovereign for them. wa.
detained one day at st. Louis-a nasty
gloomy, smoky place, is it not, sir A
| To MI Ahaxr - Al
English gold for my hotel bill, and
was in great trouble and distress. Die
l get my luggage all right? Yes, sir
There is nine hundred pounds of it
Why did bring so much, did you say
Why, sir, my husband wrote me tina
he had got a perfect little Eden of
place in Colorado. Yes, sir, he call
our new home Eden, and / thought
would bring as many of the old thing
from home as possible, and brought
box of tea, barrel OF sugar, severa
bolts of long cloth, same boots anC
clothing, and at least hundred differ
emit kinds of garden-seeds. We will b.
so happy when 1 get home. But, 81
(cryinR), 1 really think never will
reach home again. Three weeks o
travel all alone has nearly cost me m,
life.
"What is my husband doing in Coro
RADIO, did you say, sir? he is sheep
farming. He was a tailor and gentle
men's-furnisher in Gloster. We liveG
IN one house for nineteen years. NJ
father kept the business before / mar
ried my husband. We were doing very
we'll and getting rich, but my husband
who had been a sailor when a boy, ana
who was born in Brazil, was always dis
contented and wanted to travel. In al
evil hour / consented to sell ont on
business in Gloster. He took e5, 00t
with him and started to Colorado. Hi
letters which he wrote from Coiorad,
were very interesting they were printe,
IN our country paper at home. Oh, sir
if you only could know how tired I an
of travelling, how lonesome feel her,
upon these plains, so many thousand
of miles from my dear old home, yol
would realize how anxious / am to NEE
my husband"
The sun and the train rolled on west
ward, and toward evening on the secons
day out from Kansas City came in sigh
of Bijou. Ny fellow-passenger was al
hustle and excitement she had heel
half dozen times to the glass TO adius
her hair and apparel. The beautiful
little boy in his Scotch cap, blue JACKIE
and black stockings had had his colder
locks freshly curled, his rosy cheek
washed, and stood upon the car-sea
looking ont of the acknowledging fo
Father.
"Oh, mother, I think see father,
said Charley. No, mother, it is som,
one else. oh, 1 see a coffin, mother
some person is dead they are taking
the coffin out of q wagon, mother. Their,
} 1t is, mother there, we are past it now
J Now we shall see father, we are home.
The train stopped. The weary, travel
ed-solled niece of Charles Dickens gath
} cred mp her parcels and her cloaks, anC
stepped out upon the wild, bleak 500
called Bijou Station. The passengers
; all interested in the talkative and nm
: sophisticated pair of travellers, crowde,
I TO the windows of the car to witpes
s the expected meeting between husban,
and wife, They saw it, While he