Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1877-05-31

ulu SOuuu ike Cjlllu s. Tic pldl0ClVe
wall of child nearly exhausted.
"God guide me!'' l said, undecided
what to do. And az sat another moment
listening, I once more heard the cry,
fainter and more faint. I threw myself
off my horse with an exclamation.
"Bc it ghost or be- it robber, Anthony
Hunt is not one to abandon child to die
without trying to save it." -.....
But how was I to save it?-how find it?
The more I searched about, the less could
my hands light on anything, save the
sloppy earth. The voice had quite ceased
now, so I had no guide from that. While
stood trying to peer into the darkness,
all my ears alert, a flood Of sheet light
nings suddenly illumined the plain. At
little distance, just beyond kind Of
ridge or gentle hill, l caught glimpse of
something white. It was dark again in
a moment, but I made my way with UNI
erring instinct. Sure enough, there lay a
poor little child. Whether boy or girl 1
could not tell. It seemed to be three
parts insensiblc now, as took it up, drip
ping with wet, from the sloppy earth.
MY poor little thing!"1 said, as I
husllcd it to me. "We'll go and find
nanny. You are safe now"
And, in answer, the child just put out
its feeble hand, moaned once and nestled
close to me.
With the child hushed to my breast I
rode on. Its perfect silence soon showed
me that it slept. And, sir, thanked
God that He had let me save it, and I
thought how grateful some poor mother
would be! But l was fnll of wonder for
all that, wondering what extraordinary
fate had taken any young child to that
solitary spot.
Getting sight of home I saw all the
windows alight. Deborah had done it for
me, I thought, to guide me home in safety
through tile darkness. But presently I
knew that something must be the matter
for the very few neighbors we had were
gathered there. My heart stood still with
fear, thought Of some calamity to
one or other Of the children. I had saved
like one from perishing, but what
might not have happened to my own.
Hardly daring to lift the latch, while
my poor tired horse stood still and mute
outside, I went slowly in, the child in my
arms covered over with the flap of my
long coat. My wife was weeping bit
terly.
"What's amiss2" I asked in faint
voice. And it seemed that whole chorus
of voices answered me.
"Dolly's lost"
Dolly lost! Just for momeut my
heart turned sick. Then some instinct,
like ray Of light and hope, seized upon
me. Pulling the coat off the face of the
child held, I lifted the little sleeping
thing to the light, and saw Dolly!
Yes, sir. The child had saved was no
other than my own-my little Dolly. And
knew that Gods good angels had guided
me to save her, and that the first flash Of
the summer lightning had shone just at
the right moment to show me where she
lay. It was her white son-bOnnet that had
caught my eye. My darling it was, and
none other, that had picked up on the
drenched road.
Dolly, anxious for her doll, had wan
dercd out unseen to meet me in the after
noon. For some hours she was not missed.
1t CHANGED that my two elder girls had
gone over to our nearest neighbor's, and
my wife, missing the child just afterward
took it for granted she was with them.
The little one had come on and on, until
night and the storm! overlook her, when
she fell down frightened and utterly ex-
hausted. l thanked Heaven aloud before
them all, sir; as said that none but God
and his holy angels had guided me to her.
It's not much of story to listen to, sir, l
am aware of that. Bnt l often think of
it in the long nights, lying awake; and I
ask myself how I could bear to live on
now, had run away from the poor little
cry in the road, hardly louder than a
squirrels chirp, and left my child to
die.
Yes, sir, you are right; that's Dolly out
yonder with her mother, picking fruit;
the little trim light figure in pink-with
just the same sort of white sunbonnct on
her head that she wore that night ten
years ago. She is girl that was just
worth saving, sir, though I say it; and
God knows that as long as my life lasts I
shall be thankful that came home that
night instead of staying in the town.