Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-12-22
LOST AND FOUND.
A Christmas Story.
CHAPTER I
THE WANDERING WOMAN.

Would it never cease? we asked, as VIC sat
looking out from the window, and watchec
the big, feathery fakes. Driven here anf
there in wild swirls and eddies, by the wind
thick as the notes that people the sun
beams the SHOW came down, obscurng the
| air, obliteratlng the ways, blurring The sharp
outline of the trees. and mutfling all the
sounds of outdoor life. For nearly week
| there had been sharp frost. The ice had rung
With the healthy music of the skates And
then, without the frost breaking up, the snow
aad begun to fall on SUNDAY night; it had
showed all day on Monday, all Monday night
| and now, after breakfast on Tuesday morn
lng, it was showing as hard as ever. would
it never cease" we asked.
1t was but eleven O'clock, and the train
was not due at Thornley, till three. 1t was
calculated that if the road was passable at
all, an hour would surely be enough for the
three miles drive. SO till two O'clock there
was no event to fl up the time save lunch
at least there was no event that we knew Of
By-and by, old Margaret came in and said
there was poor woman in the kitchen whom
she thought the dog Fury" had frightened
out OF her wits, because she could not speak
word that she--Margaret--could under
stand Some two or three of us went to see
our strange visitor.
We soon found that She was no more mad
than we were, only well night in despair, and
SuC llOb speak one WORD
OF English, and we found our little stock Of
French, SO neglected as it was, very made
quate Tor conyers ng with her in her own
tongue. 1t was enough for her, however, that
at last she had actually found some one who
had heard OF France and who knew there
was ASST such language zoe as as the French
Ihe poor WOmanS tale was this: Her nus
band was dead. Her two little girls were lust
old enough to work at the straw plating, but
not old enough to walk all day WITH her in
this terrible weather Her money had been
Just enough to pay their fare from Bjrming-
ham to Dunstable, and she had sent them off
by rail that morning. At DuLstable they
would find good Frenchwoman who would
take care of them. But she herself had not
from Birmingham to Dunstablc, a distance OF
some hundred miles, for which walk she had
allowed herself three days. And now this
morning. to begin with she found she had cot
four miles out of her way. She could find no
one TO put her right, the snow was preventing
her from walking at half the pace she had
hoped to walk, and she could not in any way
getto her work at the time she had promised
TO be there. She was strong, -featur-
ed woman; evidently very poor, and not at all
sentimental. But she did not beg, either d.
recty or indirectly. She was evidently care
full to avoid it. She warmed herself by the
fire, but when pressed also to sit down and eat
she said no, with many thanks, and begged us
to direct her on her way as We'll as we could
which we did.
Before she went she took out he. little we'll
worn purse and counted her small capital
She asked us what we thought might be the
railway fare from Banbury to Leighton. and
we told her as near as we could guess. Then
she shut her purse and shook her head in a
way that said she must walk it ALL But being
pressed to take some little help to make up
the fare for this part Of the journey, she took
it-not without reluctance. Only once her
courage seemed to fail her. When my sisters
little boy, rosy little fellow, eighteen months
old, suddenly began crying to 20 to her. she
took him into her arms kissed him, and cried
over him, thinking, no doubt, of her own lit.
tie ones and their loneliness at this happy