Stevens County tribune. (Morris, Minn.) 1877-1880, 1879-06-19

| benches some blue. blOused emigrants
| with round faces, and their bareheaded
wives with wooden petticoats and little
shawls crossed over their -hosoms and
! knotted at the waist.
AS they stared about them, it struck the
girl that they. fresh from the sea, might
be tempted by the fresh, sweet rose she
held in her hand to spend few pennies
but when she offered it to them, she saw
they were more prudent.
They only shook their heads solemnly
and looked away from her.
And this last hope gone, despair seized
upon Milicent. .r.....,.
She sat down upon bench and began
to weep bitterly.
The twilight was deepening.
She was far from home and little Jane.
She was faint with WEAKNESS and hun
ger. r.u r..
Beyond the present moment all seemed
an utter blank to her. a-sr
She covered her face with her hands
the rose dropped into her lap unheeded.
She care for 1t no more.
Fate was so much against her that no
one would even buy beautiful flower
like that of her.
There were steps. -lt
She needed them not. .....,..-...............
There We're voices. .......
1t mattered not to her.
Suddenly some one said:
What beautiful rose"
And the words caught her ear.
She looked up.
Three OF four seafaring men, with bun
dies in their hands, were passing by,
fresh from the ocean evidently, embrown-
ed with the sun and wind, and with the
ships roll still in their gait.
Sailors were always generous. One of
these would buy the flower.
She held out the flower.
''Buy it please" she whispered, family.
"Please buy this rose"
II am glad to get it," said stout, ell
derby man, slipping forward. whats
the price, my lass? Will that do9'
He tossed three or four foreign-looking
silver pieces into her lap, and took the
flower.
Then looking at her very closely he
spoke again:
Whats the trouble, lass. Don't be
afeared to tell me- had little girl OF
my own once. She's dead now. Tell me,
can l help you?"
Millicent looked up.
The mans face was half hidden by his
hat, and he was stOuter and grayer than
her father had been, but she fancied
likeness.
you have helped me. SIR" she said,
Shy buying the rose. Thank you very
1al, 70 hnr Stnr fNa. md
he was shipwrecked.
''It's sailors fate" said the man. ats
time you were getting home, lass. This
city is no place for young girl to be out
in after night. But just wait, sailors
orphan has claim on a sailor, and my
poor little Millicent would have been
about your age if she had lived"
'Millicentr' screamed the girl. ooh,
my name is Millicent. I'm frightened.
I don't know what to think You look
like him-you. I'm Mi!licent Blair.
My father was Roger Blair. Is it
dream? 1t can't be true. 1t can't be
fatherr
But the next instant he had her in his
arms. and she knew that the sea had given
him back to her.
WroCkeu WITH Cue VESSEL, Out uOC lOSI,
he had been cast upon a desert island,
whence he escaped after three weary
years, only to find his little home empty.
The widow had left her little cottage
to earn her living in the city, and the
news of her death had been brought
back to her old home by some one who
had been in New York when she died,
and who had either heard or imagined
that he heard that her children were dead
also.
And the news was told to Roger Blair
by kindly people who believed it thor
oughly, and he had borne it as best he
could, and had sailed the sea again, a
weary, heart broken man.
He had not found all his treasures, but
that some were spared was more than he
had ever hoped ;and the meeting between
father and daughter was like two arisen
from the dead.
And so the rose bush had done more
for Millicent than she could have dreamed;
and to this day it is the most cherished
treasure in the little home where the old
man lives with his two daughters; and
when once a month its blossoms fill the
air with their fragrance, they crowd
about it as the shrine Of some sainted
thing, and whisper:
"But for this we should still be parted"