The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1879-11-20

how pretty IL ISL sne crled, IN voice
sharpened by hunger and sorrow. "Look!
You don't look at it, or you'd buy"
These street-beggars should be sup
pressed" said a stout man she had ad-
dressed. "Young woman, Pll give you
in charge if you don't behave yourself"
He don't know; he don't know"
said Millicent to herself. Nobody
could guess how poor we are. Oh, what
hard, hard worldy"
Then she went on, not daring to speak
again, and her rose drooped a little in
her fingers, and still no one seemed dis
posed to buy it.
In her. excitement. she had walked
further than she knew. She was far
down Broadway, and before her was
Bowling Green, with its newly-trimmed
grass plot and its silvery fountain.
A little further on the Battery, newly
restored to its pristine glory, and on its
benches some blue-bloused emigrants,
with round, Dutch faces, and their bare
headed wives with woolen petticoats and
little shawls crossed over their bosoms
and knotted at their 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 a 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 Millicent. She sank down upon a
bench and began to weep bitterly. The
twilight was deepening. She was far
from home and little Jane. She was
faint with weariness and hunger. Be-
yond the present moment all seemed an
utter blank to her. She covered her
face with her hands; the rose dropped
from her lap unheeded. She cared for
it no more. Fate was against her, that
no one would even buy a beautiful
| flower like that from her.
There were steps. She needed them
| not. There were voices. 1t mattered
not to her. Suddenly some one said:
"What a beautiful rosep
And the words caught her ear. She
looked up. Three or four seafaring men,
with bundles in their hands, were pass
| ing by, fresh from the ocean evidently,
embrowned with the sun and wind, and
the ships roll still in their gait. Sailors
were always generous. One of these
would buy the flower. She held it out.
"Buy it, pleasep' she whispered,
family.
"Please buy this roseT'
"Pm glad to get it, said stout
elderly man stepping forward. "Whats
the price, my lass9 Will that dog'
| 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
afraid to tell me. / had little girl of
my own once. She's dead now. Tell
me, can l helpyou%
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
by buying the rose. Thank you very
much. My father was sailor too; and
he was ship-wrecked."
Its sailors fate" said the man
"It's time you was getting home, lass
This city is no place for young girl tC
be out in after night. But just wait. A
sailors orphan has claim on sailor
and my poor little Millicent would have
been about your age if she had lived"
"Millicentp screamed the girl. "Oh
my name is Milligent. Pm frightened
/ don't know what to think. You lool
like him-you. I'm Millicent Blair My
father was Roger Blair. Is it a dream
1t can't be true. 1t can't be fatherw
But the next instant he had her in hi
arms, and she knew that the sea hat
given him back to her.
Wrecked with the vessel. but not lost
He had been cast upon a desert island
whence he escaped, after three wear,
years, only to find his little home empty
The widow had left her little cottag
to earn her living in the city, and new
of her death had been brought back t
old home by some one who had been i
New York when she died, and who ha
either heard or imagined that her chi
dren were dead also.
And the news was told to Roger Blai
by kindly people who believed it thol
oughly, and had borne it as best he coulc
! and had sailed the sea again, wear,
heart-broken man.
= He had notfound all his treasures, bu
, that some were spared was more than /
! had ever hoped; and the meeting b
tween father and daughter was like tbs
between two arisen from the dead
| And so the rose bush had done mo-
1 for Millicent than she could ha,
s dreamt; and to this day it is the mo
9 cherished treasure in the little hon
where the old man lives with his tv
0 daughters; and when once month, i
blossoms fill the air with their fragranc
0 they crowd about it as about the shril
. of some sainted thing, and whisper:
Q "But for this we should still
Q parted"