The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-06-04
She was faint with WEAKNESS and

She was faint with WEAKNESS and
hunger.
Beyond the present moment all seemed
an utter blank to her.
She covered her face with her hands;
the rose dropped into her lap unheeded.
She cared for it no more.
Fate was so much against her that no
one would even buy q beautiful flower
like that Of her.
There were steps.
She needed them not.
There were voices.
1t mattcrcd not to her.
Suddenly some II said:
"What a beautiful rose"
And the words caught her 4 I
She looked up.
Three or four seafaring men, with bum
! 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 it ont.
buy it, please" she whispered, faint
". Please buy this rose"
Il am glad to get it," said a stout,
elderly man, slipping forward. Whats
the price, my lass? Will that do"
He tossed three or tour 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
afcarcd to tell me. ! had a 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 graycr than
her father had been, but she fancied Il
likeness.
you have helped me, sir" she said,
"by buying the rose. Thank you very
much. My father was a sailor too; and
he was shipwrecked."
Its a sailors fate" said the man.
Its time you were getting home, lass.
This city is no place for Il young girl to
be out in after night. But just wait. A
sailors orphan has a claim on a sailor,
and my poor little Millicent would have
been about your age if she had lived"
"Millicent!" 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 Milliccnt Blair.
My father was Roger Blair. Is it 4
dream? 1t can't be true. 1t can't be
father!"
But the next instant he had her in his
arms, and she knew that the sea had
given him back to her,
Wrecked with the vessel. but not lost,
he had been cast upon 4 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 vino 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 us 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 meet
ing latller anu WIS
like that between two arisen from the
dead.
And so the rose bush had done more
for Mil.icent 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 u month its
blossoms fill the air with their fragrance,
they crowd about it as about the shrine
of some sainted thing, and whisper:
but for this we should still be
parted"