The Cecil Whig., 1879-04-12
CHOICE FICTION.
A MOTHERS HOPE.
A Story OF the English Coast.


coast, leaving behind il long lines of creamy
foam, which giiStened for Il moment in the
sunlight and then was gone. Already the
night uliSts had risen from the sea: every
moment deepened the rich azure of the
zenith; and the long trad X Of sunlight which
cleaned from the horizon to the limits of
the wet sands, kept evet spreading as the
s'tn rose higher, leapng from crest to crest
Of the blue hiilowS, and from sail to sail of
tie little fishing sInacks that lay off The
coast, till the whole sea and shore exalted
in the spcndOrs Of the new day. Who
could play the slug!sard ON suci a morn
ing? /, at all events, found il impossible
to lie past sunrise, and had already en-
ioyed Il stroll Of nearly two hours along the
shore, when the importunate suggestions of
an excellent appetite warned me that it was
time to return for breakfast. Accordingly
| was toiling over the ugly mounds of sand
anxious to reach the hard road rs soon as
possible, when [ was astomiShed by the
sight OF a little child lying fast asleep in the
midst of Il cluster of sea wheat, which grew
here pretty thickiy. In one OF its hand was
| d
parcntly served it in place OF those india
rubber rings upon which children of Il
higher station i'll life are wont to exercise
their gums. The child before me evidently
belonged to some tShermans wife, for its
clothes, though clean. were extremely prim-
| tive in their construction, suggested here
and there Il jutiicious utilization of old
pieces OF canvas. As | stood bending over
| it i'll great surprise the little creature awoke
and smiled uron me with the bonnicSt pair
of hazel eyes that ha, ever seen. What
was the child doing here? | turned to look
around and soon perceived, at Il little dis
tancc, Il woman engaged iii catching sand
! cells. | knew this must bc her occupation,
for she was lending over the still wet
sand and turning il UP with an instrr
| nent like 4 large fork, which now aid then
sent quite number Of the little Silycrfshes
lCaping into the air, TO be captured and used
for bait. 1t was not long before the woman
observed me, ana at once came running up !
locking rather frightened, and evidently |
ANXIOUS about her child She herself was
Il striking picture. She was very young, ard |
of Il dark complexion. Her features wer,,
positively handsome in their regularity, and |
this, together with her long bare neck. and |
the manner i'll which her masses of rich |
brown hair We're done up behind her head, |
gave her most attractive appearance.
Are you not afraid to leave your baby |
alone here , asked. |
Who would hurt him she replied, smi- |
ling sweetly she looked down at The |
beautiful child, who seemed to he listening |
attcutivcly to the conversation.
Ccrlainy aiiy one would be very hard,
hearted Who could do harm to the little |
thing, | said, in Il meditative tone. l sup |
pose you often leave it like this?
Yes, every day, she replied. Her tones |
simple lis those OF q child! and the |
half timid curiosity with which she kept
regarding me, had something strangely in
teresting
And suppose its father is a fisherman?
Is he out fishing now?
The young woman'S brow lowered for Il
moment and a look of sadness settled upon
her face.
He is long way OF, she replied, shaking
her head. 1t is :; year since | saw him. He
went away before baby was born.
And don't You know where he is?
She shook her head.
He will come back soon, she sail and
then nodding 4 good morning to me she
picked up the child and walked back to her
basket on the sands.
gould moi help feeling strangely inter
cSted III her and the child. / felt that there
must be some mystery about them: but She
was evidently unwilling to talk ;,hou; it.
So | turned and walked home thoughttully
After breakfast I again strollcd out. and |
walked pnrpnS''iS past 4 long rGn OF fisher
mems cottages hoping that might discover
something more about the young mother
Accordingly l was very much pleased, W hen
all at once | saw her issue from the cottage
door, carrying her baby, and 60 up the street.
| waited till she was out of sight, and then
knocked and cnterei The little house. | |
found only one old woman inside, but every
thing was perfectly clean and in beautiful |
order. Addressing the old woman | lei the
talk as well as | could to the subject Of my
mornings adventure. When | asked her |
who tile young mother was, she shook her |
head and sighed.
Eli sir, She is my daughter, she replied |
She had sad shock about year ago. and |
I'm afraid she'll never be right again-
Here she tapped her forehead significantly. |
Her husband, poor man, was Il ii sherman, |
us stout and hearty Il young fellow as You
r,I1I ,,.il bi,t h,.
night IN a stnrin OH tho shorr. We never |
| found his body, but we found that of his |
mate. And poor Mary would never believe
he was drowned, and she won't yet hut she
always says that he'll come back s,on and
Sc! the little hairn
it was born just after its father was lost, |
and the poor lass can't think but that he'll
come to see it one of these days. It goes TO
my heart to tell her that he can't ever come,
poor lass; she always laughs in her strange
way, and says that shall see.
Here the poor woman wiped Il tear from
her check. and tTrnGd 10 f.Lsy l,,,rsrl: with
some household work. Unable 10 talk on the
subject any more. 1t was indeed 4 sad tale,
| and her simple but heartfelt manner of tell
| ing il affected me extremely.
stayed for nearly Il month after this at
the little watcring-p!acc, and frequently
called 20 see poor Mary and hcr mother
| On" morning, II Vas that before the day on
| which left. | Went into the cottage early,
and found the little family in great excite
mcnt The postman had just left letter fer
the girl, AID as neither She nor her mother
could read | was asked to open it and read
il to them. This did gladly enough, motto
! ing with some aStonishmeut that the loii;r
was from China.
Who's it from who 5 it from? they both
cried eagerly. Look at the end first and
see who its from
looked, and read the signature. lanes
! Patterson
Its Jemmic. its .lcmmir. cried Mar
almost frantic with delight. told yo,i
mother. He is coming to see the little hlirn.
told you he'd come.
The old woman could not speak for sur
| prise, Sc hc-,Iii n once ami rcau the letter.
| 1t opened with Il reference TO Il letter
| which had been sent from Londun Il long
time ago hoping tha. it had been safely re-
ceivrd, and then Went ON to tell how the
writer had safely arrived in n"rt i, El.il...
and Was shortly 10 SCI sail for home again.
This, with an abundance of kindly and at