The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1880-12-23
LOST AND FOUND.
A Christmas Story.
CHAPTER 7.

THE WANDERING WOMAN.
Would 1t never cease2 we asked, as we
sat looking out from the window, and
watched the big, feat]lery fakes. Driven
here and there in wild swlrls and edd1es,
by the wind, 'thick as the NOTES that
people the sunbeams," the snow came
down, obscuring the air, officiating the
ways, blurring the sharp outline OF the
trees, and muffling all the sounds of out
door life. For nearly a 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 had begun to tall on Sunday night
it had showed all day on Monday, ali
Monday night, and now, after breakfast
on Tuesday morning, it was showing as
hard as ever. "Wouid it never cease?'
We asked.
TWAS but eleven o'clock, and the train
was not due at Thornley, till three. It
was calculated that if the road was pas
sable at all, an hour would surely be
enough for the three miles drive. So till
two o'clock there was no event to fill 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
she-Margaret-could understand. 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 we'll nigh in de-
spair, and exhausted. She could not
speak one word of English, and we found
our little stock OF French, so neglected
as 1t was, very inadequate for conVersing
with her in her own tongue. It was
enough for her, however, that at last she
had actually some one who had heard OF
France, and who knew there was such a
language as the French.
The poor woman's tale was this: Her
husband was dead. Her two little girls
were Just old enough to work at the
straw plaiting, but not old enough to
walk all day with her in this terrible
weather. Her money had been lust
enough to pay their fare from Birm1ng-
ham to Dunstable, and she had sent
them off by rail that morning. At Dun
stable they would find a good French
woman who would take care of them,
But she herself had not money enough to
ride, so had set out to walk from Biz
mlngham to Dunstable, 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 got four miles out of her way.
She could find no one to put her right,
the snow was preventing her from walk
ing at half the pace she had hoped to
walk, and she could not in any way get
to her work at the time she had promised
10 De there. She was strong, coarse
featured woman; evidently very poor,
and not at all sentimental. But she did
not beg, either directl yor Indirectly. She
was evidently careful to avoid It. She
warmed herself by the fire, but when
pressed also to sit down and eat, she said
70, 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 her little
Well-w0rn aurse and counted her small
capital. She asked lis what We thought
might be the railway fare from Banbary
to Leighton, and we told her as near az
we could guess. Then she shut her
purse and shook her head in way that
said she must walk it all. But being
pressed to take some little help to make
up the fare tor this part of the journey,
ahe took it-not without reluctance.
Only once her courage seemed to fail
her. When my sisters little boy, q rosv
little fellow, eighteen months old, sud.
dedly began crying to 80 to her, she