The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1880-01-29
"A Child Voyager.

1ul QeeQS pTtdhllS III upon US oAlSll-
times as delightful surprises and stupid
would we be if we failed to be reused
from life's torpor 10y their presence,
their deeds, ard their expression Of
them. As We stepped upon the plat
form Of the cars on our way West in
the middle Of the night, we heard q man
say, Here is little Girl all alone
viii not somebody take care Of her."
Somebody responded ana we thought no
more Of it until next day when we had
dropped our sleeper and entering one
of the other cars we saw the sweetest
little child form we ever looked upon,
fast asleep, so sound asleep as not to be
heard in breathing Such head Of
dark brown hair, lying all loose over
shoulders, back and face, was never be
held features, as il the choice of an ar
fist from thousand beauties her long,
dark eyelashes lay across the openings
into a world of beauty, and her form
was in beautiful adaptation to her face.
We could hardly wait for her to wake,
for we felt sure she was the lonely child
of whom we had heard the night before,
and were impatient for the history of
this interesting but solitary voyager
across the earth. After awhile the con-
ductor stood over her. as il drawn by
her beauty and innocence. tie seemed
to be shrinking from waking her, as if
she was an angel, whose repose it would
have been irreverent to disturb, Said
he, "Whose child IS this" no one
could tell. He turned away and went
on gathering up his tickets. When he
had finished he came back, and she was
awake He stopped and said
"Whose little girl are you 2
"Mamma's," said she, looking up
trustfuliy in his face.
'Where is your mamma Show me
who she is.
Said she gently, Mamma is not on
the cars, she is in heaven"
The gentlemanly conductor grew more
intently anxious and said
But you have father aboard =
'No, sir; my father is heaven long
time ago. When | was little baby he
was in the army Mamma used to tell
me about him. She called him her
poor soldier boy
"And where did your papa and
mamma livep
''In ireland, sir, speaking more gently,
as if not right sure it was best to tell
him.
''Where did you come from, my little
darlingl'
'From the same place, sir"
'Not from Ireland =
Eyes, sir.
"Who came with you p
"Nobodv, sir, but God. He kept me
on the sea when it was awful stormy,
and was so sick!I thought | would die"
The conductor, in surprise, said, "You
did not come all the way from Ireland
ey yourself =
Eyes, SIR God was with me- my
auntie prayed for me and told God to
take care OF me on the forecastle Of the
ship; and she kissed me and said,
Precious pet, don't he afraid, for God
has told me that He is going with you
all the way : and some people on the
dock took Inc and made me sleep by
them until GOT to New York. and then
they took me to the railroad station,
and a nice old gentleman with white
beard got my ticket. Here it is, sir,
opening a queer, old-fashioned Irish
carpet sack, and pulling out a wooden
petticoat and putting her little hand
into the pocket, took out little pocket
book, tied with a piece of soiled linen
tape, 'here it is he gave it to me and
told me not to be afraid, because the
people would all be kind to little
stranger orphan girl. And he said
when l wanted anything to ask the man
with the band on his hat Are you the
man p
Eyes; what do you want, my little
pet Z"
81 want you to take care of me, if
you please"
81 will, indeed. l had a little girl
about as large as you, but she died"
"She is in heaven, amt she She
will see my papa and mamma; won't
she2"
He said, 81 hope So" and turned
away.
By this time half dozen men had
gathered about the child, no woman
happened to be in the cars, else that wo