Sharp County record., 1881-03-24

TO sleep when you laid Il down; smut us
| bright blue eyes, and never opened them
until it was taken Up.
1t seemed to lonely little Nancy that
such doll would be all anybody could
want in the world. Ii only Nancy had
such dear lovely creature to sleep in
her bed at night. and sit up in the door
beside her while she knit. she knew she
would be perfectly happy; but that
could never be. However, after much
dreaming, wishing and planning, one
day bright and desperate idea came
across her. That night she asked q
great many questions Of Miss Roxy,
who at last gave her sharp answer,
and told her to hold her tongue; but
the child had found out all she wanted
to know. and did not mind the crossuess.
Next morning she got up very early,
and, stealing across the garret, took an
old book from a dusty pile on shelf,
then with a pair Of scissors she had
brought up overnight she cut out a
blank leaf, andpinned it, carefully fold
ed, into the pocket OF her dress.
She did not 90 out-of-dOOrs at the
school recess, but took the pen with
which she had been writing her copy,
and, smoothingthe paper out, wrote this
queer little letter:
DEER GESTILNAS: am poor little gurl
who nits mirtins for Miss Roxy. / am bound
out and l haven't got no folks Of my own, not
so much as a very small baby l wish had
adOl. l am real IOues an. vii you send nee
dol. Ny naim is Nansy Peck, and live 70
Ms Roxy Blairs house in Basel NermOnte. |
nit this mittin. when am big l will pay Tor
the dol NANsT PECK
The letter once written, and waved
up and down under the desk to dry,
the paper was pinned into her pocket
again, and when the next pair Of nit
tens she knit were done, pressed,
caught together with bit Of yarn, and
sent up bv her to the trunk. the daring
and odd little note was slipped safely
inside one of them and lay there sew
eral months undiscovered.
One bitter cold day, at the end Of the
next November, a young man came
hastily into John JacksOn's shop in st.
Joseph.
Hullor' he said. Il want pair
of those knit mittens of yours. I'm
ordered of to the Denver station, and
they do say it's colder'n blazes there.
Handling express packages amt real
warm work, anyhow!n
And so, while little Nancy, washing
potatoes for dinner, wondered who had
got her mitten with the letter in it, Joe
Harris, Adams Express Agent for Den
yer. was examining the pair into his
pocket The next week snOw-squall
with gale and a half of wind swOOped
down on Denver with all fury, and the
new agents teeth chartered and his
hands smarted as he stood waiting for
the train that had just whistled; he
pulled the heavy mittens out of his
OvercOat pocket, twitched them apart,
and. sticking his left hand into one OF
them, found the note. He had no time
to look at it then, for thse was work
on hand; but that evening. in the bare
little room at the hotel, he took the
letter out of'his pocket, and, big, strong
man that he was, two great tears
hoped out of his eyes onto the eager,
anxious little letter.
"By links! she shall have her dolly"
he exclaimed, fetching his fist down on
the rickety table, where his lamp stood,
with thump that almost sent lamp
and all to the floor. But how to get ii?
Denver was no place then, whatever it
is now, to buy dolls, and Joe was much
disturbed at it; but it happened that
the very next week he was recalled to
St. Louis on some business which must
be seen to in person; so, just as soon as
his errand was done, he went about to
all the tov-shopS until he was satisfied
at last with a doll. And well he might
be! the dolly was of bisque, with nova
BILE eyes and real golden hair, joints in
her arms and legs, and a face almost as
lovely as a real baby; for a baby doll it
was, in long clothes, with little corals
to tie up its sleeves, and tiny socks on
its feet. Joe had it boxed up carefully,
directed to Miss Nancy Peck, at Bassett,
Vermont, and then stepped into the
express Office, told the story, and read
the letter. The Superintendent had
little girls of his own.
sit shall 90 free all the way there"
he said, and wrote on the outside:
Pass along the dolly, boys! get it
there by Christmas, sure. Free. N.Y."
So the doll-baby began its journey;
and the story Joe Harris told at St.
Louis was told and retold from one
messenger to another, and many a
smile did it rouse on the tired faces;
and here one man tied on a gold dollar
wrapped in paper and tucked,it under
the box lid, and there another added a
box of candy. and another bundle of
gay calico for a child's dress, and one
a picture-bOok, each labeled merry
Christmas for Nancy" till the agent at
the last large town had to put all the
things into a big box, and pack the
corners with oranges.
Can any words tell what Nancy
thought when that box climbed up to
her from Bassett on Mr.. fuckers wag-
on-the very same wagon that brought
her from the poOr-house? Luckily for
her, Miss Roxy could not leave her
bed. where she had lain month now
with acute rheumatism; for when she
heard Nancy's story she vas angry
enough to box her ears well, and did
scOld furiouslv, and call the poor child
many bad name for her "brazen i'm
pudence," as she called it. But what
did Nancy care when at last. with an
old hot,lcA II, !, l Il.