The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1881-03-31

IutSllOllS vi MISS hOAy, VINO DIT ldSt gave
her a sharp answer and told her to hole
her tongue but the child had found Gu
all she wanted to know and did not mine
the crossness.
Next morning she got up very early
and stealing across the garret, took al
old book from a dusty pile on a shelf
then with a pair OF scissors she had
brought up over night she cut out q
blank leaf and pinned it, carefully folded
! into the pocket of her dress
She did not 90 Out-of- doors at the
school recess, but took the pen Will
which she had been writing her copy
and smoothing the paper out wrote this
queer little letter:
DEER GENTILMAN II am a poor little CUR
that nits mittens for Miss Roxy am bound ou
as very small baby. ! wish had dol | an
very lonesum. vii you send me dol Nv main
is Nansy Peck, and | live to Miss Roxy Blair
house in Basel Nermone nit this mlttn, whe1
! am big will pay for the dol" NANsY PECK
The letter once written, and waved VI
and down under the desk to dry. the pa
per was pinned INTO her pocket again
and when the next pair Of mittens she
knit were done, pressed, caught together
with bit of yarn, and sent up by her Il
! the trunk, the daring and odd little note
was slipped safely inside one OF them
and lay there several months undiscover-
ed. One cold day at the end of the
next November, a Young man came
hastily into John Jacksons shop in st
Joseph.
'Hullo.' he said. | want a pair O
n I ,,f
of to the Denver station, and they say
it's colder'n bazes there Handling
express packages amt real warm work
anyhow ~
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
yerWas cramming the pair into his pocket
| The next week a snow suuall With a gale
and half of wind SWooped down OF
! Denver with all fury, and the new agents
teeth chattered and his hands smarted as
he stood waiting for the train that had
Just Whistled; he pulled the heavy mittcns
out OF his oyercoat pocket, tWitched them
apart, and sticking his left hand into one
ot them found the note. He had no time
to look at it then, for there 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 on to the eager. anxious little letter
by inks she shall have her dolly y
he exclaimed, fetching his fist down on
the rickcty table where his lamp stood
with Il thump that almost sent the lamp
and all to the floor But how to get it .
Denver was no place then, whatever it is
now, to buy dolls, and Joe was much dis
turbed at it; but il happened that the
very next week he was recalled to st.
Louis on some business that must be seen
to in person 50 lust as soon as his errand
was DONE he Went about to all the toy
shops until he was satisfied at last with Il
doll. And well he might be. the dolly
was Of bisQue, with movable eyes and
real golden hair, joints in her arms and
Ices, and a face almost as lovely as
{; real baby; for a baby doll it was, in
long clothes, with little colals 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
1T shall 90 free ali the way there he
said and wrote on the outside; pass
along the dolly boys. get it there by
Christmas sure. Free y. y. H."
So the dOll-baby began its Journey
and the story Joe Harris told at st.
Louis was told and retold from one
passenger 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 another a gay bundle of
calico for a child's dress, and one pic
ture book, each labeled Merry Christmas
for Nancy" till the agent at the last large
town had to put all the things into a
large 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 wagon-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 Il month with acute rheumatism
for when she heard Nancy's story she
WAS angry enough to box her ears well,
and did scold furiously, and called the
poor child many bad name for "brazen
impudencc." as she called it. But what
did Nancy care when at last with an old
hatchet she had ripped off the box lid,
and discovered its hidden treasures Miss
Roxy was glad enough of Il sweet ripe
orange, and stopped scolding to eat it at
once; but Nancy could not look at anoth-
cr thing when the doll box WAS Ouqned
at last and the lovely sleeping baby dis
covered. The child could not speak.
She threw her apron over her head, and
ran INTO the garret. Miss Roxy smiled
grimly under her orange.
"l4ittle fool :" said she; 'what upon
airth does she want to cry tor?'
But all the eXpressmen smiled when
each one read quaint little letter put
into the Basset post office, and directed
'"To all the Adams express gentlemen
between Basset and st. louis. Miss" 1t
was duly forwarded along the line, and
ran thus:
DEAR GENrLEMES-I know by the Ltybels
how good everybody was, and the dolly is goodest
of All, but everything is good | Thank you ten
thousand times. am SO glad, the things was
splendid. NANSY PECK"
NOTE This story is evidently founded
on fact. 1t bears close resemblance tc
an incident of a year ago last Christmas,
in which little Bucksport girl figured
and became the happy recipient of dol
from the far west. Ed. journal.
Senator Mahone's Leanness.