The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-05-18
THE GIRL THAT PROVI-
DENCE SENT.


mother, dropping the ladle with which
she was basting sayOry goose, and pre-
paring to esign that branch of the house,
hold work inStanter.
providence sent her." answered father
with sigh of reliAf-he had been girl
hunting for month. "She looks strong
and tidy and has an honest expression.
"Humph," said mother, shortly,
''where's her certificate, OF don't the girls
from celestial Intelligence offices need
any? Have you character?" she asked,
turning to the girl.
Ihad one, ma'am," she answered, re-
spectfully, "but the mice ateit; I'll soon
have anOther-try me, ma'am, just try
me-
"What is your name?" asked mother,
in a eateehismal voice, after the girl had
laid aside her shaw and hood.
"EllinOra," was the answer, with a
pleasant smile.
"Well, we'll call you Nellie for short,
and you can go right to work at the veg
etabies for dinner" and mother proceed
ed to show her what duties were expected
of her.
She proved to be an excellent servant,
though little queer and obstinate, but
she never went out; had no associates,
and though we knew nothing more about
her than if she had dropped trom the
skies she seemed faithful and honest.
She had been with us about month
when one night we heard loud talking in
her room; 1t was still early III the even
ing, and as ours was country nome IL
was habit we had fallen into of retir-
Iug soon after supper, If not to bed to our
own rooms. We all heard the loud talk
ing at the same time, and met in the
hall.
'It's in Nellie's roOm," said mother,
and we crept to the door and listened,
and we heard as plain as If spoken In
our presence these words, in mans
gTuff voice:
''rll burn ye all in your beds yet as
sure as ye have souls to be saved!'
This was followed by the pleading
tones of a woman-not Nellie's voice,
"Oh! don't, don't, don't We are in
nocentl indeed, we arel
The indescribable pathos of the Sob
hing voice terrified us so that we went
after father, who had remained skeptic-
ally in his room; he was angry and
fh1mped vigorously on Nellie's door, but
1T was some time before it was opened.
Then we discovered that every article of
furniture in the room was arranged to
form a pyramidal barricade in front of
the entrance. Nellie herself, sleepy and
rubbing her eyes. thrust out head tied
up in an old white apron.
What is it?" she asked hastily, with
a frightened look: "thieves-murderp'
LET us in" said father applying his
shoulder to the door, which was only
opened crack; but Nellie had no idea
of letting us in, and resisted with such
feroeity that mother undertook to sOOthe
her, and gained by strategy what we
could not effect by force.
There was not soul in the room and
the window was nailed down. There
was no possible hiding place or means of
egress, and there was nothing for us to
do but to quietly retire, leaving Nellie
TO resume her slumheTs. which we had
80 rudely broken. Understand it we
could not. and it was all the more mys-
teTiOus when the next day the whole
thing had to be repeated and explained
TO the girl she declaring that she had
no memory of seeing US in her room or
knowledge of our being there. She
looked as serene and Indifferent as usual,
and said she baTricaded her door and
nailed her window down through fear
of burglars.
We had no reason to suspect that the
girl did not speak the truth; yet we were
80 conscious of a mystery about the
whole affair that it made US nervous
and uncomfortable, and we began t. no.
tice strange ways about our new girl
things that had been of no account be-
fore now told against her; yet, when all
was summed up, we could only say that
she was romantic, and had perhaps been
educated above her station, and so gave
herself airs, and she really did accom-
plish her work in a most satisfactory
manner.
"Just little cracked" father would
say Of her, "but good girl in the main;
I'd like to know what you women folks
would do without herp"
'It does seem as if Providence had
sent her." said mother, meekly; she likes
TO make believe she is an echo of father
sometimes.
Several times Nellie did treat us to
what father called a ''circus perform
anee" in her room, but as no harm came
of it we concluded that she was merely
enjoying herself in her own way, and
let her alone. She was such quiet lit
tie woman, with soft gray eyes that
seemed to implOre your fOrbearance, and
her breakfast rolls Of Sunday morning
were the best we had ever tasted; then
as to fried chicken, and angels on
horseback" the Virginia name for fri
casseed oysters, well, she could have
taught Delmonico to cook those dishesl
One day a carriage containing two
gentlemen, one Of them evidently a
physician, stopped a few moments at
our house to inquire which three roads
led to ferry near, and while father was
telling them they were halted directly
in front Of the kitchen window where /
stood with Nellie, watching her make
fancy dressing for some baked pork.
was noticing how long and slim her
6ngers were, as she worked up the mass
of spiced bread, when, as suddenly as If
shot from bow, she darted from the
Kitchen. and flep up stairs. Thinking
she had been taken suddenly ill, I An
ished her work for her, but an hour later
when mother went to her room, it was
empty! Nellie was gone. She had taken
nothing Of ours, her wages had never
been drawn, and she had vanished as
completely as If she had never existed,
80 that it seemed as If Providence had,
indeed, recalled her in the same mysteri-
Gus way that she came.
Was this the end? Yes; 1t was the
end Of Nellie's service with us, but one
day. couple of weeks after, the same
carriage that had stopped at our gate,
with the same two men that had been
in it before one of them a physi-
cian-came crawling slowly back again,
mud despatched and road-worn, and be-
tween the two men, shackled, manaeled,
the clothes torn from her poor bruised
limbs, sat our Nellie, raving lunatfc,