Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-06-21
The Missing Major.

over the event as was never before known
in Warrenton, though it was one Of the
largest villages in Rhode Island.
The Major family was the wealthiest one
in town, and the most influential one in
every way; not simply on account of their
wealth, often the only reason for the respect
paid to rich people, but because MIR. and
Mrs. Major were kind-hearted generous
people who, in the sweet Scriptural words,
went about doing good to every one who
needed help or comfort or encouragement.
They had not only large fortune, but large
hearts and heads TO help them use it the
very best way.
The Majors had but one child, Maggie,
the heroine of the exploit that made so much
stir in Warrenton. There had been four
children in all, growing up in the Ma ior
mansion, but this little daughter was the
only one spared to them, and though she
was delicate little thing, never strong or
well, she lived on, Notwithstanding the
mournful prediction that Mis- Major
couldn't never raise her, nohow,"-the uni
versal opinion.
Maggie always drove about in the car
riage with her mother when she went on
her charitable trips. Everybody was glad
at the sight of the sunny little face, and
everybody felt certain sense of possession
in the child, due not only to the love they
felt for her, but for her father and mother
as we'll.
One evening in the early autumn, as Mr..
and Mrs. Major sat together in the library,
there was great commotion in the kitchen,
caused by the arrival of one of the "hands 4"
from the Old Sachem Mill with news that
the tenements standing near the works
were on fire. Mary Ann Bardy, the cook,
rushed into the library to tell her master and
mistress.
"Och hone but me hearts broke in
tirely, an me own sister an her childer, not
two months from the ould country, to be
burned alive in Ameriky Och hone Och
honel'
1t was hard work trying to pacify her and
find out the cause of her distress, as with
her apron over her head she sobbed and
moaned, rocking herself backwards and for
wards, but as soon as they discovered that
there was trouble in Mill Bank, as that part
of the village was called, both Mr.. and
and Mrs. Major hurried to do everything pos.
sible to help the poor laborers' families. All
the servants went with them except the
housekeeper who had remained home with
little Maggie. The child had been in bed
and asleep for two hours.
Mill Bank was a very splendid though
very sorrowful sight. A number of the
cheap wooden houses and barns erected for
the workmen were in a blaze, the fire send
ing up great showers of sparks from the
haymows and Illuminating the sky with a
lurid glow. The lamentations of the dis
tracted people increased the terror of the
scene.
Mr.. Major took the lead in the efforts
they were making to control the fire, but
before it was extinguished several of the
houses were burned to the ground. Mrs.
Major with baby on her arm, little child
holding one hand, and third clinging to
her dress, went as fast as she could to her
own house to provide shelter for them and a
few other children, whose mothers had been
directed to bring them at once to the Major
mansion.
you've been gone long time" the
housekeeper remarked to Mrs. jor as she
she helped her bring the children up the
steps. "I've been watching the fire from
the sitting-room window; grand sight, but
it made my heart ache"
"And Maggie ?" Mrs. Major asked.
"Hasn't woke up once with all the COM
motion. I've looked into the nursery three
or four times and she was perfectly quiet"
But Mrs. Major wanted look at the lit
tie girl herself. She gave directions for the
arrangements necessary to be made for her
large number of unexpected guests, then
went to the nursery, taking lamp with
her. But the bed was empty The dint of
Maggie's head was on the pillow, her clothes
on the chair beside it, but Maggie was gone.
Mrs. Major hurried back to the house.
keeper.
"Maggie is not in bed Where can she
be2"
They went from one room to another in
pursuit of her, expecting at every step to
meet the little figure, but they found no
trace of her. The gardener, who had just
come up from the fire, was called, and told
to search the grounds. The coachman was
sent back for Mr.. Major. Mrs. Major her.
self, almost wild with excitement and fear,
ran hither and thither searching for the
child.
The news of Maggie's disappearance
spread rapidly. The fire had gone out, and
the poor people forgot for few minutes
their own great calamity in their anxiety
about Maggie Major. Their own little ones
gie's father and mother, and the uncertainty
COuccIuiuS utl was pSiSOuai tiOupio W
each one of them.
Exhausted though they were by their
hours of hard work, all the men in Mill
Bank Joined in the search. Every foot of
ground was traversed, far and wide. The
river was explored, the woods were lit up
with countless candles. They shouted them
selves hoarse. The women turned out also.
There could be no rest for anyone in War
til II Ennxun xuhat had haCopna
of Maggie.
The sky began to show faint tinges of
pink. Day was coming, yet it brought no
relief to the anxious hearts. No one was
willing to acknowledge that the search had
been useless, and they looked mutely and
despairingly into each others faces. Mr..
Major returned by six O'Clock. His wife
met him silently-there was nothing TO be
said. He put his arms about her and kissed
her forehead Just then one of the little chill
dren whom Mrs. Major had brought home
with her ran up to them.
al told God Maggie had lost herself, and
| Just guess he can find her if anybody can"
Mrs. Major caught up the little one, kissing
her over and over again. The kitchen was
nearly full of people, all of them quiet,
crushed, subdued by the trouble which
made them one family; the sorrow which
had come as readily to the Major mansion
as to Mill bank.
"Why, papa"
A sweet little voice spoke those two words.
There, in the doorway leading from the
kitchen to the dining-room beyond, stood
Maggie, in her bare feet and night-dress,
her tiaxen hair floating over her shoulders,
her blue eyes still misty with the sleep from
which she he'd Just awakened. She knew
every person in the room, but her fat her was
the first one she caught sight of. Mrs. Ma
jor with quick exclamation seized the lit
tie figure in her arms. Surprise kept every
one silent
al guess | went to sleep in the droring-
room, mamma" she said slowly, looking as
much astonished as her hearers. al woke
up aud hollered and nobody heard me, and
then | saw it all bright, and went in and sat
on the big cushion in the gray window"
She meant bay-window, but the words were
ineligible enough.
I" The fire was it, shure exclaimed
Mary Ann Brady, never long silent; an
to think the darlint was never bit afraid of
the big blaze, at all at all
They had looked in the drawing-room as
well as in every other room in the house,
but the dark blue tabe-cover which, as was
afterwards found, Maggie, growing cold,
had wrapped around her, effectually hid the
white night-dress which might have revealed
her. Besides II was the most unlikely room