Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1882-04-28
THE GIRL THAT PROVIDENCE SENT

II.
VIRGINIA Three Forks. and GOOD helm
was as scarce as hens teeth, that father
came walking in one day with a small,
neat. gray-eyed woman, and large
bundle in tow. ~
.1Where did YOU find berpn asked
mother. dropping the iadle with which
She was bastinp a sayory goose. and pre-
narino TO resIpn that branch of the
bouse6old work instanter.
.fProyidence sent herr answered
father. with a sjph of relief-he had been
o;rllhnntinu for n month She looks
Strong and tidv and has an honest ey-
nression - =
..Humnb. - said mother shortly.
..where' : bor certificate. or don't the
girls from celestial inteiligence offices
5eed anvp Have YOU n characterP,' She
asked~ turning to the girl. h t,ft.l... a.
aIibad one. ma a'an." she answered.
resnectfnllv. :. hut the mice ate il: I,ll
soon have eanother--try.me. ma am. lust
IRVINE. -rl,,,9.ll,. -. 90 Il, b -.
.. What is vour name. y asked mother.
in n catechismal voice. after the-girl had
laid aside her shawl and hood
:. ..Fllinora ,, was the answer with n
nleasant sm;le. IflBsNEfEE!U 0IlE
.Well. we'll call YOU Nellie for
short. and,you can po rioht to work at
the Vegetables for dinner,n and mother
proceeded to show her what duties
were eypccted of her.
She proved to be an excellent sery.
ant thouoh n little oueer and obstinate.
but She never went out; had no associ.
ates. and though we knew nothing
from the skies she seemed faithful and
honest.
She had been with us about month
when one night we, heard loud taking
in her room; it was still early in the
evening, and as ours was a country
Of retiring soon % after supper. if not tS
bed to our own rooms. We all heard
the loud talking at the same time, and
met in the hall. 80 1s!9I-G -ecT ~
"Its in Nellie's room,n said mother
"and we crept to the door and listened
and we heard as plain as ii spoken in
our presence these words, in a man's
gruf voice.
.I'll burn We all in your beds vet as
sure as We have souls to be savedl'
This was followed blythe pleading
tones of woman-not Nellie's voice,
however,!
"Oh! don't, don't, don't. We are
innocent! indeed, we arel',
The indescribable pathos of the sob
bing voice terrified us SO that we wenl
after father, who had remained skep-
tically in his room; he was angry and
thumped vigorously on Nellie's door
but It was some time before it was
opened. Then we discovered that every
article Of furniture in the room was ar.
ranged to form a pyramidal barricade
i'm front of the entrance. Nellie her.
self, sleepy and rubbing her ewes, thrust
ont n head tied ND in an old white
apron. sBa"i f'f
What is itP" she asked hastily,
with. a frightened look: thieyes-mur.
derln a : silsy ,.s.76si .stnapte
i"Let lis in,'' said father, applying his
shoulder to the door. which was only
opened crack; but NelHe had no idea
otletting us in. and resisted with such
ferocity that mother undertook 10
soothe her. and gained by strategy what
we could not effect by force. e'o''i8t
There was not n soul in the room and
the window was nailed down. There
WAS no possible hiding. place or means
ofleoress. and thee Was nothing for ms
IN do, hut tn ouietlv retire leaving Mel.
lie 70 ras,,me ber slumhers which we
lad sn rndeIv hroLem iInderstand II
we could moi. and il was ali tic more
mysterious when the next dav the whole
thing mad To he reneated and exnlained
IN tie Girl She declarino that sbo had
M n,ersory ~ saeiny me IN her room on
tnowIeJge NJ onr hejno there She
looked as serene and Indifferent as ns,,.
al and said she barricaded her doc,
md nailad hcr window down throngh
fear Of 4bnrolarsl vi - - ~ ~
we had no reason ia suspect that the
oirl did not sneak the trnth: vat we
We're so conscious of n amystery abo,,
The whole affair that il made us nervous
and uncomfortable, and we heoan 10 mo-
lice stranao' yyays abont our new oirl-
,bings that had been of no account be