Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1883-12-19
A ROUNDABOUT TRIP.
A Five Hundred Mile Ride to Find a
Home Three Blocks Away.
Tales by James Pawn.

1t was very wet evening and took shell
ter in doorway in the Edgeware road. Pc
liceman XII soon joined me there. Now,
never let an opportunity slip when there
the least chance to obtain information, so
quietly commenced a conversation with II
"What Is the curiousest thing ever cam
acrossr said he. "Well, sir, that Amt a ques
ton as is very easy to answer, especially on
night like this" he added.
"Well, here is shilling for you, my goo'
friend, to keep out the cold, and to assis
your memory"
he at once placed himself in an attitude o
deep thought.
"Well, sir, I've been q pleeseman six years
and last Saturday night, in this ere yer,
street-it was not murder or robbery, no
nuthin' spicey of that sort, but the curiouses
thing as ever came across.
ut was 10 o'clock, fine and clear, when
see a crowd; and where there Is crowd, tina
is my place, and I'm allus there. 1t was to-
late for Punch. and too early for lighting, s.
l thought it might be serious
"When Igot up, it was only a respectabl
old party who had lost her way. l though
at first she was furriiler by her talk, but a
last found out there was some English in it
and l managed to find out that she cam
from Devonshire, where she said they al
spoke like that, which seemed ridikluc
don't it, STRIP
"Ridiklus indeed, returned /.
"Well there she was" said be, ga hale
active old party, with an immense nightcal
on her head, her sleeves tucked up to he
shoulders, and bar of yellow soap in he
hand.
''She had been asking her way to The
daughter Sally's' of every one she met To-
half an hour or more. And as most of the
people could not understand what she said
they took her for mad woman, and wei
they might.
"'Well now, my good woman said I
what is itp
''Then she told me her story, and though
could not understand all she said, l man
aged to pick up that she lived in Deeplane
Devonshire, and had come up the day befor,
to seq her daughter Sally. 1t was the frs
time the old soul had ever left Deeplane, ane
Sally's husband met her at Paddington sta
ton and took her home, but where tina
home was now she had not the faintest idea
'It was her daughter Sally's, No. 8, ant
that was all she knew. What was her hus
bands name? Tom she said; she knew NJ
more.
''She had lost herself in this manner: She
had helped her daughter to wash, and the
soap ran short. The shops were about tc
close. So she volunteered to 60. She hac
been to the grocer's with Sally, and could
fiLd her way again. So off she started, and
after some difficulty, found the shop, bought
her soap, and was returning, but now othel
shops were closed, all looked different; sht
was in a dilemma; she had even forgotten
the grocer's name, who was now closed, and
so she wandered up and down asking for he1
daughter Sally's No. 8.
II was puzzled what to do Had 1t been q
poor child lost, there would have been n
difficulty; it would have been as easy a.
lying"
Show sos'' said I, 81 should have thought
1t would have been more difficult with chile
than an adult, even though she came from
Devonshire."
mot a poor child, sir. In this case We
allus says, where does your father get his
beerp and out like winkin' comes the name Of
the public house.
"Well, took her up first one street and
then another, thinking she might identify the
right one; but she identified 'em all-they
were all alike to her. So in despair l gave
it up. She would not go to the station
house, and she would not go to the work
house and what was / to do with the ole
party!'
"'I've got my Saly's direction witt
down. said she at last, in one of her let
ters'
~ was just going to let fly, and call her q
-, but thought Of my own old mother
being in such fix, and the old party added,
Not in my pocket, MIR. Pleeseman, no, not
in my pocket wish it waS-but in my bak-
ky box (she meant her snuff box that left
at Deeplane, because knew there was
plenty Of snuff in London, in the right-hand
side Of the bottom drawer in my bedroom
'How very particular she was as to the
exact locality of her box, and yet there she
was in Edgeware road, with nothing but
Sally, No 81
"'Well,' says I, my good old lady, you
must just go back to Deeplane and look for
that ERE letter.
$50, bare arms, soap, and all, OFF she
trudged to Paddington station with one of
our men, and heard that the railway com
pany took her to Deeplane and back for
nothing, and so I says, Heaven bless that
company and increase its traffic
"And so she came back in about eight-and.
forty hours, with her bar Of soap and the let
ter in her hand, and reached her daughter
Sally's and No. . after all, having gone
around about 500 miles; and that's the curl
ousest thing I ever met on my beat"