Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-03-28
MADEMO1SELLE PAPA.

mons, the miners gathered every morn
ing around the Berard shaft, the last to
arrive was always a tall, jolly, robust
fellow, holding by the hand a little girl of
seven o eight years. This was Michel
Pierron and his daughter. Before set
ting foot OF the platform the man would
lift the child in his arms, kiss her again
ard again, and then set her down on the
ground.
Goodbye, papa" the child would
cry. When he reached the shaft, she
would gaze at him with eyes fixed, d.
lated. surprised and anxious, and
repeat. Goodbye, papa" At the
scent, she would clasp her little hands,
and with nervous twitchings Of the fin
gers. repeat this one word, "Papa," un-
til, sure that papa could no longer hear
her, she would repair to the school
house, there to pass the day.
At ~nightfall she was always first at
the shaft, where Michel Pierron was
sure to be first to leave. As in the
morning, he would lift her in his arms,
the child nesting close to him and cry
ing, "Papa!" All the l~ightnings of her
little soul then flashed into her smile
and glance.
: She had SO often repeated these two
s%Syllablcs, and had SO impressed those
who heard with the strong passion she
involuntary threw into them, that peo-
pie called her ''Mademoislle Papa"
Never was name more appropriate.
The child's father was all in all to her.
The mother she scarce knew had long
been dead-she had only him. In the
remembrances of infancy it was he only
she recalled. For her this fathers
rough hands had been gentle; for her
his rough visage had been tender; for her
the man had become at the same time
child and And loving her
father as she did, how frightened she
had come to be at his descent every
morning into that yawning chasm,
whose depths she could not penetrate.
A miner had one day been seized
with sudden whim to hold her over the
side of the shaft. At sight of the dark
gulf below she had raised a cry of ter
o and fled. '.Papa goes down there
every morning." she thought. eff he
should not come up again!"
The next morning when Michel held
her in his arms and kissed her, as was
his wont, she clung more closely than
ever to his neck, and said, in q low,
tremulous voice:
You will come up again, will you
pot?"
why, of course, little daughter"
els there no dangerp Tell me papa"
None at all, little coward"
might not-could not one die down
there?"
'Never fear," answered Michel,
laughing. Il shall not die without tel
ling you"
Well, goodbye, papa
Whatever this father said was true as
gospel, and the child went away to
school almost treasured, But the re-
membrance of that dark gulf into
which her eyes had plunged haunted
her continually. She was fearful every
morning, she trembled with a%pprehen-
sion every evening lest her father might
not rise again from those appalling
depths into which she had seen him 20
down. Was it a presentiment? Who
knows? One day a report spread swift
as lightning, that an expl osion of fire.
damp had taken place. In less time
than ittakes to tell it all, avenues leading
to the Berard shaft were invaded by
terror-stricken people rushing hither
from every side. OF all these human
beings burned alive, how many would
be seen againp
Michel's daughter was at school.
She knew nothing; if they had told her,
she would not have understood. Could
she understand, poor little one, what an
explosion Of fire-damp meant? No, but
at her age a child already knows what
death is; at her age one understands
when n sees the corpse extended on
the earth-pallid, mutilated, lifeless.
When she came for her father this
evening, the paths leadingt to the Berard
shaft were closed against her. For a
moment she was stupetied, then the
light suddenly dawned upon her. She
had seen these men she knew so we'll 90
down living-these men who had so
often embraced and kissed her. They
were brought up dead. Were they 60
going to bring up her father like
these? The though maddened her
With hair flying in the wind she rushed
wildly across the debris drawn up from
the shaft, crying, Papa, papa, papa!"
There were many Others crying and
calling '.Papa:" but no other voice had