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

not among the dead. She grew calm,
and sought among the living. She
made inquiries; no one had see her
father. OF the sixty workmen who had
gone down this morning, forty-6ve had
come up again; fourteen were dead.
Only one was missing; this one was Mich.
Ell. All this was explained to the child.
She understood perfectly, and clapped
her hands exultantly as if they had said
to her: "You will soon see your father
alive and we'll" All at once she had
recalled his words, spoken only this
morning.: II shall not die without tel
ling you"
She needed nothing more to assure her
that her father wa still living. Children
have robust faith. 1t is not easy to ex-
| pei from their minds an idea that has
taken root there. The child passed the
whole night at the shaft. When the
next morning they tried to make her
understand that all was over, that she
would not again see her father, that
they had explored all the galleries.
sounded all corners and not found him,
she shook her head and began to weep,
saying: 'Look for papa" But slight
attention was paid to that entreaty.
After fourteen hours of ceaseless effort
nothing remained to be done. There
was really something strange in this
disappearance. They ought to have
found Michel living or dead, and they
had not found him. The engineer had
himself led the search. with his
draughts in hand. The mine had been
infinitely explored, even to the last re-
cesses of the galleries. 1t was the unan-
imous opinion that the search must now
be abandoned. In the terrible u~p-heavel
exploisn, the unhappy miner must have
been engulfed; none could tell where
or how. Industry, like war, has its bat
tles-its missing soldiers as well as its
dead soldiers.
For forty-eight hours, Mile. Papa had
awaited feverishly, but hopefully.
Whenever a human figure appeared at
the %orifice, she would make q nervous
forward movement, and not recognize
ing him, as she had expected, fall back
into her seat with sobs and tears. Peo-
pie had tried to leaa ,er away, but she
had raised such piteous cries that they
had been forced to allow her to remain
feeling that she must succumb to weari-
ness at last. Whence comes such
strength to the feeble in the dolorous
hours Of life? Ask God, it is his secret.
The third day found the child still at
the opening Of the shaft.
"This must end" said the engineer,
kindly, "Come, be reasonable, little
girl"
"Papa-look for papa!"
"Alas, he is dead"
"No."
She threw such energy into this .no,"
that even the engineer was impressed
by it.
"Why MOP" he asked.
"He told me So"
"Poor little one," sighed the engi-
neer.
He made a sign for her to be taken
away but she chung to him desperately,
crying:
Papa is not dead. 1 want to 90
down. / will find him."
They took her away forcibly. They
placed her in school under a trustwor-
thy guard. An hour later she was at
the shaft. Clutching at the engineers
legs, she repeated: "Iwantt to 20 down.
l will find him."
The engineer was a good man, and he
pitied her.
CATER ALL" he said to himself, cit
might perhaps be better. When she
has seen with her own eyes she will be-
lieve. If this suspense lasts it may kill
her" So taking the child in his arms,
he stepped upon the platform and made
the sign to the conductor.
They are or the route. To descend at
eightyears of age into a pit whose very re-
membrance would horrify her! How she
loved her father! Still, she shuddered
to find herself in this utter darkness, to
feel beneath her this yawning depth
whence arose aheavy air that choked her.
The engineer felt the little bewildered
hands Irvine around him, the little
blonde head nestle against his own, and
two tears roll from it into his neck.
When they reached the bottom of the
shaft, she broke from him, leaped to the
ground, and rushed straight forward
crying:
Papa, papa!"
For two hours she ran thus through
the galleries, questioning the men she
knew, striking the black wall with her
little clenched fist, pressing her ear
against it, plunging hands and eyes in
to the slightest clink, and still repeating,
''Papa, papa!"
The engineer-himself a father, who
had followed her with great difficulty,
became weary of explaining what he
had explained twenty times, weary of
showing her what he had shown her
twenty times already-how the explo-
sion had taken place, what had been
done to recover the victims. The child
kept still imploring, still repeating:
"My papa is alive; look for HIM"
She would have remained three days
at the foot of the shaft as she had re-
NAMED three days at the top, if she had
not been forcibly withdrawn and restor-
ed to the light of day.
The engineer gave orders for her to
be taken back to the school house and
kept there; if she again appeared at the
Berard shaft, she must not be allowed
to descend. So carefully had he made
these arrangements, that he gave no
more thought to the matter. But the
next day when inspecting the works at
the bottom of the shaft, an unseen hand
brusquely seized him by the lapel of
his o%vercoat. 1t was Mademoiselle
Papa'
She had fo. tho cooood +;roo oeoopoI