Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-02-29

and secured the door. proceeded 10 OK.
anime his strange prize.
49, nsI ne moved the outward and
.ho' 1"u ~ covering, which was an old
snawl; The next layerof wrapping ap-
pea.eu 70 be a well-worn red flannel
sklrt; and after that came a thick, soft
.ais-D!anket This last had been ar
ranged with great. care, so as entirely TO
p5oeect the precious treasure it contain
gu ana now as Dan folded back the
corner OF the blanket a pair of great
uark ewes, ginning like two stars, look
81: aP at him, and the baby smiled in
"God bless it ~ said the young man.
1ervently; and bending down he kissed
rosebud mouth. "Soft as velvet"
ne murmured, land lovely as an angel.
But where has it come from? What
mortal hands have left it here-or has
1t dropped from the skies:?"-questions
mat We're eve answered from that
hour. 10 the blanket was pinned a
scrap OF paper, on which was written:
"Her name is Elinor." Nothing more
-parentage unknown and mysterious
as that OF the great Pendragon.
! However curious Dan mayhaye been.
ne had, just then, small time furnished
him for the exercise of wonder or inqui-
~. Although the baby had smiled up
on him at first its mood soon changed;
and with the tickleness he too readily
attributed to her sex, the novelty of his
appearance soon ceased to charm her.
She began to tidget and kick, and toss
her arms about, and then to comfort her
little face into such hideous grimaces
that Dan was terrified and thought she
was going into a fit. These signs Of
discomfort failing to produce the desired
effect, she opened her mouth and gave
vent to a series of yells which were al
least r%eassuring as to the condition Of
her lungs, but SO sudden that her mex
perienced nurse nearly dropped her on
the floor.
"What on earth am I to do with
her?" exclaimed the poor fellow, in dis.
may, while he vainly sought to quiet
the infants cries by rocking her in his
arms, swinging herto and fro, and trot-
ting with her up and down from end tc
end of the apartment. If she desisteC
for a few moments it was only to star,
afresh with redoublcd energy.
Dan began to feel that never till Their
had he known what it was to be truly
miserable. At last the baby got he1
poor little fist in her mouth, and at The
same moment an inspiration came tt
Dan.
''The child is hungry" he cried
"What a fool | am But what in Heav
ems name shall | do? Babies live or
milk, and there hasn't been such a thing
in this house for q month";" Here waS
a new and terrible dilemma. If there
was nothing in the house that infan.
could eat she would starve to death; bu
there must be something.
Drawing his little cot-bed out in from
of the fire Dan laid the child on it; and
feeling strangely Hurried and nervou.
by the sound of its crying, began
search for suitable food to appease it
hunger. Fate was kinder than he hat
dared to hope. He found some broker
mi~lk-cracker, and a can from the bot
tom and sides of which he managed tx
scrape afew spoonfuls of leathery paste
But mama in the wilderness was no
more precious to the starving Israelites
and boiled it owe his fire and prepared
a moderately wholesome andappetizin.
supply of food for the baby. She was
good baby, and allowed him to feed he
as though she had never known anothe
nurse. Well-warmed and well-fed sh'
was o o lying asleep wrapped in he
blanket; and for further protectionr roll
ed in the heavy butfalo-robe that form
ed the chief covering of Dams bed.
"Thank Heaven" murmurcd thi
i%mpromptu father. eff she will onl,,
sleep till morning | can then get tn
help Of black Susanna, at the Corners
she knows all about children. What
dear little beauty-and black eyes, too
I thought all bab:es-at least all girls
had blue eyes u