Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1885-03-01

UAt u0AofA4 uuucr tuo
FIRST Dennis thought the sound he heard was
from q cat Even the bitterness OF the
weather could not hold any comparison with
his bitterness towards members Of the fe-
hne race, and his usual ansthema against
thin cats" vas forthcoming. The sound
was repeated, q little fainter. II did not
seem 30 much like cats. and doubt arose in
Dennis mind. A third hearing Of the
sound sent him quickly into the alleywsyss
soon as he could get his lantern. The 10
and sleet abetted BY the wind, nearly blind
ed him, and he had to see with his ear"
SO to speak. His earsight being remarkably
good, however, he soon came to . small
bundle, halt covered by the snow, lying close
up against q pile of boards which had for
merly done service in the erection OF q gor-
geous palace or some sort OF scene as orE
liant as it was unsubstantial. BE. grabbed
the little bundle and rushed back into the
theatre. Up the stairs he few until ne
reached the duffy suite" He frightened
half the life out OF fat Mrs. Duffy BY MS
sudden appearance and by his yelling, For
the love Of God, bring me the whisky
Now, it was no uncommon thing for Den
mis- TO call for the whisky, but he was seldom
in such o hurry, and his possession OF this
principal adjunct to the flowing bowl sell
dom seemed q case of life or death, as N
the present instance. Mrs. Duffy, acting
with the usual acumen and celebrity of WON
ankind in an emergency, Immediately
brought Dennis his two sausages upon q
fork. She had been cooking sausages for
his supper. Meanwhile her man had I'M
rolled the bundle. 1t is needless to say he
had guessed at once what the bundle con-
tanned, or rather what was its composition.
When the sausages arrived, Dennis was
holding in his lap, and was gently rubbing
the tiny hands Of as pretty a little baby
as one could wish to see. 1t wa q really
pretty baby, for in this instance we do not
have to allow for that lovely almost divine,
feeling which makes every baby pretty in its
mothers sight.
Powers above us!' said Mrs. Duffy.
as that the whiskyT' asked Mr.. Duffy.
Lord! ! forgot it" answered Mrs. Duffy.
"Go get it then" spoke forth Mr.. Duffy.
It will never be know to the end OF time
lust what Dennis intended to do with that
whiskey. Perhaps, knowing from from ex-
p~erience its warming properties, and con
sideriDg it 9 sovereign remedy for many ills
common to mankind, he deemed it excel
lent for the restoration of a halt-frozen
baby. But baby's blue eyes opening wide,
herimouth opening wider, and a good broad
veil issuing from the last mentioned oriice,
Dennis actually proceeded as follows. He
reached for the bottle with one hand pulled
out the cork with his teeth, and took as
stiff q drink as ever was taken by a polti-
clan on election day. 1t appeared to have
a wonderful effect upon the baby. Mrs.
Duffy took q little of the same medicine,
and BY that time the baby stopped yelling.
Such an effective vicsrious application Of
a remedy has never before been recorded.
The tender-hearted Mrs. Duffy, after her tast-
ing ofthe bottle, reached q normal state, and
with a woman's instinct took the baby to
her lap and was soon bringing it to q
uuiescent condition by the attentions which,
with no previous practice upon children OF
her own, at the same time seemed to come
entirely natural to her. The babys cold
toes were chsfed; her little round legs were
soon kicking in front of the fire, and, II
you'll believe it, Dennis made a pap, under
Molly's directions, which the baby gracious
" received and appeared to rayenously en-
Joy. Where Molly got a recipe for pap,
heaven alone knows; as for Dennis, he
would probably have given the child a
sausage had the matter Of instant supply
been left to his discretion.
AN where in the Yurruld did ye get ii,
Dennis, dear-the swste darlin-an the
cowld it was, too" said Mrs Duffy.
Divil a wan iv me knows where it KEN
from 'cept from hiven, and it's a bad noight
to be trsvellin, away from that place to this.
But Oh found it out in the ~alleyway tucked
up agin' the Jocks psllus. Here it is,
though, an praise be to God, here it'll stay
until a betther than US comes to claim it,
oh, Dennis, love, do We IA well keep
it? Is it to be mOin- me that's longed
for a baby so?
Sbure It'll be ours, not yours alone, bar
rim no wan comes to claim il"
And that is the story, so far, how Dennis
Duffy got his daughter-that Little One so
often alluded to.
When the child was born into the Duffy
family, if the expression may be allowed,
she wac about seven months old. At any
rate. five months from the night she was
found was settled upon as her birthday, and
each years return Of that day was duly
celebrated as an important event.
1t was strange, maybe, but although the
child wa well clad when it was found; al
though the finding was duly recorded; a.
though Mr.. Dufy's new possession was the
subject of many a long paragraph in the
daily papers; although, in every feature and
- e IzI..4o A.o,t- Nha hahu oaaunaI 10
be the offspring of. more than ordinarily
welltodo parents, nothing whatever con-
corning its brief past, before Dennis found
il. was ever ascertained. There was no
mysterious scrap o. paper, no locket with a
vague inscription found with it; in short,
none of the romantic sdjuncts usually con-
nected with fou~ndlings has a place in this
story. 1t would be easy enough to furnish
n couple or more initials and q beautiful
lOcket, but | must tell the truth, even
though the skies fall. If any such means
of Identification ever existed. if it was in
tended that the child should DE somehow
marked for future claiming, the intention
was q failure in ITS carrying out. Dennis
diligently shovelled and searched about the
a~lleyway for any trinket which might have
fallen from bsby's neck or arm such
was ever found. Any paper, if there was
such, which might have accompanied the
little bundle, had been borne to ar sdjoin-
ing county. No peculiar foot had left its
telltail print in the snow in the alleyway,
| or, if it had, the aher-snow had oblterated
the mark. Molly swept the theatre with
even more than her wonted care-or that
part of it leading from the stage door to the
Duffy suite, thinking that perhaps Dennis
had dropped something on his fiving trip
TO their rooms. Still nothing was found.
Many people came forward and offered to
adopt the child, but 10 all such corners
Dennis Duffy, ESQ, remarked, ITS
fndin' havin', an ON kaps it meself, av
ye Place, providin' the right owner don't
come for it." Tom Jackson, the critic Of
the Daily Godsend, wrote a charming article
in that wellknown journal p~rsising Dennis
IL "a .nao Nha