Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-02-06
NELEN0RE.


would take her into our service.
She belonged to q miserable French
Canadian family that had lived in the
city for many years; but, shiftless and
degraded as they were, it was evident
from the young girls account, that they
considered her the black sheep among
them; and her mother, always harsh
With her, for some reason had recently
. grown more so, until that morning, al
tor an unusually cruel beating, Hele-
ore she said her name was Helenore
Baldeau-had fled from under her
hand, and shaking off the dust of her
native alley, wandered, she neither
knew nor cared whittier, till hunger and
fatigue led her to seek shelter with US.
Her plain and somewhat heavy face
was swollen and red with weeping, and
there was look of pleading in her great
soft black eyes that was difficult to resist
'Oh, if you would but try mel" she
said. II can do good many tings; I care
only for some bread to eat and a place
to leev, and'--with shudder-ft TO be
hurt no more"
I held the door open and looked al
her with compassion stirring my heart
Poor child! she seemed so young and
yet 50 forlorn, standing there in he,
dripping garments. She could not have
been more than Is or 16 years old, and
she looked into my face with an ex-
preston of gentle confidence that felt
IT would be cruel to wholly disappoint.
And then she asked SO Ittle--"only q
place to leev and bread to eat, and to be
hurt no more"
The tears came to my eyes rs the
simple words REQUIRED to me, and
yielding to sudden impulse I took her
in, fed her, and made her rs comfortable
as possible; meanwhile turning it over
and over in my mind as to what should
do with her
At dinner time I held consultation
with Jack, the nominal head of our fam
ily,; I say nominal advisedly, for he in
sists TINT I defer to him only as mat
ter Of form, after having fully deter
mined in my own mind upon any course
of action.
Be this as it may, he generally con-
firms my decisions, thus making assur-
ance doubly sure; so this time, after
looking over my very latest, as he
called her, he promised to go to her
mother and negotiate, if he could, for
Helenore's services.
As q result Of that interview he found
out for certainty that Madame Bal
deau was horrible old vixen, but she
readily agreed to Let her daughter re-
main i'll our employ if, after suitable
trial, we so desired.
When Jack came homo at night he
found rs all together in the sitting
room. I WAS sewing and Helenore was
sitting near me playing with little Ned,
our 3-year-old boy.
'Well, Helenore,' said he lightly,
ST have seen your mother, and you can
stay with us if you are a good girl"
/ Sometimes quite an audience would
gather around her while she played,
and she always received their applause
with much dignity, and as a matter Of
course But there was one thing about
this instrument very remarkable and
mysterious; it responded to Helenore's
touch and to hers alone. Many others
t1ied it, but always with poor success.
Evon Jack, who has q sort of facility
with q dozen Instruments, and can play
the whole opera of ''P atience" on a tin
whistle, after a fashion, finally gave it
up in despair, declaring that he believed
that Helenore was a witch undoubtedly
it was the peculiarly Of her voice that
gave to her footing such wonderful eff
feet.
She seldom sang, and when she did,
it seemed to be solely for the sake Of
giving vent to some powerful emotion
otherwise inexpressible. Her, voice was
low, but very sweet and flexible; she
had no high tones. l think she consid-
cred them too light and frivolous to
convey the feelings of her soul.
1 once asked her why she never sang
high:
SMine heart is down here" she an
swered, LAYING her hand on her heart and
I was glad to believe that in those low.
deep tones Of hers, so tremulous and so
solemnly sweet, the strange, poetic soul
Of this poor rntaught creature found
full expression and was satisfied,
She sang her own words generally,
and they were without connection-a
senseless jumble; and yet as she sang
them they often possessed weird and
startling significance. Here is one of
her songs:
So still, 10 still, White moon.
To leev, to love, to die.
All still and white, to die!"
BY questioning l found out what these
words meant TO her. She was always at
ease with me, and could express herself
more freely to me than anybody else so
she tried to explain this verse.
She turned toward him with look
Of unutterable gratitude and tried in
vain to speak; then, with one swift
movement, she threw herself at my feet,
and fastening her great eyes upon mine
with an expression shall never forget,
she made the sign of the cross upon her
forehead and breast.
We saw her do this afterward on sew
eral occasions when deeply moved, and
it was as expressive and touching as
characteristic.
We soon became much attached to
her, and her odd wild ways furnished
us no little amusement. One of her ia
vorite pastimes was to sit with baby in
the back door and play on her music,
as she called it. This was an invention