The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1885-01-14
A Baby MARTYR.

The stage was descending q sloping
hillside between Santa Barbara and the
DIAL, the horses walking with painful ex-
actness in the middle of the ruts, and
glancing with occasional nervous distrust
at the border of rank-looking grass on
either side OF the way. The constant
rains, alternating with fierce suns, had
rendered the whole soil continuous,
puffy, spongy mass, and more than once
they had passed by the decaying half
sunken carcasses of stock mired within
easy reach of the drivers whip.
AS the stage took an extra heavy rut,
a faint whimper, from bundle carried
by woman on the back seat, reminded
the passengers of the presence of a
baby.
THAT puts me in mind" said an erect
gray-whiskered man in the front seat,
"of queer experience lot of us army
fellows had with a baby way back in
in"
''In 'G4, Major put in handsome
young lady of about 20 who sat beside
the speaker, and who had received the
undivided attention of couple of drum
mers on the back seat, they evidently
taking her for the old gentleman S daugh-
ter.
tWon't you tell us about it, sir" said
one Of the pair, overwhelmingly, all the
lady passengers, married and single, in
dorsing the request.
"Well, said the MAJOR, with retros-
pective smile, "you see | was stationed
at Fort Laramie at the time, and was
sent with a detachment of twenty-five
men to escort General Whipple, who was
visiting the fort, and his staff to another
post, about 400 miles further north. The
country was full of Indians on the war
path, but we didn't mind them so much
as the weather, which was simply fear
full. Snow breast high and a steady
norther blowing that would cut the eyes
out of you. We struggled along some
how for a couple of days, but finally the
snow began to fall again, and we lost the
trail. The whole party had Just been on
the point of giving up for good, when one
of the scouts came in to report that he
had found, few miles further, certain
log house and stockade that we had been
aiming for. OF course, that braced us up
once more, and we soon reached the
house and started up roaring fire, you
may suppose. As the men were bringing
in their last armfuls of wood they heard
faint call for help on the wind. A for
lorn hope volunteered to go out and see
what was the matter, and pretty soon
they brought in an immigrant family
whose teams had got showed in, and
who had laid down to die some half mile
from the house. There was the father,
three boys, and little girl carrying a
kitten, and the mother with small baby
wrapped in a dozen shawls."
"Dear, dear me ~ exclaimed the LADY
passengers in chorus.
IL l,o1 oil
one corner and we gave that to the poor
family and made them comfortable
That night it blew gale, and the wind
had swept the trail so clear that the inn
migrants decided to push on SOUTH Oul
party concluded to wait another day fol
the weather to settle, and well enough il
was, as the snow began again. Some
time during the next evening, one of the
officers happened to go into the room
that had been occupied by the immigrant
family, when he heard a sort of low
cry, and going toward bunk, saw some
thing move inside bundle lying there
wrapped up in an old red shawl
ga blue shaw, Major" interrupted the
young lady, merrily.
80 it was,'' said the old officer, CLAN.
cling fondly at his companion. "He was
brave fellow, that Lieutenant; but he
ran out to us as pale as death. Gentle
men, said he, lin the excitement of get
ting away, those people have left their
baby
You never saw more scared lot OF
men in your life. There we were, showed
in, three hundred miles from civilization
with baby A grizzly bear would have
been more welcome"
"Oh, you horrid thing!" shifted the
mother on the back seat
"You don't seem to grapple with the
proposition, ma'am," explained the
Major. "On canvassing the matter, we
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