The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-12-23
WANTED AT HOME.

When a plan IS going somewhere
and is in &. hurry TO get there he does
not Usually care TO stop and talk about
IL. but man from Montana had to
wait here an hour yesterday before he
could get train for Indiana, and a
chance acquaintance drew him out.
This is my first Christmas home in
seventeen years, - be said. Il suppose
/ wouldn't have come this time if It
hadn't been for something that hap
pened one year ago.
What was that?' asked his COM
panion. unbuttoning his coat and set
ling himself for a story.
well last Christmas ! was in camp
on the Lost River I'd been there a
good many years pegging along trying
10 get little dust together. The
snow was deep and we were not doing
much. | had a wife and three children
back here in Indiana whom | had not
seen in years. ! left them on account
OF disagreement that we had. My
wife was good womau-too good for
me, 1 guess-and one day when / was
ugly lit out. | used to write to them
and send them money, and ! was al
ways promising to % home. ! meant
il too. did intend to 90, too, but
somehow kept putting it off
Last Christmas morning my part
ner and l were up early preparing for
a trip down to camp. 1t was pretty
cold. and the snow was badly drifted
and unbroken. We got started about
9 o'clock, and had gone no more than
two mites when l stepped on something
that gave under my weight, and
stopped to examine it. Brushing the
snow aside found what appeared tc
be a shawl. aud with my partners help
| uncovered AT last good looking CIR
of eighteen or Whereabouts. We picket
her right up and started for our cabir
with her, though it looked as though
she was clear gone when we found her
Once in the cabin we made some no
whisky and rubbed her vigorously
There was a little sachel strapped t
her shoulder, and on opening it foun'
some photographs and papers which
led me TO say:
9" This here girl, pard, is mine, AM
1 know it. Shes after me.
Then we worked harder than ever
A little color came into her face, bu
vanished. We gave her more whisky
little. AT first she would not ope
her eyes or say anything, though trie
my best to get her to, but in the cours
of time she looked at me and said jus
as clear and quiet as l. m saving it now
- Are you my father?'
Z" Il believe / am, said |. If you
name is Weldon, and if you come iron
Indiana, and if that there woma
whose picture you We got in your sa
chel is your mother, then Pm your ia
Their.
''She never took her eyes off me
minute. They were big and soft an,
black, Just like her mothers were TWEEN
ty years ago, and my partner, who wa
getting scared, said, She's gettin,
crazy. She is crazy.
. Hush! says l. Then turning t
her said: What brought you here
and how did you come to get out her
in the snow?"
''She laughed little, just as if sh
didn understand, and shut her eyes
and went off again in a browse.
Z" This is my own daughteri' | yell
ed to my partner, and we must saw
her. / must know why she came an,
where she has been.
Then we went 70 work on her again
We were both worn out and we'll mig
discouraged, when she sat up quick an,
straight, with red spots on both cheeks
and says to me in voice that froze IN,
blood:
I" Father, came here for mother
sake, for the children's sake, for you
sake. We want you AT home. Prom
Use me that you will go-that you vii
go at once. Swear il, now.
II raised my hand. and looking up
promised. just then the wind howleC
mournlully about the frail building
and she shuddered and fell back Poo
girl. When | looked up the eyes wer,
closed and pallor had come over he
face. and the blue lips had become
colorless. She was dead beyond hope.
well. sir. after we had buried her
made inquiries at the camp, and founc
out how she had arrived there the AT
ternoon before Christmas. and on learn
ing the way to my cabin had started
out. We could only guess the rest
She had been overcome by the cold
and yet had been spared to deliver hel
message to me in the way / have de
scribed
II was a fool and murderer almost
but she did not die nyaiu. Her mother
has husband aud her sisters a father
from this time forth, poor stuff though
he may be. - Chicago Herald.
.