Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-04-08

"Don't cry" said i, taking her hand.
"Listen, Jeanie, have you any friend
here, any neighbor with whom you
could stay until come for your"
aThere Is Mrs. Bain,n she replied,
looking at me with surprised eyes.
"wnl you-are you going to find pa
pap
Ibent my head silently, and then we
went together to Mrs. Bain's, poor
neighbor, in whose charge / left the
child, and then hastened off to the first
policeman, to whom I impaired my
discovery.
Leslie was quite dead, dying by his
own hand.
He had sent his daughter to me on
hopeless errand, simply to have her out
of the way whilst he destroyed himself.
A letter lying on the table told much
of his history. He was a gentleman's
son, ruined by dissipation and extrava-
pance; he had been fighting starvation
and poverty until conquered by des-
pair; he had no friends, no relatives, no
money; his parting prayer was that his
child might not be sent to the work.
house.
1t was pathetically worded, as the
last epistle of suicides often are; but It
was not the letter that made my eyes
dim, but the thought of the mild, pa
tient child waiting for father who
would never come.
| took upon myself the task Of break
/ ing the terrible tidings to her, though ]
would almost rather have jumped into
the Thames.
She did not cry or weep, or indeed ut
ter q word; her quiet and silence was
something appalling to me.
sThere was an inquest and merciful
verdict of suicide during temporary in
sanity.
Then arose o discussion as to what
should be done with Jeanie, and a talk
of handing her over to the parish.
Here interposed, offering to provide
her with home and education.
After many questions, apparently
endless trouble, after proving that I had
some claim to respectability, and was
LESS black than 1 looked, my offer was
accepted, and Jeanie was handed to me,
still in the old shawl and the monster
bonnet.
She asked no questions with her lips,
but the large brown eyes were filled
with inquiry. She was too quiet; In
child of her years that calm was unnat.
ural.
| Ihad told her story to my good friend
Mrs. Frank Lovelash, better known by
her stage name to the public, and thai
best of women had promised to helI
me in the fulfilment of my self-imposet
duty.
i We had decided to send Jeanie t.
school until she could choose her OWL
path in life.
i In those kind and womanly hands
left the waif who had never known
mothers care, and in those tender arm
the child cried herself to sleep.
think my friend appeared as al
angel from heaven to her-the seeds Q
kindness scattered on Jeanie's path ha'
been few and far between.
1t was five years before / saw my pro
tegee again after her departure 70
school. Every quarter brought me
) letter from her written in round larg
hand that reminded me in some cd
.. way of her eyes.
Time and fate took me abroad, t
! travel through the States and Australi.
so that, as / have said, five years passe
7 without my seeing her.
! At length I returned to dear, ding
London, weary of travel, glad to ;
again in the old rooms and among th
: old familiar faces to slip back to the ol
: way Of life.
: One night, wet and windy night,
was sitting writing in comfort, when
heard tap at the door, just as I ha
heard five years ago; all that past nigl
came back upon me with almost star
ling vividness. Springing up I opene
the door, fully prepared to see shabb
: shawl, nm old bonnet, and the great ey'
!, of Jeanie the wait,
Jeanie it was, but Jeanie with eigh
cen years Of grace and girlish loveline
-Jeanie, sweet as q rose and fair as
lilly, coming in like sunshine, bot
hands extended, and tears glittering .
: her long lashes.
! was suddenly concious of my year
Of the fact that youth had passed frol
the things that are to those that wer
I do not remember our first words, bl
I recollect perfectly thinking that Il
child still lived in the woman.
K "You have left school, OF course?"
a said.
l. "Oh, yes, guardian, two years ago.
5; have been staying with Mrs. Lovelat
n ever since, studying hard"
it "For what? Doctors diplomat"
k "Oh, no; for the STAGE" she reptile
Z smiling. s5.
"Are yon strong enough?" ] aske
n for she looked frail as o rose-leaf.
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