The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1886-10-21
CHAPTER THE SECOND.

Inc nrst ana the most vivid memory
of anything that little Frank Trevor
ever had was the fishing village of
Drayton-on-Sea; OF the grand hills
guarding it and the great gray sea
bounding it.. 1t always seemed to him
as If there were two other worlds be.
sides the one in which he lived, for
every day-nay, two or three times a
day-did not the train pass by Dray-
ton-on-Sea, coming from some un-
known land behind, and rush by to
some unknown land beyond? He
watched it come and 20 with won
dering, Thoughtful face many time,
and specialized on all the strange
things the whizzins engine had seen,
but he was quite content when it had
gone. Then there was the sea. He
and his little sister spent half their
time down on the sandy beach, watch
ing that great world Of waves, with
nothing beyond save the sky which
lovingly touched it in the dim dis
lance, and the white sails of the pass
ing ships. Every morning. for ma
ny and many long day, his mother
came down to the beach with him
and little May, and sat watching the
tide coming in or going out.
Mother" he often asked. "where is
father?"
But she always gave the same an
swer:
HE is on the sea, my child, attend
ing to all the people that may be ill on
a large ship in which he is, and he tries
to make them WE'LL"
"And wnau are you saying to the
sea, mother?" he asked one day. She
turned and answered him as if he had
been a man rather than q wee child
Il do not quite know, my darling.
l am sending a prayer out with the
tide, l think, to your father, to come
back again. always fancy that some
OF those great waves may travel far
away till they touch his ship. and
when the tide comes back that per-
haps they may bring me an answer or
some whispered message from him."
And so the months went by, and
then suddenly some terrible news came
that made his mother wiring her hands
and rock to and fro in an agony of
sorrow.
'Don't cry, MOTHER" he said, climb
ing into her lap; "come down to the
shore and watch for father" But
she only sobbed the more, and cried:
ooh! my child, my, poor child, we
shall never watch for him more. He
is drowned and gone forever"
did you see him?" he asked, child
ishly. "Were you on the shore?"
"No, darling, he was far away
much farther than we can see-and he
was wrecked and is drowned, and w.
ing in the great sea forever" she wept.
Then he knew that there was great
sea-world beyond his sight, and that
somewhere in it his father was lying
dead; and so the child's face grew
grave, and his eyes always seemed to
be looking much farther away than
even the great hills themselves could
see. The fisher-folk and the people
scattered in the houses on the hills
around were very good to Alice in
her sorrow, but they could not pro-
vide for her and her children, and
when Il letter came from her moth
er, kind enough now, begging
her to come back to the West Indian
Island, they tried to persuade her to
60. But she refused; she could not &C.
cept what had been denied TO her hus-
band, and thong money was inclosed,
it was long before she could bring her.
self to spend q shilling of it. She pre-
terred even the charity of the fisher
folk. So letter after letter came, but
at last there was one she could not re-
sist.
Remember it is your own mother
you are steeling your heart against"
Mrs. Brandleth wrote. land feel for
your sorrow as if it were my own, for
your father died before you can even re-
member. l am getting too old to
travel alone, but must 60 to you if
you will not come to me-"
Then she broke up the little home
the home in which, in spite of power
ty, she had been very happy in days
gone by, and i'll which her children had
been born-and went to her mother.
BIT she could not stay there, and so
after a few years Mrs. Brandleth put
the sugar plantations under the care
OF an agent and once more Alice Trev-
or came to England to live in O. small
country town.
CHAPTER THE THIRD.
Ten years from the time when Alice
left Drayton-on-Sea, the sun shone
no longer down on a little fishing VII
!age, but on q growing place of fash
ionable resort. The houses which
dotted the hills were closer together,
and at their feet there stretched ter.
races and streets, and on the once