Richland beacon., 1888-01-07
THE LITTLE SHOE.
A Strange and Startling Story OF
the Vast Blue sea.

Twentv-six wears ago a little child
toldleJ from its mothers doorstep on
the shores of Halfmoon Bay to Its play
ground on the smooth, pebbly beach,
where it was accustomed to pass tho
sunny hours in innocent play, gather,
ING shiny shells, bright pebbles, and
cav sea moses to carry home to add to /
4, little hoard of treasures. There was !
no thought of danger in the mothers
mind AS She saw her little one go with
unsteady steps down toward the shore,
where the wayelets, tapping on tne
strand. were throwingllp the oplects i0r
which the little tod1ler made daily
search. The hours passed on, ana az
LENGTH the mother, becoming anxious nj
nrnloured absence of her baby, went TO
the door TO call her home. She scanned
the long stretch of the beach, Du'
fin. little one was nowhere to DE stsIh'
The tide which was vt the eob when the
little one left her home had come III, ana
the,e was nothing but white sand to be
seen rs far rs the eye could reach. A
search among the neighbors' houses
brought no tidings of the little one, and
the mother. now thoroughly alarmed,
assisted bv other members OF the fam
ilv, began an anxious search 1or
the missing babe. The al,
ternoon and evening wore away, and
through the night the friends and
ncigl,bors kept up the .seach among the
sandhills and shrubs which lined the
beach, but without avail. Not trace
could be found of the child.
The hours heightened into days anu
the search had been abandoned SO lar
As hopes of finding the child alive wero
concerned, but still the sorrowing moth
or made her daily search along the beach
where her baby had been wont to play,
hopinc to find somethingswhich would
give Mt least II clew to the fate OF her
darling. One day, the third or fourth
after the disappearance of the child, the
mother found little bundle of clothing,
wet and torn by the waves which COW
cre.l the remains Of her little one, the
body having been cast up by tho sea
during the night.
Catching the body up, she ran with
it to the little house from which the
! light seemed to have fled with the loss
of the child.
The little body was prepared by tend.
er hands for burial, but it was found
that the right foot of the little one was
missing. 1t was supposed that the
child had fallen from reef of rocks
which ran out into deep water and had
been drowned, and that some fish or sea
monster had eaten off the foot. There
seemed to be no mystery about the
death. and the other children of the
family were wont to listen with awe as
the mother told in the cleaning how the
little sister wandered away from home
and was drowned. The children grew
I'D and married and had little ones o
their own, and the grandmother tol,
ar,in to Il new new Sc. of auditors how
her little girl baby went out to pla.
one day and was killed by the crue
sea.
Simple rs the death of the chill
seemed mt the time, it turns out to hav
been one of those mysteries OF the Sc
which are only revealed by accident
A short time ago one of the sons OF tin
old lady, and brother of the lost child
picked up on the beach apiece OF iarg
abalone shell which bad been throw
mp by the tide. He was attracted b.
l the colors of the shell and rs he turne
I it to look at the inside he was aston
5 ished to find attached to the interior {
the shell the perfect representation OF
Il child's shoe. Even the little break
: the toe, where the leather had wor
away, and every detail was reproduce
S in the brilliant colors which are chara'
+ tcristic of the interior of the abalOn
: shell.
Little thinking of the mystery II
II voaled by the reproduction by nature
!, n babys shoe, the young man carrie
t. the shell home as a curiosity. The fir
: person he showed it to was his mothe
u No sooner did she see the curiosity tha
y she exclaimed:
d cit is my babys shoe! The shoe
y my little girl that was lost twenty-s
\ years ago." =,
IS The rest of the family ridiculed Il
IL idea, but going to a drawer, such
v most mothers use in their house, 81
IL produced the mate to the shoe.
q careful comparison showed that t
7, lime-incrusted shoe in the shell and t
e memento of the dead child, careful
Is kept by loving mother through q
0. long wears that she had mourned h
81 little one, were undoubtedly mates.
n The mystery of the child's death
IN revealed at last. Any one who kno
We the nature and habits of the abalone c
Ks readily understand what occurred. L
no little one had ventured out in the roc
a reef, and in her clambering had slipp
ig from the Shiny, moss-covered rocks II
IL the shallow water below.
" Perhaps nothing more than wetti
TX would have happened to her, but rs !;
III would have it her tiny foot slipped
Sc tween the rock and the edge of hu
I'll abalone which was clinging to the ro
Is The shell mt once closed on the tent
or ankle, and the little one was a prison
'es to be held till the rising tide swept o
re her and put an end to the innocent Ii
no It may be that she was thrown into
ed water and held by the vice-ike grip
rus the univalve so that her agony was br
ne or she may have been held until
pic slowly rising waters chOked her fee
VI cries for help.
Such cases are not unknown. A
years ago Chinese was frequently 81
in San Diego whose right hand, W
the exception of the thumb and fore
~ ger, was gone. The story told by
" mates was that while hunting abalo
,,ns on the reef he had incautiously inser
' So his fingers under the sharp edge OF