The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1888-02-09
the DIAMOND CRESCENT,

The day was bitter cold, and the
crowds hurrying along Broadway
turned neither to right nor to left in
their haste to reach homo and the
:omforts OF the fireside.
Twas sitting on theground floor in my
Office watching the restless people
and philosophizinR as have q habit
of doing upon the differences in hu-
man condition, when my attention
was suddenly arrested by q child
wearing upon her breast superb dia-
mond crescent of purest water and
bri'liancy. Before had time to for.
mulate any opinion as to how so
magnificent q jewel could have come
INTO the possession of a child, or to
wonder how it's parents or guardians
permitted it to wear such a valuable
trinket upon the public streets, an Of.
ficer had the little one in his grasp.
Looking at it nationally. nothing
would have seemed more probable
than that the child was a theft, for /
did not fail to notice in my first
glance that her garments. although
scrupulousIy neat, were far from ex.
pensive, nevertheless an unaccount-
able excitement took possession of
me, and rushed to her assistance,
demanding of the officer authorita-
lively, Upon what charge do you
make this arrest?"
1nstinctively recognizing q frien !, the
terrified child besought me not to al.
low the officer to take her to Jail.
"Look at that pin, the little thief"
the officer said roughly, making g.
movement to drag the child away.
"Stop'" l commanded, Indignantly
now, for had made up my mind
that the child should at least have q
hearing. "Who says she is q thief?''
II say So" returned the officer
sharply. Il know 'em, these street
gamins, and q precious lot they ale!
She's a regular one. this one isl
''Indeed, sir, l am not a thief! Oh.
l am not, am not! I didn't mean to
do wrong. wanted to find my own
papa that Miss Adele says the cres.
cent will surely find"
The officer laughed coarsely. '"That
is fine, isn't it? Highly dramatic for
one so young. You see know 'em;
they come in all ages FROM
"Oficer," interrupted him; for a
crowd was gathering now despite the
biting cold, and did not much en-
Joy my position as one of the central
figures, ''step with me into my office
while we hear the little ones story. l
am convinced that you have no more
right to arrest this child because she
wears q costly ornament when walk
ing quietly along tho public street,
than you would have to arrest the
wife or daughter of a millionaire un.
der like circumstances. You know
who l am, and if the facts do not cor.
roborate the story this child tells
promise to deliver her over to you in
the next few hours
"All right" said the officer, "take
her, you'll be wiser in the next TWEEN.
ty-four hours, I'll wager"
And so was, but not Just as the
officer anticipated. The child told me
a singular story between her sobs,
and facts proved it strictly true. In.
deed, as / had the little ono in my
office before the fire, warm and com.
Portable except for the effects of he1
fright, had time to see that her fea.
lures and expression were those Of q
young princess of the blood, clear cut,
exquisite and truthful. She was as fa1
removed from the youthful unfortu.
mates brought up in vice and CRIME as
is heaven from earth.
The gist of her story was that she
was great mans daughter, and the
only way she could ever find her papa
was by the crescent, which he would
recognize. She lived with Miss Adele
a music teacher, and they had very
little money. Miss Adele had cried
that morning because their coal was
nearly gone and she had no money tc
buy more.
When Adele had gone out I put
the crescent on, and came to find pa
pa, for knew that if he saw that HI
would buy us some more wood and
COAL" the child confi3ed to mo earn
estly.
hailed a cab at the conclusion o
the tale and took the child to thu
street and number given me. A tel
graceful woman of twenty-five OF
thereabout welcomed her with emo
ton.
"Why, my dear Eva," she cried
clasping the child to her, "where have
you been? have been almost crazy
with anxiety about you"
But just at this moment Miss Adele
caught sight of me and drawing her
self up with dignity she waited for al
explanation OF my presence there
Stating the case briefly I asked her tt
tell me something about tho child.
II will, SIR" she said, motioning m,
to be seated, with grace l have rarely
seen equaIled. 1.-THE sole guardian
ship OF little Eva fell to me strange
, ly," she began. II am the daughter
OF a clergy man, and while teachin,
music in my native village in the West
it happened that one winters night
some eight years since-a night MOI
unlike what this promises to benny
father and We're startled by moan.
at our windows. Investigation show
ed woman and child. Both wer'
nearly frozen, and the woman, once ir
the heated room, swooned. We sum
moned a physician, but she recovered
consciousness only to lose it AGAR
until we found that che was dying
Toward the last the poor creature
muttered wildly and incoherently, ant
seemed to be in morta! terror of pun
ishment for some great crime. Just
at the last however, she became en-
tirely rational, and made frantic of
forts with her dying breath to tell Vi
all about the child; but the most wal
that Eva belonged to wealthy par
ents, and that something would prov,
her identity. Sewed up in the rag
wrapped about the baby girl we dis
covered diamond crescent, which j.
strangely engraved in ciphere. unintel
licible to a stranger. but no doubt sig
niiicant enough to the owners, whom
we naturally supposed to be littl'
Eva's parents, for this was evidently
what the. poor woman meant to con
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