St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-01-10
MISS PAPA.


sembled around the shaft to answer
to the roll call, there could be seen,
arriving last of all, a tall, sturdy
looking fellow. who led by the hand
a little girl, seven or eight years old
They were Michel Pierron and his
daughter.
Before setting his feet upon the
platform of the car to descend, the
man took the child in his arms and
kissed her, and then replaced her on
the ground. The little one cried,
''GoOd-by, papa
When the signal for descent was
given she clasped her hands and kept
repeating the single word papa, "
until she was sure that papa could
no longer hear her. Then she went on
to the school-hOuse close by, where
she spent the day.
When evening came she was al
ways the first at the opening OF the
shaft, and Michel PierrOn was al
WAYS the first man who came up.
At his departure he lifted the child i'll
his arms, and she threw her arms
around his neck, crying 'papa."
The miners had heard her repeat
been so struck by the strange pas
sion which she put into them, that
they gave her the name of Miss Papa.
And certainly no name was ever
more applicable. Her father was
everything to her Her mother had
been dead q long time; she had
scarcely known her; she had only
him All the memories of her child
hood were filled with him. To her,
his great, rough hands had been as
gentle as womans. For her, his
hard, grimy face had always worn a
tender smile For her, this man had
become q woman and child at the
same time.
All how she loved her father, and
how terrified she was every morning
when she saw him descend into that
great black hole, of which no one
could see the bottom.
One dav q miner held her over the
mouth of the shaft, and she had gaz-
ed down into the dark depths. Ut
tering CRY of terror, she drew back.
Papa goes down there she
thought ''Oh, if he should never
come up"
And that day when Michel took
her i'll his arms as usual and kissed
her, she chung more tightly than ever
to his neck, and said to him:
You will come up, won't you? :"
"Of course, my little one"
us there any danger, tell me, papa"
"Why no, little coward
Docs any One-can any onc-dle
down there ,"
Have no fear" replied Michel,
laughing. Il will not die without
letting Won know"
"Ah. Good-by, papa"
All that her father said was gospel
truth to her, and she went to school
completely treasured.
But the memory of that black gulf
into which her eyes had plunged
could not be cllaccd and from that
time she was afraid every morning
and tremblcd every evening; she
feared that her father would never
into which she had seen him descend.
Was it q prcsentimcnt Who
knows?
One day the report suddenly spread
that an explosion had occurred in
the mine In a moments time
crowd had gathered at the shaft.
From all directions people, wild With
terror, came focking to the spot.
| OF all those buried far below there
how many would ever see the light
again?
Michel's daughter was at school.
She knew nothing of it, and besides,
if any one had spoken of it before her
would she have comprchcnded
Could she know, poor little one,
what an explosion was? No. But
at her age one knows already what
death is; one understands, at her
age, when one sees inanimatc, mutt
lated bodies extended upon the
ground; and the approaches to the
shaft were StrcWn with them when
she arrived, that evening, to meet
her father.
and then the truth suddenly flashed
upon her; she had seen those men 90
down living, those men whom she
knew well, who had kissed her many
a time; and now they were brought
up dead Would they bring up her
father like them?
This thought distracted her She
began to run wildly among the de
bris, which they had brought up
from the mine, crying:
Papa papa! papa!"
There were, it is true, MANY others
who cried and who called Papa -
but no one in such despairing &C
cents. The others they drove back,
but no one could be found to drive
her away They let her run, poor
child, from one body to another,
sometimes stopping before dishg-
ured face, hesitating for moment as
if she feared that she might recognize
her father
No, he was not among the dead.
She grew calmcr, and sought among
the living. He was not there. She
questioned every one, but no one had
seen him.
III the morning, fOrtv-fivc had come
up alive, fourteen were dead. There
remained but one to be accounted
for; that one was Michel.
She had made them explain all
that to her and she understood. She
clapped herhands jovously, as if they
had said to her: He is all right
You will see him again All. how
she hoped to see him. Then she sud
denly recOllected the morning on
which her father had said to her:
Il will not die without letting you
know"
1t needed only that to give her the
certainty that he was living.
a child's faith is strong. 1t is not
easy to drive out an idea which has
once taken root in their minds. SO