Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1889-02-15

lie was a tender hearted man, that en-
gineer, and he took pity on her.
After all, he said to himself, that
will perhaps, he the best thing When she
has seen with her own eyes, she will believe
This excitement, if it lasts much longer,
will kill her.
And, taking her in his arms, he bore her
to the car, and gave the signal to descend
She shuddercd when she felt beneath her
that yawning pit, from which arose a foul
air, which almost sufocated her The en-
gineer felt her little arms enclose his neck.
and her curly head was pressed against his
own
When they reached the bottom, she dis
engaged herself, sprang to the ground and
rushed straight forward, calling
Papa papa l'
The engineer, who could hardly keep up
with her was tired of explaining to her
twenty times what he had already explain.
ed, how the explosion had taken place,
where it had occurred, and what they had
done TO find the victims, and the child kept
questioning him, and repeated
He is living Seek for him :"
She would have remained down there i'm
the mine three days, as she had already
done at the surface. if they had not taken
her by force and carried her up.
The engineer gave orders that she should
be taken back 10 the school teacher. and
also orders that if she reappeared at the
shaft she should be prevented from going
into the mine.
All his measures had been carefully tax
en-, and the next day, no longer thinking of
her, he was inspecting one Of the galleries
when he felt himself seized by the arm Of
his coat. 1t was Miss Papa
She had escaped from the school a second
time. Rupulsed at the shaft, she had slip
ped into an empty coal car and thus de
scended to the mine
She told all this to the engineer and oh
tanned his pardon. Five minutes later she
again began her search, still full of undim-
inished faith. The miners followed her
with pitying eyes, saying:
Poor little Papa ~
Little Papa kept on seeking with unabat-
ed courage. Suddenly they saw her run
ming toward them pale and excited
Down there ~ she gasped. Down
there Papa :"
what Down there ~ said miner.
"His blouse :"
bah Where r.
'Down there
In a moment every one had heard the
news and the mine was in a tumult The
child declared that she had seen piece Of
cloth in hole. which she could not raise.
because it was held down by an enormous
block Of coal
Where - they asked her again.
She turned, followed bv the crowd of
miners. Then she stopped and hesitated.
She could not find the spot All the
blocks Of coal resembled each other all the
galleries were the same And vet she was
sure she had seen that piece Of blue cloth.
Where the blouse was the man must be,
living, no doubt, and that man was her
father, and she could not find him
One by one tired Of the useless search.
persuaded that the poor little girl was Graz.
ed by grief, the men withdrew and return
ed to their work. But they had hardly
taken up their pick axes when loud cry
recalled them to the child.
81 have found it have found it :"
They pushed her aside and looked Yes,
it was a piece of blue flannel 1t was a
blouse There was a man there
They set to work with a will, and, in the
twinkling Of an eye, the wall was beaten
down, and in a deep excavation they saw
man extended ; it was Michel Pierron. He
had been three days and four nights.
Loud cries arose on all sides, and ringing
loud above all others, cry escaping from
lut llp5 VI Tue tlllll. tNllt lIItN neTHtll
upon the body and clasped it in her arms,
half mad weeping and crying.
Papa papa
He was nearly dead, poor Michel Ex-
hausted by lack of air and nourishment, he
recovered consciousness only to sink back
fainting but he was alive.
Miss Papa had told the truth. The man
would not die without telling his child, and
the thought of her had sustained him and
given him the strength to conquer death.
A week later he was out and ready to re
commence his work
On the evening of the day before that on
which he was to return to the mine a grand
banquet was given by all the miners to Miss
Papa. The place of honor was reserved
for her. \ loud hurrah aud wild applause
greeted her when she entered, holding on
to Michel's hand. There were kisses given,
shouts of bravo, and wild huzzas in honor
of the little queen.
And do you know what she replied to all
this, smiling and clappng her little hands :
She replied Papa
1t would he difficult to describe how and
in what tone she uttered that one word.
But all those brave fellows, whose eyes had
hardly ever known a tear, will tell you that
they wept that night.-Nc,r York Press.