Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-03-21
MISS PAPA.

plOyed in the mines at Bernard assem-
bled around the shaft to answer the
roll-call, there could be seen arriving
last of all tall, sturdy-looking fellow,
who led by the hand little girl seven
or eight years old. They were Michel
Pierr0n and his daughter.
Before setting foot upon the platform
of the car to descend the man took the
little child in his arms and kissed her,
and then replaced her on the ground.
The little one cried: "Good-by, papa"
When the signal fer the descent was
given she clasped her hands and kept
repeating the single word ''papa" I'M
Gil 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.
ways first at the opening of the shaft,
and Michel Pierron was always the
first who came up. As at his departure,
ne lifted the child in his arms, and she
threw her arms around his neck, cry
Ing, papa"
The miners had heard her repeat
these two syllables so often, and had
been so struck by the strange passion
which she put into them, that they
gave her the name of Miss Papa.
And certainly no name was more
applicable. Her father was everything
to her. Her mother had been dead a
long time; she had scarcely known
her; she had only him. All her MEM
cries of childhood 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 a woman and a child at the
same time.
All! how she loved her father, and
how terrified she was every morning
when she saw him descend into the
see the bottom.
One day a miner held her over the
mouth of the shaft, and she gazed
down into the dark depths. Uttering
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
in 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 youP"
"Of course, my little one."
'Is there any danger, tell me, pa
pap
"Why, no, little coward"
docs any one-can any one-die
down there?"
Have no fear" replied Michel.
laughing; Il will not die without let.
ting you 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 effaced, and from that time she
was afraid every morning and trem-
bled every evening; she feared her
father would never return from those
mysterious depths into which she had
seen him descend.
Was it presentiment? Who knowsP
One day the report suddenly spread
that an explosion had occurred in the
mine. In moments time a crowd
had gathered at the shaft. From all
directions people, wild with terror,
came tlOcking TO the spot. Of all
those buried far below there how many
would ever see the light again?
Michefs daughter was at school.
She knew nothing of it, and besides if
any one had spoken of it before her
would she have comprehended?
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 inanimate, mutilated bodies
EXTENDED upon the ground, and the APP
proaches to the shaft were strewn with
them when she arrived that evening to
meet her father.
She was Supplied for a moment, and
then the truth suddenly flashed upon
her; she had seen those men 90 down
living, those men whom she knew so
well, who had kissed her many a time:
and now they were brought up dead.
Would they bring up her father like
themP
This thought distracted her. She
began to run wildly among the debris,
which they had brought up from the
mine. crying: Papa! Papai Papaw
There were, it is true, many others
who cried and called "Papai" but not
one in such despairing accents. The
Others they drove back, but no one
could be found to push her away.
They let her run, poor child, from one
body to another, sometimes stopping
before disfgured face, hesitating for
moment as if she feared she might
recognize her father.
No, he was not among the dead.
She grew calmer and sought among
the living. He was not there. She
questioned everyone, but no one had
seen him.
OF the sixty miners who went down
In the morning forty-five had come up
alive; fourteen were dead. There re-
manned but one to be accounted for;
that one was Michel.
She had made them explain all that
to her. and she understood. She
clapped her hands joyously, as if they
had said to her: '.He is all right. You
will see him again" Ali how she
hoped to see him. Then she suddenly
recollected the morning on which her
father had said to her:
81 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 its mind. So, when