Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1890-01-05
Death OF THE DOLL.
From The French.

Twenty-three years ago I was at the vii.
lage Of Bocage, in central France.
In one Of the little cottages of that vii.
. lage. into which hunger bad accidentally
/ driven me--this story is not an invention,
it actually occurred as relate it-a little
girl Of, perhaps, seven years Of age was
dying.
She was, it seems, the child Of Paris.
ian, but Partisan who was born and grew
to young womanhood at Bocage.
One morning in May carriage stopped
before the door of Mother Gira.d, who now
took care Of vineyard, but in her younger
days had been nurse for little children.
A young woman alighted from the Car.
risge, followed By maid and little girl,
delicate and feeble, but very pretty, never
theless.
"Mother Gerard, !" said the young woman
to the peasant, II have brought my little
girl to you; she needs the country air and
goats milk. Will you keep her few
months?"
The husband of Mother Gerard made
an impatient movement, but before he
could speak the young woman said: 81
will pay you thousand francs"
"a Thousand francs" eaid the man;
''she is very sick, and tho doctor will have
to be paid"
doctor or no DOCTOR" ssid Mother Ger
ard, brusqely. 81 will take care of your
child, Mini; I Twill care for her as tenderIy
as did for you, my nurseling."
81 am sure Of it,"
kiss me little one, continued the good
woman, taking the child in her arms.
The little girl did not wait TO be urged,
but kissed her sffectionatsly.
"Yoa will pay in advance?" said the
man.
Here are the thousand francs; give me
q receipt"
The young mother then brought from
the carriage the child's clothing daintily
arranged IN a email trunk.
The maid brought large paper box in
which lay beautiful doll that could say
mammal when one pressed spring.
The little girl had been perfectly silent
during this time, but the great tears were
rolling down her thin. white cheeks.
When her mother noticed that the child
was crying she made an impatient gesture,
which she quickly suppressed, but not be-
fore Mother Gerard saw it. The little girl
also saw her mothers displeasure, and
stretched toward her the little emacieted
hands.
1t was touching appeal, mute caress,
silent prayer, but Irresistible in it's elo-
quenca. The maid turned away her head
to conceal her tears. The mother was
greatly moved, and taking the child in her
arms kissed her again and again.
"My dear Mini, do no cry, do not cry
any more. shall come back for you very
SOON"
"Will you surely come ?n said the child
between her soba, and covering her moth
er's facs with kisses; "surely, surely" she
added, claspipg her little hands as she did
when she said her prayers.
Mother Gerard looked sharply at her
former foster child, who turned away her
head with flushed face.
"Will you really come back for her,
Mini ?" she said in low tone.
Certainly"
"Do not be too long about it." Mother
Gerard said significantly.
"Truly, mamma, you will return"
"Surely, yes, but do not be impatient.
Coed. bye; take good care Of dolly. Lis
ten how beautifully che says mamma"
and the mother made the doll repeat many
times it's one word, mammal The child
was silent.
"She will be your little girl and you will
love her very muchW
"Oh! yes" said the child with deep
sigh, almost a sob, and she pressed the
doll to her heart. The doll murmured
mama
She really loved the little inanimste
thing that called her mammal" She
spent hours in looking at it, in rocking it,
and in talking to it in low tone, at the
same time crying for her own mamma.
"Do not fear, Nini''-she had named it
for herself. 81 will never leave you,
never I am your very own mama, do
you hear? Your real mamaw And she
pressed the spring and the doll repeated
mammal
Then Mini took it in her arms and hug
ged it tightly. as if she feared that some
one would take il from her.
The consumption was slowly but surely
accomplishing it's deadly work. Her
eyes became more and more brilliant,
the bones of her cheeks more and more
prominent. A little dry cough constantly
shook the narrow and hollow cheat, and
her voice became feebler day by day. They
wrote to her mother, but received no re-
spouse. .,
There is nothing, think, more pitiful
than to witness the slow fading out of a
little life, which nothing can arrest,
neither science, nor love, nor prayers.
This martyrdom of infancy inflicts upon
thoss who must witness it tina keenest tor
ture.
Mother Gerard had learned TO love this
Door victim of filisl affection, for Mini WAS
diving of grief-because she was separated |
from her mother-much more than Of dis |
Gaze. and Mother Gerard, knowing this, |
pursed her with the utmost tenderness. |
Mini came to her in May, and it was now
October.
The poor child, feeling that she was no
longer a daughter, tried TO console herself
by imagining that she was the mother of
her doll. She layished upon it ell the love
that she formerly had for her mother. She
was unwilling to be separated from it even
at night, and the poor little brain had con-
csived singular idea-it was that she was
not sick, but it was the doll, her dear
Mini.
''She has coughed all night" she would
say to Mother Gerard when she had passed
restless night herself.
"You suffer, my dear Mini, bat will
cure you. We will cure her, nurse, will
we not? How feeble her voice is +" she
would add, in listening to the weak sound
which the doll made, because the pressure
upon the epring grew weaker as the little
hands grew thinner.
Hour by hour che would tell her own
sufferings, but always attributiDg them to
the doll. At times she would yield to an
Indefinite despair. She did not know
what death meant, but she would cry out