The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-10-20

cross the sea. She would thread every
avenue, every army trail in America
before she abandoned that clue; before
she wonld relinquish her search for her
missing boy, at last known now to be
alive, and doubtless in America-some,
where she knew!
No time was to be lost. Leaving er
son in Switzerland, she started at once
for. America to look for one whom she
had long ago given up as lost forever
as dead-but now somewhere among
the living-and in America too!
In fortnight she was in Washington
City in consultation with the British
minister, who was her personal friend,
we'll and long known. But how to find
the lost boy in an army where the
names on the rolls ran up into the
millions, seemed well nigh a hopeless
task. There was no clue to recognition,
no guide to discovery, except in the
simple name and in the photograph.
Even the name was believed to be
fictitious. What made matters worse,
the great war was over, the armies
were disbanded, and even if the date
and place of the soldiers discharge
could be observation-disclosures then? The
NE in the labyrinth just then begin
to appear.
A plan was adopted. The task was
h~erculean, yet the woman went at it
her whole soul and mind-her heart,
her time, her fortune-these were all
in it, and the British Government was
at her back!
An interview with the Secretary of
War was held, in which the British
minister, Sir Frederick Bruce, and she
were present. If the name given was
on the muster roll of the United States
armies, it could, in process of time, be
found. But the mother must bide her
time in patience, for the work might
require weeks and even months. Yet
she who had worked and hoped and
prayed for years, could endure for a
season longer.
She had not long to wait. One day
there came to her a note from the
Secretary of War with this announce
ment:
"Name of soldier-Jean Graham.
Enlistment age-Seventeen next
birthday.
Birth place-India, Asia.
present location of troops some
where on the western frontier in cam
paign against the Indians"
This memorandum, from the official
records of the war department, gave
clues and correspondences unmistak-
able and doubles unerring especially
Age seventeen, birthplace India"
With these two factors and the tell
tale picture, there were now no doubts
in her mind as to a solution of the
problem-at some day in the future.
It might require years in the solution
of the mystery; yet she felt that she
was at last, of q truth and for a GER
tainty, on the correct track, of the
truant, on the trail Of her own son, the
Iong-lost boy, the dear idol of her
heart.
But here came another difficulty.
How could a woman follow the trail of
a regiment of dragons in pursuit of
Apaches or Comanches?
Her experiences in India and in
Africa served her we'll and truly. She
was also ready for any emergency, any
trial, any duty, any march, any de
privatiQn, any encounter-encounter
though it might be with the new foe
to her-the red savages of the western
world-if it would only give back to
her the precious darling lad-the son
from whom she had been for years
separated by a mystery that was un
utterable in it's pangs of distress.
Through the courtesy Of the Score,
tary of War at Washington, she was
provided with an escort to the frontier.
Placing herself, an honored subject of
Great Britain, under the care and pro
lection of the detail of the United
States soldiery, she started at once
on the long, long journey westwardly.
For it was then a long, long journey.
In those days there were nc railways
across the continent as now.
Late one autumn afternoon she ar
rived at the headquarters of the desig
mated regiment in the feld-on the
frontier of the new world at last
after weeks Of weary rolling and jost-
ling in a government ambulance.
She asked first for the commanding
officer, to whom she was presented