Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-01-02
FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND.
WRITTEN FOR TIE EVENING STAR BIZ
FLORA HAINEs LOUeHEAD.


traught with trouble. his brain a maelstrom of
anguish and hot anger against the man who
would turn him out Of his home on the NOR
row and leave his children without a roof to
shelter them.
All, that was where it hurt. His children.
He was a strong man, equal to meeting the
bullets OF fortune and able to make his way
mp again il he had to begin at the very lowest
round OF the ladder. He could endure priva-
ton and overwork. His wife young and
capable, cheerful and willing. But-the chill
dren,
He had been watching their play for the last
hour-their happy, careless play, SO uncon-
scious were they of coming iIl-until he could
endure the sight no longer and had rushed out
into the gathering night How little they
guessed that soon they we're to leave their COM
Portable home. the home he had toied SO hard
to make and striven so hard to save.
He had slipped into this strait so easily
That was always the way. Happiness and COM
fort were only to be wrested from fate by
herculean effort. Poverty and misery waited
on the beck of finger. In the beginning he
had needed a little money to provide the neces-
ssry implements to cultivate his place 10
whom should he SO naturally apply as to his
wealthy neighbOr. Judge Van Alsteyne, who
made a business OF loaning money, and who
lived on the bluff overlooking the sea? He had
given a mortgage on his place as security. and
how was he to know, what people limited freely
now that the rich man bad long coveted his
own little strip of land. which adjOined the
tud,;e's extensive grounds? Then had come
the dreadful siege OF scarlet fever, which had
attacked his household, and little Annie, mar
rovly saved from death. had been left a cripple.
There was a costly surgical appliance that he
had heard would draw the crippled limb back
into shape. and IL was then that he had asked
for the second loan. secured by second mort
gage. that be might take the child down to the
famous city surgeon There was hope
ffaav. ~tRn~a
poor. shrunken little limb would be straight
and strong again.
His heart softened at the thought of his
crippled child, and II was this remembrance of
her that stirred him to an interest in the tiny
footprints that went on before him. Almost
uncorseiOusly and without purpose he began
to follow them, wandering ainIles-ly about as
they wandered. idly noting the places where
they had turned aside and lOltered, marked by
shining heaps OF shells and mounds OF sand.
They were not like his Annies, these even
prints of light aud nimble feet. His heart
ached anew as he remembered the last time he
had borne her in his arms to the beach and
the strange trail the poor little lame foot had
made dragging in the sand. This child had n
narrow. shapely foot. and in some Of the prints
there was the distinct mark of tiny French
heel Why was il that there nowhere any
sign OF a larger footprint to guide the little.
babyish feeir Why did the little footsteps
60 on and on. never In any place returning!
Who was there in all the town that would trust
little child to wander alone on the sands,
with the tide at the turn and night coming
onI Who was there in the neighbOrhoOd with
little child the size of his Annie. who might
have slipped away without the parents know!-
edge and strayed to this lonely spot. drawn
by the music of the waves. the strange magic
OF the sea?
The answer brought a throb of awful tri-
umph- Who but the people living in the great
house on the bluff! The judges little Annie
the petted darling of fOrtUre-upon whom he
had so often looked with jealous eyes. compar-
ing her position with that of his unfortunate
little one And yet 1t seemed impossible that
child so carefully guarded could escape the
vigilance OF those whose sole duty il was to
watch over her What reason had he TO 90 on
along the narrow strip of sand hemmed In by
the bluffs. rlsking his own life. ii might be. in
fruliless search Tor q child who had doubt
less played there IN the afternoon sunshine
and who had probably gone back along The
border of the beach. which now laved BY
the water! II he should turn back at this mo-
ment - the home where sat his sorrowing wife
with his hapicss children, what blame could at
tach to him It on the morrow the tidings of
Judge Van Alsteynes terrible loss should be
brought to him? How did il concern him if
fate was about to deal to this man who had so
prosecuted him a blow more deadly than that
that mad been leveied at himself!
He looked back toward the great house.
There we-e lights in al the rooms. Even at
that distance he seemed to see figures rushing
W ITO anu Signs OF unusual agitation
and excitement. The next slant he rued the
Loss OF even that moment OF waning daylight
and, lending low 10 maze sure OF the dlrec-
ton OF the little footprints. swiftly on.
de lid not stop to reason with himself that
thus would lie pray 10 be dealt with by another
should the lives of his children be imperiled
There are higher principles Of acton than that
laid down by the golden rule The instinct OF
humanity in him was more powerful than self
interest, and he obeyed il blindlv obIiyious of
M her h. hnr4 ~
was endangered, which it might be his privi-
lege 10 save.
Once. twice. thrice he knelt in the gloom
and searched for the dim impressions he WAS
following, and the last time he felt cautiously
with LIS myers on the cold, wet sand to
verify the testimony of his eyes in the failing
light
At length he seemed to hear a faint cry in
the distance, around a rocky point The sound
lent him new strength. A few rods beyond the
point there was run Of clear water often
mistaken for an inlet of the sea. He and others
familiar with the coast knew that it was a
stream Of fresh water, flowing down from the
MOUNTAINS and sinking IN the marshes back of
the ol1f5 IN this locality, only to pierce the
cliffs az an unknown depth below the water
level and to bubble forth afresh where the sea
laved their base At high water stream and
ocean merged into one, but at low water the
stream rlppled forth to join the sea And at
the place where IL weled up from its Under
ground passage there were dangerous quick
sands. One misstep and the frightened child.
Eroplng on In the night, would meet horri-
Die doom, swallowed up II q moment by the
greedy suction Of the sands.
There was nut;or OF n white garment on
narrow spit OF sand, bordered on one side nv
the advancing tide, on the other by the stream.
with It's treacheroas bed and crumblinC banks
lie shouted 10 warn the child of her danger
and tie waves drowned his cry. Confused. ex-
hausted, terrified at the great breakers that
rose with laundering roar and fell again to
dA-h themselves over the sand in foaminr
sheets that tapped her feet, she stumbled in
the direction Of the quicksands; and it was on
the ecge Of the crumbEng banks OF sand that
Richard Mansfield caught her.
he vas strangely happy and light hearted as
hs raised the little girl IN his arms The saw
ing Of this human life had done more for him
than any after reward could do. What to him
were he angry waves that dashed about his
feet and hurrying before him filed up a broad
deep channel through which he must plunge
before he could reach the solid ground beyond?
What 10 him was the shrieking wind that bore
down upon him. sounding Its shriIlest blasts IN
his ears! He tore of his coat and wrapped il
around the shivering little form What TO him
were the anxisties of the morrow when life held
forth to him such glad privilege in the eley-
snth hour Of his despair?
Absorbed in his children with the narrow ex-
ciusion That often marzs strong pareu tai love
which boards all for Its own. Richard Mansfield
bad never been drawn toward other cbiI1r.p