Alpena argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1893-1909, 1894-02-21
Reunited.

Soaoe' DeuedIH eIOTny, ledueu-
hued sky the deep blue waves seemed
almost black, and near the land
they crawled green with crests of
cruel white. A narrow strip of
beach alone remained uncovered.
Along the white shell sand a lit
tie child strayed--a baby girl-all
alone.
Slowly and YEARLY the little feet
paced the beach. Slowly, with an
awful sureness, the cruel waves
crept nearer.
She came to where, shut in by
Jagged headlands, a small creek
danced to its meeting with the ocean.
There boat lay moored to point
of rock, and presently some sailors
came down its banks, bearing water
casks that they filled at the springs
above.
They saw and questioned the
child, who looked at their rough
faces without fear, but could only
answer that she was called Made
leine and wanted her mamma"
Their ship, which lay in the offing,
was signaling their return. The
child could not be left to perish,
they said, and the captain would
set her ashore when the storm was
over. So they placed her in boat,
and soon she was hoisted upon the
the ships deck.
That night she slept in the spare
berth of the captains cabin.
The little cot at home by the
mothers bedside was empty. Be-
side it the mother knelt and prayed
and wept through all the watches
of that fearful night, while abroad,
unheeding rain, hurricane and del
uge, the father and his neighbors
searched far and wide along the
stormy shore. And so, for days and
nights, till hope became despair,
praying, weeping and searching,
they sought the child. Then the
parents made tomb for their dar-
ling in their hearts, for they dared
not hope that she was yet alive.
The little garments were placed
away, toys and worn playthings,
the small chair, the cradle and the
crib-in Que dim, silent room they
were all placed, and that room was
the shrine to which the mother
went daily to weep and where the
father stood with still awe and a
mans undemonstrative grief.
And so passed days and months
and years. Other children came to
light up the gloom of the house of
mourning-dearly loved and tender
ly nurtured, beautiful as the lost
Madeleine, but never quite filling
that dreadful void in the parents
hearts.
Meanwhile little Madeleine, nur-
tured by the wife of the captain of
the ship (the Resolute) on board
which the infant had been taken,
had grown to womanhood. The
vessel had been driven too far by
the storm that night to return;
hence the adoption Of the child by
Captain Strangeway's wife. She
and her faithful nurse had made
many voyages in the Resolute, and
Madeleine had become a great ia
vorite with the old sailors who had
stuck to the ship from the time she
first set her tiny foot on its deck.
At last she married Jasper Strange
way, nephew of the old captain,
who was soon after promoted to the
command Of new Resolute, on
board which many of the old crew
shipped.
After her marriage, Madeleine
sometimes made voyages on board
the ship and sometimes staid at
home and nursed the little Jasper
beside the captains fireside, while
he and his gallant mate breasted the
oceans storms.
The youngest child of Medicines
parents would be a sailor boy.
From his infancy he had loved the
sea, and often his mother had watch
ed with an agony of memories his
feet as they trod the shore where
Madeleine had strayed and been
lost.
| know not how, nor does it mat
ter, he became one Of the crew of
the Resolute-a pet and favorite.
Perhaps it was that something in
the brown, laughing face was like
Madeleine's fair features.
The boy led happy life on board