Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1895-07-20
FROsTBURG, Md SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1895.

grown Jld shot up like Il thistle i'll tho
sand, But one day the Amelia, LIE
Magnet : boat, was ovcrtalcn in a storm
| and wrecked. The skipper did not haul
i'll his Nil soon enough, and the boat
s.1'ucll On that reef You can see over
/ ,Acrc-)ust little more to the star
board. There were four mon i'll the crew
tho skipper, two sailors and my poor
Pierre. But the sea only gave up three
Of the drowned men and retained my
| corarade. Mona became an orphan. 1t
| goes without saying that | did my best
to replace her father. But the child,
| even after the first sorrow passed away,
| did not seem to console herself. And do
yOu know why, monsieur? Because of
an idea all the women around here have.
| They believe that a soul must remain i'll
| pain unto the Judgment day unless it re-
poses i'll consecratcd ground. We men
do not believe in all this nonsense when
we know what happens whom there is a
death ON board ship. But Mona could
not be forced to believe other than the
women had taught her and continued to
burn candles at all the pardons in the
neiGhbOring towns for the repose of her
fathers sOul.
However, III spite of everything,
time is IL famous merchant of forgetful-
ness, and Mona after Il few years ap-
pearcd to me to become somewhat rec
onCiled. Besides, her grief had not pre-
vented her from growing handSomcr and
taking pride III herself, and it is not
because | loved her like a father, but,
upon my honor, she was the freshest
and prettiest Young girl i'll the parish
We lived so happily together. We We're
not rich, to be sure bat wo lived, and
we enjoyed ourselves all the same l
had my pension and my medal, and
then we used to 60 together to hunt for
Holsters in the rocks. Tho trade is
paying one, and there is only one danger,
that of being ovortakCn by the tide.
All, unfortunately that was how she
met her death, poor little one!
Gone day when my rheumatism con-
fined me to the house she went fishing
alone. 1t was just such day as today,
the sky clear, the wind high When the
rock searchCrs gathered together with
full baskets, they perceived that Mona
failed to respond to their calls There
was no possible dOub+ Great God she
had been delayed and surrounded by the
rising tide! She had been drowned!
All, what a night l passed, monsieur!
At ny age, yes, a hard hearted man
like me, | sobhnA like woman. And
the remembrance came to me of the
/ o1,t Il Of
she must be inferred i'll c0nsecrated
| ground Therefore rs soon as the tide
Went down I went to TIE shore, and,
with the Others, searched for the body
"And we found poor Nona," con-
tinucd the Old sailor i'll trembling
voice. owe found her ON IL rock covered
with seaweed, where, knowing that she
was going to die, the poor little one had
prepared herself for death. Yes, mon
sicur, she had tied her skirts below the
| knees with her tichu, through modesty,
and with her old idea uppcrmost had
attached herself to the seawecd by her
hair, her beautiful black hair, certain
that she would thus be found and in
TERED III conHccrated ground. And can
| say, |, who know what bravery is, that
there is perhaps not u man brave enough
to do likewise "
The old man was silent. By the last
gleam of the twilight l saw two great
tears rolling down his weather beaten
checks. We descended to the village side
by side i'll silence. 1 was profoundly
touched by this simple girls courage,
/ who, even in the ag0n;cS of death, had
retained the modosty of her sex and the
picty Of her race, and before me in the
distant immensely, i'll the solitudes of
the heavens and the sea, CLEANED out
the beacon lights and the stars.
Oh, brave men Of the sea! Oh, noble
Brittany From the French of Francois
Coppee For Romance.