The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1895-05-30

ing that father might be alive" con.
tinued the child "but at last, she was
forced to give him up as dead, and
the people down in Washington, who
said he was dead from the first, sent
her pension. This pension paid our
rent and we lived very happily, for
mother could sew and embroider, and
went to school until two years ago.
when she broke down and could work
no more. The doctors told her il was
her nerves, and that she must give up
fretting about father. They told her
that thousands Of other men were bur.
ried in unknown graves and that she
must submit to what could not be
helped. But, sir" and the girl with
tears in her eyes, looked up ut the
bronzed face of the tall man, "moth.
er says there are diseases the doctors
cannot cure, and one Of them is a
broken heart"
Little Lena" said the man, and
there were tears in his eyes, al will
buy all your flowers if you will take
me to your mother"
ooh, sir I" cried the child, "that is
too much. What can you do with 80
many fowers?"
1--WE can make your mothers room
pretty with them," said the big, tall
man, and to the cbild's great surprise
he took the basket in one hand, gave
her the other, and told her to lead
him to her home.
Out OF Broadway TO the east, and
down through narrow streets, whose
towering tenements on either hand
looked like the abo1es OF the cliff
dwellers, the child conducted the
stranger. Then into one of the tall
buildings she led him. and up half n
dozen flights of stairs, swarming with
! children, till she came to door at the
back, at which the stranger tapped.
In response, low, sweet voice from
the other side called out "Come in. I"
And little Lena entered with her Wis
itor.
There we're two rooms opening into
each other, but sparsely furnished,
but clean In every detail, and near
the window of the first room young
woman, still beautiful despite the evi.
dences of pain in her face, half re-
clined in rocking chair.
Lena ran forward and throwing her
arms round her mothers neck, cried
| OUT
Here is kind gentleman who has
bought all my flowers, and wants to
see you'll"
The invalid half turned and raised
her face to that of the stranger. On
the instant the pale face assumed a
deathly hue; she tried to lift her
hands; iii choking voice uttered the
word Lewis" then dropped back, as
if dead To the child's unutterable
amazement the tall man dropped on
one knee beside the invalid's chair,
threw his arms about the unconscious
form, and as he poured kisses and
tears on her face, he cried out:
"Mnryl My Maryl Thank God !
have found you at last" Then he
reached out his lett arm, and drew the
child to his side, and so he remained
for some seconds.
Mrs. Hermann soon. 'egained con-
.scis ;,s-.ss, lad looksd DIP TO see
knee!ing hesiSs her tie man she had
so long mourned as dead. And in her
generous patron of the morning, little
Lena, the flower girl, had found her
father.
THIS, in brief, was Captain Her
mann's story, and it has more than
one parallel in the records of the war.
At the battle of Cold Harbor he was
desperately wounded and taken pris-
oner. He remained in the hands of
the Confederatos until the close of the
war, the sabre cut in his head having
destroyed his reason, or rather his
memory. In somo respects he APP
rcared to be quite sane, but he had
lost all recollection of the war or his
connection with it. How he made his
way to San Francisco he could not
aud never will recall. but he certainly
reached there in 1865, where his case
attracted the attention of some OF the
most prominent physicians OF that
city. 1t was decided to perform an
operation and raise n fragment of
bone which, pressing down on the
brain, had produced this particular
form of dementia.
The operation was in every way sue
cossful, for within eight weeks Captain
Hermann, in full possession of physi-
cal health and all his mental faculties,
was discharged from the hospital. Use
less here to attempt any description of
the mans feelings on discovering that
four years OF his life were a perfect
blank. His story becoming known to
some generous citizens OF Sau Fran.