Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1898-06-17
AN APP 4 r TION.,

@ ~ s.;;ls:a 44
The burglar entered. He carefully re-
connoitered then rose and walked lightly
but boldly to the bed. The gas was burn
ing dimly, revealing In the51aoe sdraped
couch a 4-year.old child. u Her fleecy curls
were tossed round her flushed face, and
the restless movements, the frown Of pain
on the white forehead, showed plainly.
that she was not sleeping the sleep Of per-
feet health. >%@"e !,#
"Kid looks bad,', commented Brickey,
looking down a moment on the pretty
picture. "Nurse skipped to make a night
of it an locked the kid in to git along all
by herself alone Blamed if she ain put
the lamb to bed with that cold, shiny
necklace a-chokin her. She shant be
choked-no, she shan'tp ~ 1924
STOPPING. the benevolent visitor loosen
ed the slender coral chain deity from the
dimpled neck.
"Brickey brac! brickey -brac!" he NUT
tered disparagingly. "Too much! Piles
of money spent on trash that amt worth
carryin off, an the town full of suffering
burglars. It's shame. Hello!''
| He turned round quickly at a queer
sound from the bed, and put his hand on
The strange choking sound had come
from her. The dimpled arms were tossed
over her head, and the face drawn and
crimson in an effort to breathe. One brassy
cough told the story.
oroupp'
He looked down on the suffering child
| with something like pity in his tough soul.
Ar,c ho3 oh 10 in 10 IN
| have that nurse by the back Of the neck
just minute Coin off an leavin that
sick kid with burglar. Burglars amt
no trained nurses!'
| The child seemed to breathe easier just
| then.
| "That's the ticket! Mabbe she'll pull
through. But it's gettin early. What's
this?''
| A fine old oil painting hung on the op-
! posite end of the room. It was of very
| precise, very stiff, very aristocratic elderly
woman in a coal scuttle bonnet, and ev-
erything about her suggestive of rigid re-
spectability. On the corner of the picture
frame hung that same bonnet, yellow with
age.
| "Family relic," said Brickey, giving
way to his humor, and detaching the bon
net from it's peg he put it on his own
head. 'If the boys could see me now!"
! Another brassy, ringing cough from the
bed drew Brickey's attention from mil
linery.
Something ought to be done, - Brickey
muttered anxiously. "Somebody ought
to be called. The kids chokin to death. !"
1t is probable that the little child would
have persisted "unaided by the physicians"
but for sudden idea that visited Brickey s
fertile brain just then, and which caused
| him to double up with laughter.
! Across the bed was a dainty coverlet of
fairy white lace With the bonnet still on
his head, Brickey draped this round his
greasy clothes from neck to heels.
Passing softly into the passage, he
| looked round minute; then tried door
on the opposite side.
"Locked tight an right aorost from the
darlin! This is the parents room, I'll
| bet," was Brickey's reflection as his skele-
| ton key opened the lock noiselessly.
The dim light from dying fire revealed
! on the bed a middle aged woman with
much the same severely respectable fea-
| lures as the picture in the child's room. A
gentle snore arose from her thin and cor
rect nose as the ghostly figure glided
across the room.
1t took a brief look at the dressing ia
BILE, made mysterious pass over heavy
jewel case, at which the case vanished
strangely then turned toward the bed.
! But let Mrs. Hopkins tell the rest just
! as she has told it scores of times since to
wondering friends and just as she wrote
it up for the Society of Mythical Research
Immediately after:
! II had been sleeping, Henry being away
| on important business in the country at
| the time. Twas awakened by the distinct
| impression of cold hand in contact with
my brow. I started; I opened my eyes.
Before me, distinctly visible in the evanes-
cent light of the expiring embers, stood
my deceased mother, Belvidere Prosperina
| Dowdall, in her habit as she lived.
! "The same bonnet, even, in which her
picture was taken over so years ago"-here
the bonnet was invariably produced, hand
ed round and viewed with awe. "A misty
aureole seemed to surround her form.
| II sprang upright! She seemed to re-
oede. was speeohless! She looked down
on me sadly, warningly and waved her
| hand!
eco to your child!' she said. go to
your child!'
"Then she seemed to fade away through
the open door, which l positively recalled
having locked when retired
! IT seemed impelled to follow. was
irresistibly drawn toward my daughter s
| room. There found the reason of this
most extraordinary manifestation. The
nurse had surreptitiously slipped away to
spend the night In the servants hall. My
child was writhing in the commissions of
GROUP. 1t was only by the most strenuous
| exertions that we saved her life. But for
my dearest mothers timely appearance,she
would have died. " ..:...-.,.. .-..s
just then dead silence of creepy won
der always falls on the deeply impressed
company, and Mrs. Hopkins husband,
sitting meekly back in corner, knows
better than to suggest connection be-
tween the burgled house, open windows
! and Mistress Belvidere's ghost. He did it
! once. He won't do it again.-London
| News. 800 " -. :" ~ -