The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1898-08-18


tages, a few poverty stricken shops
and a one-storied tavern. Jock stew
| ems, who kept the latter, was stand
ing on the threshold with drowsy
stare, having just thrown open the
door; and on questioning him Mr.. Lor-
raine gained his first and only piece
OF information. A woman, strange to
| the place, had entered the inn over
| night, carrying an infant underneath
her shawl, and asked for a glass OF
milk, which she had drunk hastily and
| fitted away-like a ghost. Her face
| was partially hidden, but Jock was
certain that she was stranger. Stay!
yes, there was something more. she
had inquired for the manse, and the
inn-keeper had pointed out the direc-
tion of the church and the minister
abode.
Further inquiries up and down the
Village ELECTED no further Information.
Perplexed and weary. the good man
trotted back TO the manse. Here, in
the rudely- FURNISHED kitchen, he found
a bright fire burning, his breakfast
ready, and Mysie seated by the ingle-
side with the child in her lap, in
voluble conversation with the old SEX
ton.
The wretched mother, whoever she
was, had indeed chosen wisely when
she had resolved while determining
to abandon her infant, to leave it at
the gentle ministers door. Days
passed, and in spite Of Solomon's pro-
testations, it was still an inmate Of
the manse Mysie Simpson under
stood the rearing process well, and
since the child, as she had surmised,
had never known the breast, ii throve
well upon the bottle" The minister
went and came lightly, as If the bur-
den of twenty years had been taken
from his shoulders; had it indeed been
his own offspring he could not have
been more anxious or more tender.
And Solomon MuckIebaCkit, despite his
assumption of sternness and iudigna-
ton, was secretly sympathetic. He,
too, had tender corner in his heart,
which the child's innocent beauty did
not fail to touch.
One morning, some seven or eight
days after the arrival of the infant,
when the storms had blown themselves
hoarse, and a dull black thaw had sue
ceeded the falling and drifting snow,
news came to he manse that the body
of a woman had been found lying on
the brink of the Amman, just where its
waters meet the wide sands of the
Solway, and mingle with the salt
stream of the ocean tide. Greatly agi-
tated, Mr.. Lorraine mounted his pony,
and at once rode along the lonely high
way which winds through the fat
reaches of the Moss. Arriving close
to the great sands. he was directed to
a disused outbuilding or barn, belong
ing to large sea-facing. and standing
some hundred yards above high-water
mark. A group of fishermen and peas
ant men and women were clustered at
the door; at his approach the men lift
ed their hats respectfully, and the
women courtesied.
On making inquiries, the minister
learned that the body had been dis
covered at daybreak by some salmon
fishers, when netting the river at the
morning tide. They had at once given
hn oil rarr;n1 ssStv n thu
dilapidated barn where it was then
lying.
The barn was without a door, and
partially roofloss. Day and night the
salt spray of the ocean was blown up
on it, incrusting it's black sides with a
species of filmy salt; and from the dark
rafters and down the broken walls
chung Shiny weeds and MOSES; and
over it a pack of sea-gulls wheeled and
screamed.
The minister took off his hat and en-
tered in bare headed.
Stretched upon the earthen floor was
what seemed at first rather shapeless
mass than a human form; a piece of
coarse tarpaulin was placed over it,
covering it from head to foot. Gently
and reverently, Mr.. Lorraine drew
back corner of the tarpaulin and re-
vealed 10 view the disfigured Inca
ments of what had once been a living
face; but though the features were
changed and unre3ognizable, and the
eye-sockets were empty of their shin
ing orbs, and the mouth disfigured and
hidden by foulness, the face was still
set in a woman's golden hair.
With the horror deep upon him. the
minister trembled and prayed. Then,
drawing the covering still lower, he
caught a glimpse Of the delicate hand