The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1899-08-24

mother, who kept her there for
that my mother could not read. When
they returned to Brixton, Mr. bruce
was the FIRST to meet them, and he
filled her ears with the ISLANDERS that
were in circulation about me. She
did not believe them; her mother did.
IF you are not civil to Mr. Bruce"
said her mother, Il shall have to go
into the work house." She knew that
her mother owed money to Mr.. bruce,
and, fearing him, she did not quarrel
with him en- the first night. But she
determined to go to my mother in the
early morning, and consult her as to
what ought to be done to vindicate my
good name. She went; my mother had
disappeared. Day after day, week af-
ter week passed, and still no news of
my mother until it was reported and
believed that she was dead About
that time Mabel became a mother, and
the child that was born was a girl. She
named ii Pearl. Then came the news
of the wreck of The Blue jacket, and
the loss Of every soul on board She
received no letters from me. If any
were sent, they were intercepted. Mr..
bruce pressed his suit upon her. but
she would have nothing to say to him.
Still, loathing him, her mother COM
PEELED her to be civil to him, and one
day proposed that they should emil
CRATE. She joyfully consented, to es-
| cape Mr.. bruce. They had been at sea
two days before he appeared. He had
taken his passage on the same vessel
and Mabel suspected that it was a
planned thing between him and her
mother. She then determined to have
nothing to say to him, and she disre-
garded all his attentions and solicita-
tons. When they landed in Australia,
her mother insisted on taking another
name, saying that she had ill-luck
enough with the one they bore, and
that change might bring them bet
ter fortune. Thus it was that Pearl
| did not know the name of Beecroft.
For years Mr.. bruce did not relin-
| quish his pursuit Of her; but after one
last and unsuccessful appeal he left her
and she never saw his face again. Then
| her mother died. and she was left alone
! with her child. She led a hard life,
and when Pearl was ten years of age,
she determined to come home to the
old place. She had saved money
enough to pay for her passage, and
she took 1t in The Rising Sun. She
had no idea that Mr.. bruce was
passenger in the ship. When they left
England he was with her by design;
but now it was chance-or fate, as I
mentally said at this portion of her
story. She was too i'll to come on deck
until the night of the wreck, and then
| a humane passenger conceived the idea
of saving the two children, Pearl and
! Bob, by flashing them to one spar.
While he made Pearl secure. Mabel
held Bob, his own mother having been
washed overheard during the night;
and when the vessel suddenly sunk, Ma
bel had Bob in her arms. Rising from
the water, she recognized me; then the
child was snatched from her, and she
| remembered no more until she found
herself on rock with two men. Two
Guarterboats had been launched from
the ship; each supposed the other to
be lost-but both were saved. Mabel
and her companions were taken from
the rock into the boat, and after pull
ing for two days in a contrary direc-
ton from the course we had taken, a
homeward-bound vessel sighted them,
and the passengers were taken aboard
Arriving home in safety, Mabel found,
to her establishment, that my mother
was alive. but blind and in poverty.
Mabel told her story, and received an
account of my last interview with my
mother. From her woman's instinct
my mother knew that Mabel spoke the
truth, and the two became friends
again.
What remains TO be said? That Ma
bel gained hard and miserable subsis-