The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1899-09-01

AlAASO AeI GtIS Will Zig SlduUeFS IudI
were in circulation about me. She
did not believe them; her mother did.
If you are not civil to Mr.. Druce,"
said her mother, II 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 mother, and
the child that was born was a girl. She
named it 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..
Druce 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-
tions. 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 it 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 l
mentally said at this portion of her
story. She was too ill to come on deck
until the night of the wreck, and then
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
Guarter-boats 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 .
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 nv
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-
tence by her needle, and out of her
scanty earnings had never allowed a
week to pass without assisting the
mother of the man whom she had low
ed devotedly and faithfully, through
good and evil report.
1t was enough. Long before the end
OF the story was reached, doubt had
flown from my soul; and when the last
words were spoken, knelt before the
good and pure woman, and humbly
begged forgiveness for my crime-for
it was no less. Need I say how my
appeal was met? It is women such as
the one l had the happiness to call
my wife who purify the world.
Come, my wife, and see your child. -
Softly we stole into the bedroom
My mother and our child were asleep.
In an agony of Joy, Mabel pressed her
lips to Pearls face, to her neck, to her
hands, to her dress; but with such
divine tenderness and gentleness as
not to awaken our darling. My heart
went UP to God the benefcent!
Suddenly my mother stirred in her
bed.
"Amos!!" she cried. Then,
| Mabel"
We went to her side.
You are together, my children"
eyes, dear mother"
THANK God! Amos, put your arms
round me. Listen! I hear your father
calling, 'Yo, heave, hot Dear ones,
goodbye for little while!"