El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-02-16
ONE TOUCH
OF NATURE.
BY CONGRESSMAN NJ. w. HOWARD OF
ALABAMA.

to travel without their mother or some
one else to take care of them"
These words, uttered with a sort of
growl, though they might have been
spoken by a big old bear, attracted my
attention. On looking around L saw the
speaker, a large, hard faced, hard listed
looking man of about 80, with scowling
brow and threatening mien. L saw also
the "brats'' at the far end of the car.
where two seats faced each other. There
were five of them. The eldest was a girl
of about II, but slender and small for
her age. Her face was intelligent, but
pathetically sad.
Then there was Johnnie, aged 8, ro-
bust, rosy checked and mischievous- He
was teasing his little sister Mary, who
was a delicate, pale little creature of q.
Little Willie was only 3, but he could
make enough noise for an entire family.
Johnnie knew just how to tease him and
where to pinch him the sly to make
him kick and scream at the top of his
voice. The smallest of this group Of
''brats" was baby Alice, barely a year
old, who fretting and crying in the
arms of Florence, the eldest child, who
was cooling and singing softly to her ba-
by sister and pleading with her, but all
to no avail, to keep quiet and not dis
turb the gentlemen.
L went over and spoke to the ''brats,"
and Johnnie ceased to tease" and Willie
quit kicking and screaming. l took the
baby in my arms and tried to quiet her in
q mans awkward way.
By this time quite a group of men had
gathered around US, and l asked Flor
ence, the eldest, why they were travelling
without either father or mother. At
once 1 saw panied expression come
Al hot fol-
the story more eloQuently than words.
1 saw her swallow lump in her little
throat before she could proceed; then
falteringly she told her story:
My father was an engineer on the
Southern and was killed in a wreck about
year ago. He was so good to us, and
mamma loved him so well that the shock
broke her heart, and she died day before
yesterday, which was just one year to n
day from the date of fathers death. My
father was poor and left but little money.
so that it was almost all gone by the
time mamma died, and when L had paid
her funeral expenses there was only
enough left to buy our tickets from Biz
mingham to Charlotte, n. c., where our
grandparents live. We had no friends
and did not know what to do, so l decid-
ed to go to them.
That's why we are travelling alone,
sir" And the golden head fell forward
in her tiny hands. the sobs choked her
voice and the tears trickled through her
fingers. l tried to soothe her, but she
only cried: "Oh. mamma, hanna. Come
back to mer'
After awhile she grew more calm, but
her frame was still occasionally shaken
by hysterical sob.
"I-I-heard the gentleman call US
brats, and 1 am sorry the children make
SO much noise, but-but-if mamma were
here they would not cry so, am sure"
And the poor little heart seemed break
ing again.
BY this time there was not dry eye
in the car-even the old bachelor was
rubbing his eyes vigorously with his
handkerchief, trying to pretend that he
had a cinder in them. We all knew bet
ter, however.
Presently he drew nearer and said.
''These tarnell cinders are so annoying
when they get into ones eyes" And we
all smiled
Again he broke the silence, and this
time he said. Gentlemen, it will be hard
on these little ones to sit up all night, so
/. for one, am willing to give up my
berth, which l have telegraphed to At
lanta for 1 agreed to do the same, and
90 did another gentleman.
When we reached Atlanta, we all went
to the ticket Office and paid for our
berths, which had been reserved for us,
and they were the only ones left, and
then we took charge of the ''brats," and.
with the help of Florence and the kind
hearted porter, soon had them all safe
ly in bed and asleep.
We started back to the smoker, but
stopped and looked back toward our sleep
ing charges The lights were turned
low, and in the aisle knelt a little figure.
her golden hair falling over her snow
white gown, her large brown eyes turned
heavenward. Silently we opened the
door. and. with heads reverently bowed.
listened to the prayer of childlike faith
and simplicity:
Heavenly Father. take care of my
brothers and sisters, help me to guide
and lead them in the paths of righteous
ness, and may they grow up to be good
men and women SO that we may all meet
father and mother in heaven, for Jesus
sake, amen"
That was all, but we went away from
that scene better men. And it was the
happiest night we ever spent, so we all
declared. And the old bachelor would
go back to the sleeping car every hour OF
SO to see if the "brats" were asleep and
to make sure that none of them had tun-
bled out Of bed.
The next morning their venerable
grandfather, to whom we had telegraph
ed, was at the depot to receive the chii'
dren with open arms, and it was with re-
gret that we parted from the little ones
and kissed them goodby-
Our bachelor friend insisted on buying
enough nuts and candy to endanger the
health of Johnnie and Willie for long
time to come.
He never left the train until we reach
ed Washington, but there was no more
grumbling and growing out of him.
Keowee Is. c. Courier.
A South Pacific Princess.
The ceremony of dressing is simple