Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-06-02
IIs Iust IKE nv own.

sweet and clean, was like an angel |
fresh from heaven, the one link in all |
that black camp that bound them to |
what was purest and best in their past. |
"And to see the mother and her baby |
handle the miners-eh, it was all beau
tiful beyond words! l shall never for
get the shock got one night when l
found Old Ricketts, nursing the baby. |
A drunken old beast he was, but there
he was, sitting, sober enough, making
extraordinary faces at the baby, who
was grabbing at his nose and whiskerS
and cooling in blissful delight. Poor
Old Ricketts, looked as if he had been
caught stealing and,' muttering some
thing about having to go, gazed wildly
round for some place in which to lay
the baby, when in came the mother
saying in her own sweet, frank way:
ooh, Mr.. Ricketts'-she didn't find out
till afterward his name was Shaw
would you mind keeping her just lit
tie longer? | shall be back in a few
minutes And Old Ricketts, guessed
he could wait.
But in six months mother and baby
OCLWCCH LLcu IIdLolOIluCu Olu IlICh-
etts into Mr.. Shaw, fire boss of the
mines, and then, in the evenings, when
| she would be singing her baby to
| sleep, the little shop would be full of
miners, listening in dead silence to the
baby songs and the English songs and
| the Scotch songs she poured forth
without stint, for she sang more for
them than for her baby. No wonder
they adored her. She was so bright
so gay, that she brought light with her
when she went into the camp, into the
pits for she went down to see the men
work, or into a sick miners shack,
and many a man, lonely and sick for
home or wife or baby or mother, found
in that back room cheer and comfort
and courage, and to many a poor
broken wretch that room became, as
one miner put it, the anteroom to
heaven.
Mr.. Craig paused, and waited.
Then he went on slowly:
"For year and half that was the
happiest home in all the world till one
day
He put his face in his hands and
shuddered.
81 don't think I can ever forget the
awful horror of that bright fall after
noon when Old Ricketts, came breath
less to me and gasped, Come, for the
dear Lords sakev and 1 rushed after
him. At the mouth of the shaft lay
three men dead. One was Lewis Ma
vor. He had gone down to superintend
the running of new drift. The two
men, half drunk with Slavin's whisky,
set off q shot prematurely, to their
own and MAYORS destruction. They
were badly burned, but his face was
untouched. A miner was sponging off
the bloody froth oozing from his lips.
The others were standing about wait
ing for me to speak, but l could find
no word, for my heart was sick, think
!; ing, as they were, of the young moth
: er and her baby waiting at home. Sc
1 stood, looking stupidity from one tc
, the other. trying to find some reason
| coward that was, why another should
/ bear the news rather than l, and while
we stood there looking at one another
7 in fear, there broke upon us the SOUND
t of voice mounting. high above the
e birch tops, singing:
: "'Will we no. come back again?
D Will we no come back again?
Better To- ed We Gamma be.
Will we no come back again?
ga strange terror seized us. Instinc
. lively the men closed up in front of tn
body and stood in silence. Nearer am
y nearer came the clear, sweet voice
!, ringing like a silver bell up the steep:
"'Sweet the lavrock's note and lang
Liltin' wildly up the glen.
: But ay tae me he sings sang,
Will We no come back again?
"Before the verse was finished OIL
x Ricketts, had dropped on his knees
: sobbing out brokenly, % God, o Goo
5 have pity. have pity, have pityv an
l. every man took off his hat. And sti
p the voice came nearer, singing S
e brightly the refrain:
y "'Will we no come back again?
u at became unbearable. Old Rickett
sprang suddenly to his feet and, girl
y ping me by the arm, said piteously:
: "'Oh, go to her! For heavens SAX
Ii go to herr
y 81 next remember standing in he
u path and seeing her holding out be
Il hands full of red lilies, crying out:
Il care they not lovely? Lewis is s
t. fond of themv
d. with the promise of much finer one
L 1 turned her down a path toward IL
river, talking | know not what fol
80 till her great eyes grew grave, the
III anxious, and my tongue stammere
s. and became silent. Then, laying h.
hand upon my arm, she said, with ge
re tie sweetness:
e, ""Tell me your trouble, Mr.. Crais
Ut and knew my agony had come, and
III burst out:
pC "'Oh, if it were only miner
~ "She turned quite white. and, wi
o. her deep eyes-you've noticed her ey