The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1904-04-07

with car axles, wheels attached, serving
for posts. Considerable ingenuity had been
| shown III fastening the warped and rusty
! roofing sheets to the framework with tele-
graph wires. This pointed to its having
| been the work of Yankee soldiers. 1t gave
| tolerabie shelter from the wind and rain,
6ut it seemed a wretched howell for the chill
dreR who played in front of the door,
"One, two, three, fOur-my goodness,
Annabel!" exclaimed Maria, as the two
| siris in their search for new and exciting
| things came upon the wretched shack,
| there are actually four children in that
miserable little she'd
! And there's woman" they cried al
Most together
Il woman and baby" declared Maria
| oh. Annabei, let's go over and see it,"
she continued, gathering her yoluminOus
white skirts. in her hand preparatory to
| crossing the tracks and gutter trash.
annabei hesitated for a moment. but
| Maria was insistant. Il want to see lust
, exactly how much these Southern women
are paying for helping to carry on this un-
| holy war;" she declared, as she finally got
| the white skirt and blue delaine travelling
dress i'll line for the tramp over the dirty
| lot intervening between themselves and the
shack. THE war would have been over
| and we would be at home and happy right
now If the women of the South hadn't been
| so rantnnkereus.'
| How much they were paying indeed. 1t
was good and plenty, as the girls soon
! found. The poor, sallow-faced, hollow
checked woman greeted the two girls with
wan smile as they came up TO her. and in
/ reply to Maria's request to see the baby.
opened the ragged old plaid shawl and ex-
posed TO view the saddest-faced little morsel
of humanity it had ever been their lot to
see
Isis it right weH?" asked Annabel
soberly. as she touched the little cIaw-like
| fingers. and noted the drawn.spinched look
| about the pitiful little mouth"
''She amt never been very strong, seems
| like" replied the woman sadly, as she laid
| her face lovingly against the tiny cheek
Il reckon my milk amt much good A
| mother ought to have plenty to eat when
| she's got to live for stwo. L reckon seh'll
get all right when it gets a bit warmer
| again
How old is she:" asked Maria, taking
| the ragged little bundle from the arms of
| the mother. who seemed scarcely able to
! stand, and gazing with maternal tenderness
!, into the big brown eyes which looked up
at hers unseeingly. What pretty eyes
/ she has," she added fundamentally noting
also the big blue veins on the temples.
THEY will be two months old to-mor-
row. The others Dead" said the woman
gently as she took the baby back to her
| heart again.
| ''Sisser's daid right in there" volun-
| teered one of the older children, who were
now huddling around the girls. "Her looks
like lii doll. but muvver her won't let
us play wiv her,
Dead" calculated the girls aghast
| "ies'm," replied the woman desolately,
as she turned to look inside the shack
| She died just little while ago. She
looked pearter than this one, but reckon
God knew what was best, so he took her.
| She was blind, too"
blind :" Maria and Annabel were learn
| ing lot about sorrow and suffering in the
+ few minutes since they left the train.
| "Ies'm. they were both born blind"
| "And are you all alone? Are these chill
dren all yours:" asked the awe-stricken
girls.
"Yes'm." and they accepted the monosyl-
just going to ask some of the Yankee SOL
ders to help bury the baby. l amt strong
enough to do it by myself"
The accomplishing tone, the utter resig-
nation, the abject hopelessness of the wOm-
an. melted the last atom of bitterness in
AIaria's and Annabel's hearts. With one
accord, they caught her unengaged. toll
worn hand in theirs, and with tears stream
ing down their faces assured her that the
baby should be properly buried. Then
they raced back to the train and into the
car for the remains Of the bountiful lunch
which they had only half devoufed.
1.-THE woman and baby are starving"
| sobbed Annabel. stumbling over her long
skirts, as she threw herself into Sis arms.
Actually starving!" she cried to her as
| tonished husband.
"And here We have been gorging ourselves
when we were not a bit hungry" declared
Maria, her eyes very bright, as she tore
| open her carpet-bag and extracted some
| white garments. "Get cut that .iace-frilled
| night dress of yours, Annabel: we must
| have something to bury that poor little
| baby in. Come, Will, and you too, 81, and
any OF the rest 81 you mex. wl:e e&R. 70
do something for humanity's sake. Here,
carry oil this lunch over 1t will do us
good to 60 hungry for once. Oh, its aw-
full"
And back to the shack the girls ran, fol-
lowed by dozen blue-uniformed men,
Ito be continued.l