The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1905-12-21
quick, child. I am faint with my con-

Quick, child. I am faint with my con-
fusion!''
ooh, gran'pa, it means that my mother
did not go away of her own will, but
that she was detained by force by this
man who must have been my father"
IF by force, why staid she away all
these years?"
if she returned to your home?"
alas, no. Made i'll again by her de-
sertion I was sent to the inf1rmary. Half
craZed as l was I insisted that you be
kept by me, AT the end Of a year l went
forth cured Of al except the pain at my
heart, to wander with you singing and
playing on the STREETS"
'-And you never returned home again?'
while in the infrmary the house and
all our goods were destroyed by fire."
but why for the last year have you
watched by the concert hall, gran'pa?
You have not told me ALL"
One day when We were playing on the
street near the hall, I heard her voice. I
believe she is again singing. I have not
many years to live and l would know the
truth before / die"
You mus not think of death, ~gran'pa.
I reed you until l can sing in ST. Pau1's
for a sa.ary, then you shall find COM
fort for many years at my fireside; and
with Jean, the faithful"
MOI as tuE iiuSDanu, Cn-lu.
"No, not as my husband, but as the
true friend Of the blind, to live for a more
happy old age"
II am made mos light hearted with
Thy hore, sweet child; but I fear I can
never be fully happy again until l know
the fate of thy mother. But it is Christ
mas eve. Let Us to St. Paul's, where
Jean, the jaAitor, awaits US"
THE carriages are now ~crowding the
antranCn rrln'lo Tet 1s tprn barl. n,1
approach from the rear. Look out, grant
pa. There Is a carriage. Now come. It
has stopped aad q lady who has alighted
awaits our coming
Take no aims, Christie"
"But we are .poor, gran'pa."
"Aye, but too proud to accept aims; but
1 suppose we must"
AS we have all my life, gran'pa. The
very poor must accept what the rich
would give. Iour pleasure, ma'am?"
Here is a gold piece for chat poor
man"
why SO generous, lady; we are not
mendicants; simply honcst street must
clans who would ACCEPT a penny for our
music and our songs"
Alas, poor man, I do not give because
of your music, but in memory Of the best
man who ever lived-my father, who also
was Blind
"Why, gran'na, did you stumble that
You so nearly lclI''
mo, child, but that voice is the voice
of NY lost Alice"
And your name, MANI"
"Olof Strassman."
MY lost father!.'
Alice my lost one returned to me"
Faster and faster fell the snownakcs,
Brighter cleaned the lights from st
Pauls as the lost Alice, after she had re-
peatedly embraced father and daughter.
told he" the husband from whom she
had fled to her fathers home to find ref
uge had stolen her away. How in n few
months she had regaincd her freedom
only to find their home in ruins and ia
Their and child gone, no one knew where,
After months of fruitlesS search she had
met old friends from Sweden who had ed
ucated her and made Der name great in
the musical world. She had never ceased
her search fol- the lost ones and now That
they We're found there should be no more
OF sorrow or hunger, for she had a COM
potency enough and to spare and in a
nome the three should be happy.
And Jean, the ]janitOr, the faithful
friend Of the blind. may he come, too, my
mother?'
Jean shall share our good fortune,
daughter"
"Hark, Alice. what song comes from St,
Paul?" -
All listened and as the white snow fell
raster and faster about them the words
o. the anthem rang out on the glad air:
Teace on earth, good Will toward men,