Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1907-12-06

was strong, life and the world were
ahead; and, best of all never again
would she have to feel herself a de-
pendent upon any one.
With these blessings, scant to most
of us, hardened as she had been by
servitude at Tins Place, came a GER
tain buoyancy of spirit and defiance OF
all things human.
No wild beasts were here to menace,
no spites to creep and crawl along
fence or hedgerow, no hideous half
breed to pursue, and as she counted
her blessings, while her spirits rose a
new life and new hope came to her
And now another feeling came-the
Certainty that she had come so far
that no one would recognize her. At
first that morning, when she heard a
team coming or overtaking her, she
had hidden by the roadside until it
passed When a house was sighted
ahead, she made wide detour in the
fields to avoid it. Now this sense of
caution vanished, and she strobe on
fearless and confident.
When night came again she crept
into an unused sheep barn, and when
daylight Weakened her, she hurried on
once more.
During all that first days journey,
her one fear had been that some one
she would meet might recognize her
and report the fact in Greenvale. To
avoid that had been her sole thought.
Now that feeling of danger was van
ishing, and when people were met she
looked at them fearlessly and kept on.
When crossroads were reached and a
choice in ways became necessary, she
followed the one nearest to northeast,
and for the reason that her school
map had shown that her birthplace lay
in this direction. How far away it
was, she had not the faintest idea, or
whether she could live to reach 1t.
Her sole thought was to escape Green
vale and the humiliating life of de-
pendence there, and when she was SO
far away that no one could find her,
obtain work at some farmhouse.
All that second day she plodded on
that same patient uphill, down-dale
journey, never halting except to pick
a few berries, or where brook crossed
the road to obtain handful of water
cress or some sweet-1ag buds.
Now and then villages we're passed,
again 1t was country sparsely settled,
where farm-houses were wide apart,
and when this day was waning. even
these had vanished and she found her.
self in almost wilderness once more
Hills now met her already weary
feet; they seemed never ending, for as
tie crown Of one was reached, another
met her eyes. The roadway also be-
came badly quilted, always stony, with
grass growing in the hollows.
By now she was faint and dizzy
from two days fasting, and so footsore
that she could scarce limp along. So
far her defiant pride had kept her from
begging food, but now that was weak
ening, and at the next house she
would have asked a morsel. But no
next house came. Only the same
scrub growth along the wayside with
now and then a patch Of forest, with
qever fence even, to indicate human
ownership.
The sun had now vanished. Already
the stretches of forest were shadfvwy.
anS as Chip reached the apex Of an
other long hill, beyond and far below
she could see another darkened valley.
Night seemed creeping up from 1t to
meet her. Not house, not even
fence or recent clearing-only the I'M
ending tangle of green growth and
this dark vale beyond.
Il guess I'll starve fore l find an
other house" poor Chip muttered, and
then as the utter dcsolation of her sit
nation and surroundings were realized
for a moment. her defiant courage
gave way.
For two days and half night she
had plodded on without food and with
scarce a moments rest. Her feet were
blistered, her eyes smarted from sun
and dust, her head swan. She was
miles away from any human haoita-
ton, footsore, weary and respondent,
with night enclosing her-a homeless
waif, still clinging to the small bundle
that contained her all.
But now as she crouched by the
roadside, too exhausted to move on,
the memory of those three days and
nights of horror, one year ago, came to
her. Her plight was bad enough now,
but nothing to compare with what II
was then, and as all the terror and
desperation of that mad fight now re-
turned. it renewed her courage.
81 amt so bad off SIS | was then,
she said. I'm sure of finding house
tomorrow"
And now, as if this moment marked
the turning point of her fortunes,
from far down the hill she had
climbed came the faint creak, creak.
and jolting sound of an ascending
wagon. Slowly it neared, until just at
the hilltop where Chip sat, the tired
horse halted, and its driver saw her
rico aI,1oCc+ haSida tha ICON