The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1908-01-07
MINNIE Boo-HOO.

MINNIE Boo-HOo.
II hear some one crying!'' said
Nellie.
TITS only cat, said viii.
They're always yowling.e
The two were taking a walk to-
gether and they had come to the
big river bottoms, section they had
been told never to enter. The crying
grew louder.
1T sounds just like baby whis-
pered Nellie.
'Tain't no baby" said Will dis
dainfully; there are no houses round
here. It's wild animal, and I'm CO.
ing up to that cotton wood tree and
I'm going to shoot right plumb into
the noise. III kill the thing, what
ever 1t isl
He was very brave and meant what
he said, and he had brought out in
the lunch pail beautiful new pistol
belonging to his brother Jim. The
country was newly settled and grown
up people generally thought 1t neces-
sary to carry arms, but Will was only
ten, and not for the whole world
would his mother have let him carry
Jims pistol had she known it.
Nellie was not brave, so she said
in weak little voice: ""I think I'll
go back home fore you shoot off that
pistol /"
Very well" said Will, putting up
the pistol. which, to tell the truth, he
was wee bit afraid of himself.
Girls are edwards, know. But,
Mellie," the boy continued, you're
not to be let to go home by yourself.
I'll go, too. /"
A pitiful cry came then.
ats baby!" said Nellie. "Come
along, I'm a coward, know, but I've
got pluck enough to go into that
bunch of rushes and see If some one
hasn't left poor little baby there.
Right among the tall grasses in a
coarsely woven basket lay a cunning
little baby. Just like Moses in the
Bible" said Nellie, when the tiny
papoose stopped crying and turned
its black, beady eyes to her face.
"Gra-cious!" cried Will. "It's an
Injun, and it's alivel Come along,
Nellie, wen get into trouble if we
stay here. We mutt run home double
quick.
The papeose was strapped to a
board and could not wriggle about
much, but it twisted it's little neck
around like California owl and gave
Nellie wide smile that showed two
lines Of pink gums, and said, Goo
goo-goo," just as white baby would.
"Oh, VIII, wait minute, I'm not go
ing to leave the poor thing to die;
I'm going to take it home and raise
it. I'd a heap rather have it than a
wax doll from New York like Lizzie
Leigh's."
"Oh, say! Will burst out. eYou'll
risk your life If you touch that kid.
You don't know what pernickerty
kind of an Injun will be long after it
pretty soon.D
II doa't care if big Injun comes
arsd kills mel declared Nellie, def
antly, looking fearfully over her
shoulder. however, to see if a chief in
war paint and feathers was in sight,
but in spite of her fears, picking up
the baby and walking quickly toward
home with it, whispering all sorts of
soothing things into its ear, to all Of
which the little red morsel only re-
piled as before, "Goo-goo-goo.'
Mellie's mother took the baby IN
and took care of it, treating 1t Just
as kindly as if it had been her own.
She is just such good woman as
Nellie will be when she grows up.
VIII told his father the story and
he made up party to go off and hunt
for the parents of the little copper
colored baby. But all that they could
find out was that food which car
ried of the buildings in two Dakota
villages took in it's wake and swept
away an Indian encampment, and Il
seemed quite possible that the baby
in the basket had fioated Off on the
rush of water and lodged far away in
the swamp, where the children found
1t crying.
That was five years ago. No one
has ever come to look for it. The
little baby has grown to be quite a
big girl now. and has made Nellie
happier than ten wax dolls with red
hair could have done. OF course her
real name could never be learned. but
Mellie's mother, who was great
reader, called her Minnie-boo-hoo, be-
cause she had heard that after Abra-
ham Lincoln read about Minnie-ha-
ha (@Laughing Watern) in @Hia-
watha,s he said, crying water would
be Minnie-boo-hoo think that was
funny, but some Of the neighbors said
it was nonsense, and so they just
called Melie,s red little Indian Doll
Baby Minnie Washington Star.
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