Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1912-06-06
CHAPTER XIII.
THREE GUESsEs,

TlYvdhN the younger son found
~ that she had left London, he
of and followed her."
~ continued the angel. Free
kles was listening most attent1vely
now. when she got here all alone and
AFRAID" the angel went on. land saw
him coming to her, why. she was so
glad she up and married him. just
like anybody else would have done.
He didn't want her to travel with the
troupe. so when they got to Chicago
they thought that would be a good
place. and they stopped. and he hunted
work. 1t was slow business. because
he had never been taught to do q useful
thing. and be didn't ever know how to
hunt work, least Of all to do it when
he found it: so pretty soon things were
going wrong. But If he couldn't find
work. she could always sing, so she
sang at night, and made little things
In the daytime. He didn't like her to
sing in public, and he wouldn't let her
when be could help himself; but winter
came. 1t was very cold, and fire was ex-
pensive. Rents went up. and they had
to move farther out to cheaper and
cheaper places; AMI you We're coming
] mean. the boy that is lost was COM
ing-and they were almost distracted.
Then the man wrote and told his father
all about 1t. and his father sent the
letter back unopened and wrote him to
never write again.
"When the baby came, there was
mighty little left to pawn for food and
a doctor, and nothing at all for n nurse.
so an old neighbor woman went in and
took care Of the young mother and the
little baby, just because she was so
sorry for them. By that time they were
away out in the suburbs on the top
floor oe a little wooden house, among a
lot Of factories. and it kept getting
colder, with less to eat. Then the man
got desperate, and be went out to just
find something to eat; and the woman
was desperate. too. She got up, left
the old woman to take care OF her baby
and went into the city to sing for some
money. The woman got so cold she
put the baby in bed and went home.
Then q boiler blew up in a factory
beside the little house and set 1t on fire.
A piece of iron vas pitched across the
little house and broke through the roof.
It came down smash, and cut just one
little hand off the poor baby. 1t
screamed and screamed. and the fire
kept coming closer and closer.
1.-THE old woman ran out with the
rest of the people and saw what had
happened. She knew there wasn't
going to be time to wait for the fire.
men or anything. and she ran into the
building. She could hear the poor
little baby screaming, and she couldn't
stand that. so she worked her way up
to it. There it was, all hurt and bleed
ing. Then she vas scared almost to
death owe thinking what its mother
would do to her for going off and
leaving it. so she ran to q home for
little friendless babies that was neal
and banged on the door. Then she hid
across the street until the baby was
taken in. and then she ran back to
see If her own house was burning up.
The factory and the little house and a
lot Of others were all gone. The peo-
pie there told her that the beautiful
lady came back and ran into the house
to find her baby. She had just gone
In when her husband came, and he
went in after her, and the house went
down over both of them"
Freckles lay rigid, with his eyes on
the angels face, and she talked rapid
~ to the ceiling.
about that poor little baby. She was
afraid to tell them at the home, be-
cause she knew she never should have
left it, but she wrote q letter and sent
It to where the beautiful woman, when
she was Ill. had said her husbands
people lived. She told all about the
little baby that she could remember;
when it was born, how it was named
for the mans elder brother, that its
hand had been cut off in the fire, and
where she had put it to be doctored
and taken care off. She told them that
its mother and father were both burn
ed, and she begged and implored them
to come and get 1t.
"You think it would have melted q
heart of ice. but that old man hadn't
any heart to melt. for he got that let
ter and read it. He hid 1t away
among his papers and never told a
soul. A FEW months ago he died.