The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1915-03-08
ALADY and A BABY
End Uncle Sans Polite Consul
In a City In France.
HOW THEY MET AND PARTED.
And How Light Was Thrown on the
Problem That the Woman. Who Was
French and VoIubIe, and the In
FAINT. Who Was American, Presented.

FAINT, Who Was American, Presented.
Not very long after having taken
charge OF one OF the consulates In
France | was one morning seated at
my desk buslly engaged in figuring
over my quarterly accounts. when sud
denly a woman carrying bundle in
her arms appeared before me. | had
not resided in France sufficiently long
TO imbibe the unadulterated FiA1ch pc
likeness. but l had progressed suf.
tciently to ask:
Madame. what can have the pleas.
IRE of doing for you this morning."
Monsieur" she exclaimed, walking
toward me, holding out the bundle as
IL to deposit It on my desk. this is an
American baby, What shall | do with
it?"
Abashed at the prospect OF so sud
denly becoming father with the or
ange blossoms aud rice omitted and
knowing that the American govern
ment had established no precedent OF
mainta inning orphan asylums either at
home or abroad, | hesitated moment
and replied:
will the madame please be seated
over there by the door and tell me
why. being a Frenchwoman. she has
become possessed of an American
baby
1t never occurred TO me to examine
the little bundle Of humanity. had In
previous times rather prided myself on
my ability TO distinguish the nation.
ality Of people, had even boosted
could tell them by their shoes. but
had never tried my perceptive powers
on infant physiognomies.
"VOilar' she said. seating herself.
shall never forget that word VOLTA.
It was one OF the first French words |
ever learned. You know ii means--oh,
so many things when used exclama.
torily, as 1t generally is. Usually. how
ever. to the beginner In the French
language 1t conveys the meaning Of
Here it is" That was about as far as
| had progressed In my French educa,
ton at that time in regard to the many
varied meanings OF VOLTA. and ] dc.
termined that If it meant the baby then
It would retain its geographical loca.
ton inde6nitely-that is. IN the WON
ans lap over by the door. or preferably
outside. Bnt her VOLTA referred not
so much to the infant as to the story
Of how 1t came to be In her possession.
She talked volubly while tried TO as
sumo the defensive power OF silence.
But 10 n Frencbwoman-well silence
simply means what the Jockey gives
the horse in the last heat-encourage
ment,
From the verbal French cyclone she
hurled at me gathered few frag-
ments that enabled me to understand
For three months she had been en-
ployed MS nurse by an American WON.
an who had paid her good wages. Four
weeks previously, however. the mother
had returned TO New York. saying she
was going over for only two or three
days on an urgent business matter aud
would return nc once. She had not seen
or heard of her since. Being u woman
who had to work for her own living,
the baby was burden on her hands.
She could hardly support herself. much
less provide for the infant and as the
child was OF American parentage she
thought the representative Of the Amer
lean government ought to take care
oft.
suggested that would write to the
city authorities in New York asking as
10 the genuineness of the address that
the woman said the mother had left
with her.
And what shall do during all the
time you are waiting for an answer
starveT'
Ny answer finally was twenty
franc gold piece, with which she de-
parted. saying she would try to take
care Of the baby until 1 could hear
from the New York authorities.
Now. the reasonable and the unreal
sonable part OF the story Is that since
her departure. though the sun has
risen hundreds OF times. she has never
returned. It had not risen moro than
seven times. however, before learned
the reason.
IL was just one week later at an in
formal dinner Of the sixteen consuls
who resided In the city that In the
course Of conversation with my Ital.
ian colleague told him the story Of
the woman and the baby. What do
you suppose he answered?
"Weli. we'll" he laughed. why. that
same woman came TO my Office. only
she had an Italian baby. And thought
was fortunate to get rid Of her for
80 francs"
In the general conversation that fol.
lowed discovered that the woman
had visited every one Of the sixteert
consulates in the city, and by her abil.
ity to change the baby's nationality
from English to German and from
Haitian to japanese and all the other
eolors of the rainbow she had extract
ed from the consular corps Of that par
ticular French city the sum Of IT'S
francs.
This incident IS just one of series
Of similar experiences with frauds and
takers a consul has to face In the per-
Torrance of his s.--Thornwell
Haynes in New York Tribune.