The broad ax., 1915-01-23
And A BABY
And Uncle Sans Polite Consul
In a City In France.
HOW THEY MET AND PARTED.

French and VoIuble, and the In.
FAINT, Who Was American, Presented.
Not very long after having taken
charge of one Of the consulates In
France I was one morning seated at
my desk buslly engaged in figuring
over my quarterly accounts, when sud
denly a woman carrying a bundle 10
her arms appeared before me- l had
not resided in France sufficiently long
TO imbibe the unadulterated French 20
likeness, but l had progressed suf'
hciently TO ask:
Madame. what can l have the pleas
IRE of doing for you this morningT
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 a father with the or
ange blossoms and rice omitted and
knowing that the American govern
ment had established no precedent OF
maintaining orphan asylums either at
home or abroad. hesitated a moment
and replied:
viii the madame please be seated
over there by the door and tell me
why. being a Frenchwoman, she has
become possessed Of an American
babyE"
II never occurred to me to examine
the little bundle Of humanity. ! had in
previous times rather prided myself on
nv ability TO distinguish the nation
ality Of people. had even bOasted !
could tell them by their shoes. but
had never tried my perreptive powers
ON infant physiOgnomiPs.
VOLTA she said. seating herself.
shall never forget that word VOLTA.
II wis one of the first French words !
ever learned. You know II means-oh.
so many things when used exclama.
torily. as II generally Is. Usually, how
ever, to the beginner In the French
language IL conveys the meaning Of
Here Il 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 l de
termined that " II meant the baby then
IL would retain its geographical loca-
tion acknowledgement is, In the wOm-
ans lap over by the door. or preferably
outside But her VOLTA referred not
30 much to the infant as to the story
Of bow IL came TO be in her possession.
She talked volubly while tried to as
sumo the defensive power OF silence.
But to Frpnchwoman-well. silence
simply means what the jockey gives
the horse Ia the hast heat encourage
ment.
Frnm the verbal Frpnrh cyclone she
hurled at uIp l gathered few frag.
mentS that enabled lite tu understand
For three months she mad been EN-
ployed as nur>,. 10y au AmrriHn WON
an who had paid her g"ud WAGES -Four
weeks previously however. the mother
bad returned Iu New York. saving she
was going over for only Two nr three
days on an urgent business matter and
would return at once She had tot seen
or heard of her since. Bein= - woman
who had to work for hpI own nving
the baby was a burden un lIpT 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 carr
oft.
suggested that would write to the
city authorities In New York asking as
to the genuineness OF the address thai
the woman said the mother bad left
with her.
And what shall do during all the
time you are waiting for an answer
starveT'
My answer finally was a twenty
franc gold piece. with which she de
parted saying she would try to take
care Of the baby until I could heal
from the New York authorities.
Now. the reasonable and the unrea
sonable part OF the story Is that sincS
her departure. though the sun ha:
risen hundreds OF times. she has neYeI
returned. Il had not risen more thar
seven times. however, befOFe learned
the reason.
II was just one week later az an In
formal dinner Of the sixteen eonsull
who resided In the city that In the
course Of a conversation with my Ital
ian colleague ! told him the story Of
the woman and the baby. What d.
you suppose be answered.
well. we'll" be laughed. why. that
same woman came TO my Office. only
she had an Italian baby. And 1 though
I was fortunate to get rid Of her FOL
30 francs"
In the general conversation that fol
lowed I discovered that the woman
had visited every one Of the sixteen
eonsulates IN the city. and by her abil
fly to change the baby's nationality
from English to German and from
Haitian TO japanese and all the othei
eolors Of the rainbow she had extract
, ed from the consular corps OF that par
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