Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1915-02-25
and A BABY
And Uncle Sans Polite Consul
In a City In France.
HOW THEY MET AND PARTED.
And How Light Was Thrown on the
Problem That tho Woman, Who Was
French and voiubie. n the In
FAINT, Who Was American. Presented.

charge of one OF the c~onsulates in
France | was one morning seated at
my desk busily engaged in Ggurtng
over my quarterly accounts, when sud.
denly a woman carrying a bundle In
her arms appeared before me. | tad
not resided In France sufficiently long
10 imbibe the unauthorized French po-
likeness, but had progressed SUI.
iciently to ask:
Madame. what can | have the pleas
IRE OF doing for you his morning.
Monsieur" she exclaimed. walking
toward me, holding out the bundle as
II to deposit 1t on my desk. this is an
American baby. What shall / do with
it?'
Abashcd AT the prospect of so sud
denly becoming II father with the or
ange blossoms and rice omitted and
knowing thar the American govern,
ment had established no precedent of
maintaining orphan asylnms either at
home or abroad. | hesitated a moment
and replied:
"Niil the madame please be scented
over there by the door and tell me
why. being u French woman. 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.
atty OF people. had even boosted l
could tell them BY their shoes, but /
had tried my %perceptiye powers
on infant physiognomies.
"Voila!' she said, seating herself.
shall never forget that word VOLTA.
II was one OF the first French words |
ever Learned. You know 1t 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.
lion at that time in regard to the many
varied meanings of VOLTA, and 1 de
termined that II 1t meant the baby then
II would retain Its geographical loca.
non Indefinitely -that is, In the won.
ans lap over by the door, or preferably
outside. But her voiia referred not
30 much TO the infant as to the story
OF how 1t came to be In her possession.
Bhe talked yolnbly while ! tried to as.
sume flha defensive power OF silence.
RRut TO q FFencnwoman-weil, silence
simply means what the Jockey gives
the horse IN the last heat-encourage.
n1ent
From the verbal French cyclone she
hurled at me / gathered q few frag.
rlents that enabled me TO understand
FSr three months SIG had been EN-
pioyed az 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 matteran
you'd return at once. She had not e e
or heard OF her since. Being d
who had TO work for her own living,
the baby was a 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.
Jean governments ought to take care
OF It
suggested that ] would write to the
city authorities In New York asking as
10 the g~ennineness 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
starveyt
Ny answer finally was a twenty
franc gold piece, with which she de
parted. saying she would Try to take
cure Of the baby until ! could bear
from the New York authorities.
Now. the reasonable and the unrea.
sonAhie part OF the story ii that since
her departure. though the sun has
risen hundreds OF times, she has never
returned Il had not risen more than
sesen times, however, before 1 learned
the reason.
u wa Just one week later at an In.
fnrmaf dinner OF the sixteen consuls
whu resided Ia the city that In the
course OF q conversation with my Itai.
ian colleague I told him the story OF
the woman and the baby. What do
you suppose he answered.
Welt well" ne laughed. why. thar
same woman came to my office, only
she had an Italian baby. Andl Thought
was fortunate 10 get rid of her Tor
90 francs.
HI the general conversation that fol.
owed discovered thar The woman
ma visited every one 81 the sixteen
c~onsuiates inS the city. and ~ her ahil
an I change the baby,s nationality
from English ID German and from
Aaitian W japanese and ali the other
c6icrsE ~ the rainbow she had extrnct-
ia from the consular corps Of thar par
dctiar French city the sum ~ m
franca.
fhis incident Il inst one II d series
~ ainiilar experiences with frands ma