Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1915-01-22
A LADY and A, !. BABY
And Uncle Sans Polite Consul
In a City In France.
HOW THEY MET AND PARTED.

T''u TOW Light was thrown on the
Problem That the Woman, Who Was
French and VoIuble, and the In
FAINT, Who Was American, Presented.
Not very long after having taken
r':arge of one OF the conSulatcS in
France was one morning seated at
my desk busiiy 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 French DO
likeness, but had progressed suf-
ficiently 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
If 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 and rice omitted and
knowing that the American govern.
ment had established no precedent of
maintaining orphan asyInms either at
home or abroad. l hesitated moment
and repIied:
will the madame please be seated
over there by the door and tell me
why::* being a French woman: she has
become possessed Of an, American
haby?" ....
1t never occurred to me to examine
the little, bundle of humanity. Il. had in
previous times rather. prided myself on
my ability to distinguish the nation
ality. Of people,, had eyeu boasted !
could tell, them by their shoes; buttt
had never !eeIt1, tried my perfeptiye POWERS
on, infant physiognomies ',5;.;r: =: T..
.:"voilar' she said. settling herself. :" ~, -
Il shall never forgetvthat word VOLTA.
t was one' OF the first Fre9tf} words +
ever learned, You know it ;lf>eans+-oh,
SO many things when used &2clAma;;
torily, as,it generally is.; Usually: how.
ever, to the. beginner, tn tue ..,,trrench
language it conveys! the: meaning of
Here it isl That was about rs fat as
had progressed id my Ftenrb. educa,
ton at that time In regard to the many
varied meanings Of volta. and / de-
termined that If it meant the baby then
1t would, retain its geographical loca-
ton ndetinitely-that is. in the wom-
ans lap over by. the door: or preferably
outside. But her VOLTA referred not
so much to the infant as to the story
Of how it came to be In her possession.
She talked volubly while tried to as
sumo the defensive power Of, silence.
But to Frenchwoman--well, silence
simply means what the jockey gives
the horse in the last disadvantages
ment. :.s.,, b.. =.
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 as 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 and
would return at once. She had not seen
or heard OF her since. Being a woman
! who had to work for her own living,
the baby was a. burden: on her::hands.
She coul9 hardly support herself. much
less provide for the infant, and as the
child was of American percentage she
Thought the representative of the Amer;
ieana government oosh4t to- q;n take :era1re
suggested ,it that Would write to the
city authorities in New, York asking ~
to the genuineness OF the address that
the woman said the mother had left
With her. ~ ''.'' ':::s>' "''.,' - = "''''
AND what shall 1 do during all the
time yo6 are waiting for an answer
starveY' .''
Ny answer f1naily was a. twenty
franc, gold piece, with which she de-
parted. saying she would try. to take
care Of the baby until I could hear
from the New York authorities: az
Now. the reasonable and the unreal
sonable part of the story is that since
ner departure. thOngn the sun mas
risen hundreds Ut times. size nas never
returned 1t mad not risen nvre than
, seven times, however, before l learned
the reason: ,,'~ -.
1t was just one week later at an in.
formal dinner Of the sixteen consuis
who resided in the city that in the
course of a conversation with my Itai-
ian colleague told him the story Of
the woman and the baby. What do
you sllpn'se he answered.
We'll. WE'LL ne laughed. why, that
same woman came to my Office. only
she had an Italian baby. And thought
l was fortunate to get rid OF her for
so francs"
In the general conversation that FOL-
lowed discovered that the woman
had visited every one Of the sixteen
consulates In the city. and by Ter abfl-
tty to change the bahy's nationality