The Yale expositor., 1916-01-13
A STORY
OF FACT
By RUTH GRAHAM


true.
The adage Truth is stranger than fic-
ton" arises from the fact that In the
latter the author must introduce Il GER
tain plausibility or he will he accused
OF lack of the inventive faculty Such
incidents as this one are seldom taken
for motifs for stories because they are
too improbable.
The mother had not been gone long
before u man came along, threw sack
over the girls head and ran away
with her. When the mother returned
she found her daughter gone and her
boy crying.
The neighborhood was searched high
and low, the police were notified and
posse was organized To hunt for the
missing child. Weeks, months. years
passed. but the little girl remained I'M
heard OF by her parents. Her mother
never saw her again.
Evelyn-such was the child's name
was carried 10 unknown parts by the
man who kidnapped her, but why he
had taken her must remain mystery,
his object. After time he gave her
to a family who treated her we'll, but
she was finally taken TO wild region
in Kansas ana sold to persons there
They kept "A tavern beside Il road along
which travellers passed at intervals,
though in such country guests were
few and far between.
ha
house. ate his supper and was shown
to his room. That night Evelyn was
awakened by shrieks which grew faint
er and fainter, as if coming from some
one who was being Overpowered. The
terror stricken child lay awake the
rest Of the night. In the morning she
was told that the travellers had gone
on. After that for awhile the family
purse seemed to have been repIenished
Evelyn by this time was Old enough
to know what was going on about her
and gradually came TO realize that she
was living in a den OF robbers and
murderers. 1t was not always neces-
sary to kill their victims. but when it
was they did not hesitate to do 80.
One day the child was standing at
the door crying. Three woudchOppers
came along and asked her what was
her trouble. She gave them her con
fidence, telling them how she had been
taken from her home and had finally
fallen into hands Of those whose deeds
made her shudder. They took her
away with them, and on the infOrma-
ton she had given posse was organ
lied, and the lair of the murderers was
raided Some of them escaped, but
others were captured. tried and con-
yicted
This sounds for all the world like a
fairy story OF little girl who was
held by an ogre and just before she
was about to be eaten up was rescued
by woodchopper.
After this Evelyn was claimed by
woman who said she was her mother.
Evelyn denied this, but, since she had
no home. went TO live with the woman.
But she remained here only year, at
the end Of which time the woman drove
her out to shift for herself.
The poor child was now twelve years
old and devoted herself to making her
own living But all the while she new
or gave up hope that she would find
her parents and her brother. The
brother meanwhile was growing TO be
a man. He remembered his lost sister
and would have made efforts to find
her If he could have got any clew.
l.,
and the parents are called upon to pay
it there is little hope of its restoration.
No child Of four years of age is capa-
bic OF acting I'm its own behalf.
Evelyn, when she came TO a mar
riageable age, was courted and became
a wife. This was the end of her troubles,
for she lived happily with her husband.
Forty years passed. Evelyn was now
woman over forty-four. The brother
from whom she was snatched was
nearly fifty. One day he took up
newspaper and there, I'm brief item,
read his sisters story. Recognizing 1t
as such, he at once wrote her.
Evelyn Immediately made prepare
lions to go to the brother from whom
she had been separated so many years.
The parents had been long dead, and
this made her only the more eager to
Join him.
One day a cab was driven up TO the
house to which Evelyn had journeyed.
Her brother was expecting her, but
was inside the house when she arrived
Before she entered he heard her speak
TO the cabman.
Mothers voice." he said. 'Tt must
be Evelyn"
Who can depict the feelings OF this
brother and sister, who when torn
apart were little children, now united
on their approach to old age? Their
case was not that of brother and a
sister separated by an ordinary cause.
The brother had known the agony OF
his mother at the loss of her child,
while the sister had suffered untold
horrors, all the while knowing that
there were those who would protect
and ,harlQh bar ~ fbov could hut And