Year: 1878

| perhaps, az sOmei put confess tnS


idea made me uneasy. NV best plan


was to ride on as fast as I could, and


get out of the mystery into safe quar-


ters. Just here was about the darkest


bit of road in all the route. Mounting


my horse, was about TO urge him on


when the cry came again. 1t did sound


like child's-the plaintive wall of q


child nearly exhausted.


God guide me l' said, undecided


what to do. As l sat another moment,


listening, once more heard the cry,


fainter and more faint I threw myself
! off my horse with an exclamation.


sBs it ghost or be it robber, Anthony


Hunt is not one 10 abandon child TO
die without trying to save it."


But how was / to save it? how find
it2 The more searched about TIE less
could my hands light on anything, cave
! the sloppv earth The ,-eies had quIIe
ceased now, SO I had no guide from that.
While / stood trying to peer into the
darkness, all my ears alert, food of
sheet lightning suddenly illumined the
plain. At little distance, just be-
yond kind of ridge or gentle hill,
caught glimpse of something white
1t was dark again in a moment, but I
made my way with unerriDg instinct.
Sure enough, there lay poor little child.
Whether boy OF girl could not tell. It
seemed to be three parts insensible now,
as took it up, drip ping with wet, from
the sloppy earth.


''My poor little thingr' said, as
bushed it to me. "We'n go and find
nanny, You are sale now"


And in answer the child just put out
its feeble hand, moaned once, and
nestled close to me.


With the child hushed to my breast
rode on. Its perfect silence soon showed
me that it slept. And, sir, I thanked
God that he had let me save it, aud I
thought how grateful some poor mother
would be But I was full of wonder
for all that, wondering what
extraordinary fate had taken any young
child to that solitary spot.


Getting in sight of home, saw all the
windows alight. Deborah had done it
for me thought, to guide me home in
safety through the darkness. But pres
emily knew that something must be the
matter, for the very few neighbors we
had were gathered there. Ny heart
stood still with fear. thought of some
calamity to one or the other of the chill
dren. I had saved a little one from per-
ishing, but what might not have hap
pened to my own.


Hardly daring to lif. the latch, while
my poor tired horse stood still and mute
outside, went slowly in, the
child in my arms covered over with
the flap OF my long coat. Ny wife was
weeping bitterly.


&" What's amiss ?" 1 asked in q faint
voice. And it seemed that a whole
chorus OF voices answered na@>.


Dolly's lost 20


dolly lost - Just for a moment my
heart turned sick. Then some instinct,
like ray OF light and hope, seized upon
me. Pulling the coat off the face Of the
child held, lifted the little sleeping
thing to the light and saw Dollyl


Yes, sir. The child I had saved was
no other than my own-my little Dolly.
And knew that God g good angels had
guided me to save her, and that the
first flash of the summer lightning had
shone just at the right moment 70 show
me where she lay. 1t was her white
sunbonDet that had caught my eye. My
darling it was, and none other, that had
picked up on the drenched road.


Dolly, anxious for her doll, had wsu-
dered out unseen to meet me in the
afternoon. For some hours she was not
missed. 1t CHANGED that my two elder
girls had gone over to our nearest
neighbor's, and my wife, missing the
child Just afterward, took it for granted
she was with them. The little one had
gone on and on, until night and the
storm overlook her, when she fell
down frightened and utterly exhausted
[ thanked heaven aloud before them
all, sir, as said that none but
God and his holy angels had
guided me to her. It's not much of
story to listen to, sir. I am aware Of
that. But 1 often think of it in the long
nights, lying awake; and l ask myself
how I could bear to live on now, had
run away from the poor little cry in the
road, hardly louder than a squirrels
chirp, and left my child to die.


Yes, sir, you are right that's Dolly
out yender with her mother, picking
fruit the little trim light figure in pink
with just the same sort OF white sun
bonnet on her head that she w,re that
night ten years ago. She is girl that
was Just worth saving, sir, though 1 say
it; and God knows that as long as my
life lasts l shall be thankful that came
home on that night instead of staying in
the town.