Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 February 1894 — A Pathetic S[?]e. [ARTICLE]

A Pathetic S[?]e.

St. Louis Globe-Damo irat. “One of the most pathetic scenes that ever came under my observation," said E. D. Ennis, "was at a country store on the Big Sandy river, in West Virginia. I wa3 thare a 3 a special po3toffiee inspector, and was sitting in the store one bitterly cold night. The wind' howled dismally through the trees on the mountain side, blowing gusts of snow down the wide chimney into the fire-place at the end of the store room. The door opened, an 1 a feeble old woman, wearing a thin calico dress and a faded sun-bonnet, came in timidly, as if fearing bad news. ‘I don’t reckon you aint’ got nothin’ for me,’ she said to the store-keeper. ‘Yes; I’ve got a letter.’ and the old woman clutched it to her bosom as if it was the dearest thing on earth to her, aod with a quick step, born of happiness, she walked out, ‘1 wrote that letter myself,’ said the store-keeper to me. ‘Her son went down to the river on a raft three years ago and was drowned. The old woman could never understand that the boy was dead, and she writes to him every week, just backing her letters, “My Bill, Down the River.” It hurts her so not to get any answers that every week I write to her and sign Bill’s name.’ ’’