STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 



say the child was not found, and hope began to fade away 

 in all hearts. It still lingered, however, in that of the father. 



It was now Thursday, and it was on the evening of the 

 previous Saturday that the little girl had been lost. The 

 chances were indeed remote that she would be found, or if 

 found that she would be a living, breathing child. However, 

 about noon that day a horseman was seen riding at full 

 speed towards the farm, followed by a crowd that thronged 

 the road. The lost child was found ! Alive or dead? There 

 was a stop, a pause in the pulsation of the woe-worn heart 

 of the mother. Could it be that after five days of famine 

 and wandering, exposed to the rain and dews and the sun's 

 hot rays, that she should behold her child alive once more? 

 Yes, it was even so, and He who tempers the rough wind to 

 the shorn lamb and shelters the unfledged nestling of the 

 the wild birds had been her guard by night from the wild 

 beasts and her shield by day from the elements. No harm 

 had befallen the young wanderer save what naturally arose 

 from exhaustion and fear in her unusual position. 



Each night she had lain down and, sheltered by a fallen 

 pine tree, had slept as soundly as if on her own little bed 

 at home. The first night a drenching thunder-shower had 

 soaked her clothes, and she had lost her shoes in the grass 

 and had not cared to seek for them. Her face was much 

 sunburnt, and she said each day she had heard voices in the 

 distance, but her fear of strangers, and especially of Indians, 

 had made her conceal herself. One thing was remarkable 

 hope and trust in her father had never deserted her young 

 heart. She said she knew that he would never cease to look 

 for her till she was found. It was with the hope of seeing 

 that dear face that she came from her hiding-place and stood 

 upon the log and looked about her and was fortunately 

 discovered by one of the searchers, whom she knew by sight ; 



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