THE STORY OF THE LOST CHILDREN.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume X, Issue 498, 27 October 1882, Page 9

THE STORY OF THE L OST CHILDREN.

Yes, it wag I who found them," siU Mr. B rtran 1. '• We had b sen Mr ffi f dl . OTer , fOT . th |«n daring three days. This morning I went into S,;,?S **^ d bb ' 1 ? »* he , was g'»«»* ( > v '*r to th? woods to con™f. f arCh ' H , e Baid Ye8 ' and we st irted " Tcr together. There JS hLJ er \ lar « ecr ° wd e °|Wed in thesearch, but Ethier wintalone with the boy who saw the children on Sunday afternoon. I asked him to %°JT ss a ?fc^here? fc^here they were when he saw them, and we started from inSSl 66 *? *? WO^ 8 ' c ff J 2 ll . oWe<l one dir '^ion for some time, and then returned, and started off in another. The others thought it was no use to go there, but we oontinued on. The woods are%ery thick there and some said the children could not have gone throueh them. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon I heard a faint voice, and at once pressed over in that direction, but we could fiud nothing, t told Mr. Ethier but he said there were ra my noises in the woods! Several times I heard, or thonght I heard, that voice, a childish voice, but hurrying in the direction from whence it oame, I could discover nothing in the dense brush. We listened again, and in a few moments are heard several word* spoken by a childish voice in tones of distress. Tne words were 'I am thirsty. 1 W>. pawed through the thinS ° n * liUle ° PeD Bpa ° e We bebeld the po °* little tv Jn* 1U u e b °l' oDly tbree * nd a half vearß old . w »» lying beside the fallen branch of a tree, with his little head resting oa I stone. The little girl, who is five years old. was kneeling beside him, with a little strawberry naucer in her hand. She started up when she saw us and her face brightened. The little boy. when he heard my voice raised h.mself up but through weaknea% tell forward on his hand.' with his face hidden amon? the leaves of the branch. We to>k them up in our arms the little girl whispering that they were lost. She pomte 1 to her little dress and said : «Ah my Sunday drew is quite wiled This was about three and a half or four miles in the woodi from Belanger ahpus*. Poor children ! they wen pale and exhausted. I asked the little girl if she had eaten anything, and she said they had eaten strwbarrie* far aw.iy. They hid on light d res *« and must have been cold at nights. It is wand rf ul. I was prepared to find them dead, but never to fled them alive. It was God only who tjok care of the poor lost children. The little bo Hea wer« thin and worn, the faces pinched until it seemel as thm<?h the bones would cut through the skin if they were moved, whil« the sunken eyes and parched lips told of the suffering endured during the four days' fast from food and water. Lost in the woods in the Canadian border of the northern wilder* neas possesses a rigaificance which those alone can understand who have been throngh those dense woods. Bears and other animals are otteu seen, and are very bold. How the children evcap-d them ia really strange, as they make their way to clearing at harvest time m such numbers that men are often afrai.l to venture into the fields after dark, when they hear them crashing among the gr»in. But the children had survived, were found alive, and &oou the news was noised throughout the region. As the searchere desisted from the search they congregated at Belanger's house, and cheer upon cheer greeted the finders of the now astonished and lroniaed cliildrtn. This waa the tale told by Mr. Bertrand Montreal Globe