



Produced by Annie McGuire








[Illustration: HARPER'S

YOUNG PEOPLE

AN ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY.]


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VOL. I.--NO. 11. PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK. PRICE FOUR
CENTS.

Tuesday, January 13, 1880. Copyright, 1880, by HARPER & BROTHERS. $1.50
per Year, in Advance.

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[Illustration: JEANIE AND THE UMBRELLA.]

JEANIE LOWRIE, THE YOUNG IMMIGRANT.

BY MISS F. E. FRYATT.


It was early winter evening at Castle Garden, the scores of gas jets
that light the vast rotunda dimly showing the great hall deserted by all
the bustling throngs of the morning, save the few women and children
clustered around the glowing stove, and closely watched by the keen-eyed
officials who smoked and chatted within the railings near them.

Sitting apart from these, taking no notice of the gambols of the
children, was a wee lassie of perhaps eight summers, her round, childish
face drawn with trouble, and her great blue eyes brimful of tears. She
was evidently expecting somebody, for her gaze was fixed on the door
beyond, which seemed never to open.

It was little Jeanie Lowrie waiting for her grandfather's return. Old
Sandy Lowrie, thinking to take advantage of their stay overnight in New
York to visit his foster-son, who had left Scotland for America when a
lad, had gone out in the afternoon into the great city, bidding Jeanie
carefully guard their small luggage--a few treasures tied up in a silken
kerchief, and Granny's precious umbrella, which was a sort of heirloom
in the family.

While the great crowd surged to and fro, and the winter sunlight flooded
the room, Jeanie had been content to watch and wait, half pleased and
half frightened at the shouts and noises that fill the place on steamer
day; but when the men, women, and children all went away, by twos and
threes, save a few, and silence came with the increasing darkness, and
the dim gas jets were lighted overhead, her heart, oppressed by a
thousand fears, sunk within her, and she fell to sobbing bitterly.

Now there were not wanting kind hearts in the little groups around the
stove; for there was Mary Dennett, with her five laddies, going to join
her husband at the mines in Maryland; and Janet Brown, her neighbor,
with her three rosy lassies; and Jessie Lawson, with her wee Davie; and
not one of these three would see a child suffering without offering
consolation. Kind Janet soon had her folded in motherly arms in spite of
the bundle and the great umbrella, which the lassie stoutly refused to
part with for a moment; and Mary Dennett, crossing over to the counter
on the far side of the room, bought her cakes and apples; while the
children, not to be outdone, made shy endeavors to beguile her into
their innocent play.

But to each and all of these Jeanie turned a deaf ear, moaning
constantly: "I want my ain, ain gran'daddie; he hae gaun awa', an' left
me alane. Oh, gran'daddie, cam back to your Jeanie!"

The evening wore on into night, and still no Sandy came to comfort
Jeanie; but there came that great consoler, sleep. Soon she slumbered in
Janet's arms, and the kind soul, fearing to waken her, held her there
till the beds for the little company were spread on the floor; then she
laid Jeanie tenderly down, with her treasures still clasped in her arms,
and covering her, stooped to print a warm kiss on the round tear-stained
cheek, not forgetting to breathe a prayer for the missing Sandy's safe
return.

The snow glistened on the walks and grass-plats of the park without; the
wind roared down the streets and whistled among the bare branches of the
trees, and rushing along, heaped up the waters in huge billows, dashing
them against the great stone pier; men passed to and fro, but Sandy came
not, for far off in the great city he had lost his way.

In vain he had asked every one to tell him where his foster-son Alec
Deans lived. Meeting only laughter or rebuffs, he tried in the growing
darkness to find his way back to Castle Garden, but could not. No one
seemed to understand him, or cared to; so at last, worn out in mind and
body, he sunk down on the stone steps of a house, unable to proceed a
step further.

Bright and early the next morning at Castle Garden the women were roused
from their sleep, for the beds must be rolled up, and the place cleared
for the business of the day, and all must be ready for the early train.

In the confusion of preparing the children for breakfast and the
journey, the women had forgotten Jeanie for the time, till suddenly
Janet, spying her, with her bundle and her umbrella, standing and
casting troubled, wistful glances at the door, ran over and brought her
to where the women and children were drinking coffee from great cups,
and eating rolls of brown-bread and butter. Seating her in the midst of
them, she said, "Eat a bit o' the bannock, dearie. Gran'daddie will cam
back wi' a braw new bonnet for Jeanie, and then we'll a' gang awa' i'
the train togither."

"I dinna want a bonnet," cried Jeanie; "I on'y want gran'daddie."

"Dinna greet, bairnie; he'll no leave ye lang noo."

But the old man, contrary to their hopes, failed to appear, so there
rose a troubled consultation among the women regarding Jeanie. They had
all lived neighbors to the Lowries, a mile or so beyond the dike which
is a stone's-throw from the duke's palace, near Hamilton; the "gudemen"
of their families, hearing great reports of the mines in America, and
the times being hard for miners at home, had gone out to verify them,
Angus Lowrie among the rest. All four had prospered, and now sent for
their wives and bairnies. Young Lowrie, however, was doomed to the
bitter sorrow of never more seeing the bonny wife he had left behind
him, for a fever had carried her off in her prime; so that Jeanie, her
bairn, was left to the sole care of her grandfather, who loved her
tenderly, as the old are wont to love the young.

While the women were in the midst of their dilemma, half resolved to
carry off the "lane bairnie" privately, lest the officers should
interfere, the superintendent, seeing some trouble was afoot, came over
and soon settled the matter, for there was a law on the subject that he
was bound to obey.

But we are quite forgetting old Sandy all this time. Seeing that he was
lost, and there was no help for it, that he should sit down in the
particular spot he did was a peculiar stroke of good fortune, for it was
the very house he had been seeking, and what was most wonderful, just at
that moment the door above opened, and down came Alec Deans in time to
hear Sandy's faint cry, "God help my puir Jeanie!"

Alec Deans had not heard the dear Scottish accent in many a year, so
straightway that sound went to his very heart-strings, making them
thrill and tingle with a joy that was as suddenly turned to pain, when,
stooping down, he found the old man fallen back as one dead.

With little ado--for Sandy was small and thin--he lifted him bodily,
carried him up the steps, and rang a peal which soon brought his wife to
the door. Placing the old man on a sofa in the warm sitting-room where
the light fell on his poor, pale face, Alec Deans in a moment recognized
his foster-father, and set to work to restore him. The long stormy
passage, and the trials incident to emigrant life on shipboard, added to
the fatigue and fright of his night's wanderings, had so told on the old
man's feeble frame, that after much effort on the part of Alec Deans to
revive him, he could do no more than move restlessly, murmuring, "Puir
Jeanie! Puir wee bairnie Jeanie!"

Before he could well tell his story, the most of it became known to his
foster-son, for the Commissioners, finding he did not return to Castle
Garden, sending Jeanie weeping away to the Refuge on Ward's Island, and
notifying the police, advertised the missing man in the papers.

It was on the second day after Sandy's falling into such good hands that
Alec, reading the morning paper at his breakfast table, saw the
advertisement describing Sandy to the very Glengarry cap he wore on his
head when missing.

In short order he made his way to the Rotunda at Castle Garden, told the
old man's adventure, and obtained a permit to bring Jeanie away from the
Refuge.

There was an hour to spare before the little steamboat _Fidelity_ would
start for Ward's Island, so Alec, being a thoughtful man, employed it in
purchasing a pretty fur hat and tippet and some warm mittens, lest
Jeanie should suffer from cold, for it was a bitter day to sail down the
East River.

When Alec, arriving at his destination, was taken into the long
school-room, and saw the sad pale-faced little creatures bending wearily
over their lessons, stopping only to lift timid glances to his friendly
face, as if they would gladly pour out their little hearts to him, he
was filled with a great pity and a sharp regret that he could not take
the wee things away with him, and give them each the shelter of as happy
a home as that in which his own Phemie bloomed and flourished.

"Jeanie Lowrie, step this way; you are wanted," exclaimed a teacher.

Poor Jeanie, as she came reluctantly forward with downcast eyes, looked
as if she feared some new disaster. Pale and dejected, could this be the
blooming lassie who so short a time since parted with her grandfather?

"Jeanie," said Alec, softly, "I've come to take you to your gran'daddie.
Here's some warm things; put them on, and get ready."

"Oh, sir, may I gang awa' frae here to see my ain, ain gran'daddie once
mair?" cried the lassie, the glow of a great joy dawning on her pale
face and lighting her eyes.

"Yes,