to the brim. But they were mistaken. One drop more was wanting; and there was a Judas in the company of kind sympathizers ready to add this. As in the case of Charley Ross this fiend in human form charged the parents with murdering their children for the purpose of getting money through compassion of the people. This wretch, in company with a few kindred spirits, had the audacity to take up some of the floor in the parents' cabin, to see whether or not they had buried their children under the floor, and dug up some places in their garden where they had buried their potatoes for the same purpose. It was only a man who had a heart in him to murder his own children that could have thought of such a cruel act. And when the news was carried abroad that such a charge had been made the people were so indignant at such an unreasonable accusation, that they would have punished this wicked party according to their evil deeds, had they not escaped from the company and remained away. Soon after this, as if to disprove these slanderous charges against the parents, a murmur came through the neighborhood and ran along the mountain that traces of the little wanderers had been discovered. With such a
|