The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-10-28
WASHINGTON, ID. G.
For the National Era.
ANNIE NOR r / s.
A STORY.
BY MARTHA RUSSELL

A voice of warning speaks prophetic W uS
W,Jl.o,,s,y There is no doubt that there exis
such voices,
Yet | would not call tJsSm
Voices of warning that announce 10 us
Only the inevitable As the sun,
Ere il il risen sometimes paints its image
In the atmosphere so often do the spirits
Of great events stride on before tho events,
And in to-day already walks tomorrow
Who that has ever thought loved, and sui
f,rod in this cross biased world, has not some
mo in his life. felt the truth OF the poets
cords Denial is easy, and no age has been
moro expert in the practice oft than this yet
Snrarnaturalsm still exists, and must 80 long
80 man walks :" the unsteady rope of life" with
v;s;on limited by sense, there will come, from
,Lo unfathomable abysses above and below
him prophetic intimations, mysterious whls-
nars strange sounds, like that of " the going
IN the tops Of the mulberry trees" heard by the
poetkng of Israel in the valley OF Rephalm,
until fear comes upon him, and he stands awed
before the mysteries of his own being Science
and philosophy have done much towards ex-
planning the phenomena of the natural and
physical world, but they cannot gauge spirit
and whenever the enthusiastic theorist pauses
and turns his torch upon his own heart, he is
startled to find lurking there the very shadows
which he fancied had fled from earth before
its light.
Hands of invisible spirits touch the strings
OF that mysterious instrument, the SOUL
And play the prelude of our fate!
There is one place in our neighborhood which
always calls up, in my mind, reflections similar
to the above. 1t is the site of an old farm
house for nothing is now left Of the building
g tla h. nd, pr
the wide fre-places, in which the swallow and
the wren build their nests and rear their
young
But because we speak of ruin and decay
our tale is not necessarily one of horror" OF
ghosts and COLLINS damned" of moving ia
yestry" sliding panels" and haunted cham
bers' for no such evil reputation hovers over
the spot. The old house was built in the in
fancy of the settlement, by Deacon Ezra C,
whose gray tombstone is visible from the win
dow where ! write, and inscribed upon it in
quaint old letters, stand these words: " shall
behold the face of my forgiving God and stand
complete in righteousness washed in my Sa-
Wours blood and was tenanted for nearly a
century by his descendants, who have all been
laid by his side in the same glorious hope
Moreover, the cowboy, as he passes with his
lowing herd, loves to lingor there at nightfall,
to watch the sun set over the Sugar-loaf peak
and little sun-bonneted schoolgirls come there
Of a summer noontide, to gather the white roses
or ripe gOoseberries from the struggling bushes
that still mark the site of the old garden; and
childhood fingers not willingly where Turk the
shadows of horror or gloom. Perchance there
is not another person in the village, save my.
self in whom the sight of the old place raises
any other feeling save that of passing regret
that the C. family should become extinct
among us and the old place 60 to decay.
The last of that race died in my early child.
hood, devising the bulk of his somewhat dilap.
idated estate to the Ecclesiastical Society So
the old house became q kind of caravansere
for all the migratory families in that region
sometimes it would stand unoccupied for some
months, and then, perchance, some mechanic
from the neighboring factory village would
move in, and there would be new curtains up
at the windows, and new faces at the meeting
house; but these were also birds of passage,
vanishing at the first change in the manufac-
turing sky Thus the years slipped by, deep
ening the brown hue of the old clapboards,
and thickening the green moses on the roof
until, at last, the Societys Committee ~ re-
celyed letter respecting the old house, which
suddenly made it an object Of interest and i'm
portance to every one in the village The letter
was from a lady-a Mrs. Mary Morris-in-
curing into the condition of the farmhouse,
and expressing desire to rent it for an indef-
mite period if it was in habitable condition,
az She wished to take up her abode in the
country.
Save the name. the post-mark-which was
mat OF distant city-and the incidental re-
mark that she was distant relative of the
G-s, and had once visited the old house,
The letter contained no clew to her history or
condition The curiosity of our gossips was at
FAULT. Turn the letter which way they would,
mey could make nothing more from it. The
had been patriarchal family and
'neir collateral branches were scattered widely
over the country therefore, while the carpen-
,ers and masons were engaged in repairing the
house, the ane'ents of the village were quite as
zealously employed in settling the question as
TO which branch of the family the expected
tenant could belong.
Aunt sally Dean was certain that she was
the identical lady who had spent some weeks
al The farmhouse more than twenty years be-
"re' and completely bewitched ali the boys,
especially the old minister's son. who was then
nome from college, with her great dark eyes
ana dashng craftsmanship; and Deacon
'.ar'n vile was equally positive that it was
'he Oine-eyed, brown-haired girl from York
"ate who once visited old Miss Huldah c..
anl passed her house regularly every time the
.al came IN or went out with letter in her
"aha SAID letters having been set down a.
o'e letters" at once, for the good people found
i"ip possible to believe that any one but
9"ee'heart could write letter so often AZ once
week Both these good danes were very
JnAc'ous OF their opinions and, as they had
f'en'y OIL adherents, the dispute between them
l.o"l ''nes grew very warm, and threatened 10
hoe vu' IN An open quarrel but, fortunately
,orI o reached eliminating point, young
'iian appeared in the village, who an
NJ ', himself as the relative and agent of
e.. MOTIFS, and showed the Committee letters
IL authorizing him to inspect the condi-
Ara 'he old house, and order such additions
rarI '1erauons as he thought proper and. in
sa,oi 'he many queries put to him. he as
,vsA 'uem that the lady was neither the black.
a A oeauty nor the blue-eyed letter-writer. but
b,al ghter OF quite another branch of the
tn@ N VINO had, in her early girlhood, spent
rem, sht at the old farmhouse, with her pa
nsrs, moreover, that she was the widow of
tsD "' oliceri with one child, a girl Of seven.
mo~; AS to her means, or her reasons for
Sr1c. INTO such an out-ofthe-way place-two
wsrs % ~ o' much interest with the gossips-they
youns 10 wiser than before; for, though the
enoosh man u was sensible, civil-spoken body
was Co. 70 use Mrs. Martins expression, abe
A, v'e as steel-trap on sech matters"
VIA s,' the workmen left the house and
her eoo, uroat had scarcely got through with
the aoaact 10 whitewash the walls and scrub
from NE when two loads of furniture arrived
y womaa Haven, under the charge Of an elder.
Morri.n' who announced herself IA Mr.
follow hoasekeeper Her mistress would
lew days" she said, to such as