Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1853-06-17

| as the light was, could see veXatiOn de-
picted upon the mans face: and he shift
ed the coffin first On to one shoulder and
then on to the other, to see if he could not
help the woman without me, but that
took good care he should not do; and /
said:
"She seems i'll, indeed. | will help
you to your own door, if you are not 60
ing far"
But we are going far he said, " the
Lord willing"
"Oh, we'll" replied, 'snever mind,
have plenty of time.'
There was no such thing as getting rid
of me without a quarrel, and that he
seemed to be afraid of; so we walked on
in silence for some distance down dark
turning, and then down another, until we
stopped at the door of a cottage, when he
said: "Good night, sir-good night.
We are at home now. Good night. The
Lord be with you, sir
" Amen" said [: " good night" and
away walked at brisk pace, never once
looking behind me for nearly quarter of
a mile; and then [ turned and ran back
swiftly upon my toes. for | felt strong
conviction that something was wrong, al
though I had no direct clue to what it
was. [ had taken sufficient notice of the
cottage to reach it without any difficulty,
and in few minutes-rather out of
breath, [ admit stood before it.
1t was one of those cottages with a
door in the centre, and latticed window
at each side but there were shutters to
the windows on the inside. which pro-
vokingly prevented me from getting a
glimpse; and there [ stood fancying
there was some secret within, but totally
unable to find out what it was. I fancied
too that | heard the murmur of voices,
and being resolved not to be foiled, if
possible, made my way to the back of
the cottage, where there was garden,
and thence got into kind of scullery or
wash house. There was window exact
ly the level of my eyes, and once saw
into room, where scene was going on
which transfixed me with horror and as
tonishment.
The man and the woman were both in
the room; on chair was placed small,
common, rough looking child's coffin.
At the moment that looked into the
room, the woman was upon her knees
, with both hands uplifted, as if in suppl
cation, while the man stood over her with
his fists c}enched, and in an attitude as if
to strike her.
"Oh! John, john" she said, "you
know he is not dead. John, have mercy
have mercy! Do not do it Oh, God,
God. do not let him do it!''
: "Peace, foo]-peace, say, or you will
tempt me to silence yon most effectaally.
Get the child-get the child"
"John, John, it only sleeps-no, it is
| not dead. Oh! God, oh! it's not dead,
John. You know I got the laudanum
from Mr. Spragg, and you gave it. Oh,
no, no, no. You cannot, now that it has
come to the point, put the living child
into the coffin. 1t will awake-it will
, recover. Oh !-oh!-oh! Kill NE first. y
But you consented. You know you
, consented. And when Mrs. Blanchard
2 left you the twenty pounds, and said that
t she'd not be back from France for a year,
3 you consented to make away with the
. brat"
- was MAD.
you are mad now. But if you won't
[ get the child, | will. 1t won't awaken
t till it's under ground in the morning, II
< be bound and then it don't matter. We
: haven't killed it, after all. Didn't We
| send for Mr.. Spragg, and didn't he look
1 at it, and say it was dead! g
/ "No, no, John: Mr.. Sprigg came, but
: he never went into the room, where the
S child lay. You know he did not
| ''What is that to you? Confound you
: the coffin is too small, or you should gel
: into it as well. Oh, you won't leave go
D won't you? Well soon see about that
Take what you deserve"
+! A blow struck her down, and then hi
stepped to little bed th:t was in the
. room, and took from it what looked like
e a sleeping child, and crammed it into the
Y coffin. His wife recovered sufficiently tc
| see what he was about, and clung to bis
t knees shrieking. He struck her with his
disengaged hand. and commenced putting
4 on the lid of the coffin. | ran round the
house, and snatching up a stake, was
: about to dash in one Of the windows, bu
I | stayed my hand, for thought / Nigh,
do better.