Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1856-02-01

Il 4AIAOO ~ II IL Il LIS AOC
grew pale, and the old man sprang from his
seat. She rushed wildly in--his daughter
--ho knew her at the first glance, though
the cold, white features were all so unlike
that beautiful being whom he had seen in
the flush of herripened girlhood.
Father she cried, stretching out her
arms, 4 have come back to die o will you
not take me to your heart once moro before
L go home to mother in heavenr
lie looked on his daughter and her child,
and the pride of many years gave way, and
the stern heart at last yielded.
He opened his arms, and with a low, glad
cry she sank into them r
Yes, Nelly, darling, you shall come back
here-right here to my heart, as in old
time, he said, while his tears and his kisses
dropped a blessed baptismal of affection on
her forehead. you have been gone long
time, daughter--so long that your cheek
has lost its bloom aud your eyes the old
laughter; but we will bring it back again,
my pet, my treasure Do YOU know how
this old heart has ached for you! Look up,
Nelly, and say you forgive me- But alas
alas! she did not look up, for she had gone,
as she said, to her mother in heaven.
White winters and rosy sunmers-a score
of them-had cast an anchor upon the
shores of the past when, one afternoon, a
young and noble-looking man stepped into
a fashionable clothing saloon on Broadway
and inquired why some work had not been
sent home the evening previous, as had been
promised. Il am very sorry, sir, said the
obsequious foreman, but the young woman
who promised to finish the wristbands has
been quite i'll. Tom,' turning 10 one of the
clerks, when did Mary Strong say she would
send that work in?
MARY Strong, repeated the young man
with a sudden start, his fine dark eyes kin
ding with eagerness. who is she? Where
does she resides?
The address was furnished, and without
another word he left the store.
K
How l wish I was sloeping there, close
by mama, among the cool elover-blossoms,
and the wind stirring the long grass all
about me! o, should sleep there so sweet
ly, and 1 am so very wearyP and the work
dropped from the young girls fingers, and
the tears fell fast over her pale, fair cheeks,
as she sat there in that old chamber, where
the May sunshine only came in faint and
broken. 1t would have made your heart
ache to see her, so young, so fair, and SO
wretched.
How hot my head is! and it aches so,
cannot see the stitches. o, if those sharp
pains would not run over all my limbs
There was a knock at the door, and the
young seamstress started up, and exerting
her remaining strength walked towards it.
Good afternoon, ma'am.' The young
stranger lifted his hat to the seamstress in
that miserable chamber with courtly grace,
and his eyes were fastened with eagerness on
the face whose exceeding loveliness shone
out in strange contrast with the poverty
about it. May I inquire if I address Miss
Mary Strong?
THAT is my name, sir The girls blue
eyes were filed with wonder and alarm.
'And did your parents ever reside in
IF
'Yes, sir, and my mother is buried there :
she said it with quivering lips.
'Anl it must be the same, then. Surely
Gods own hand must have directed nv
steps this afternoon. Will you allow me to
walk in? l have something to tell you
which intimately concerns us both
And sitting there in that miserable cham
Der, he told her story of the past; how
her mother had saved his own and himself
from starvation; and how, in that last jour
ney, when she went homo to die, she had
made him promise that at some future day
he would repay tenfold the great debt that
he owed their family.
4 remembered ALL he said, child as l
was l remembered, too, the blue eyes of the
baby girl that opened upon me, like an an
gels, as 1 kept watch by her cradle that
morning
'And | remember mammals often speak
ing of the beautiful lady and her boy, and
wondering what became of them answered
the young girl. But the surprise proved too
great one; her head dropped, and with a
low moan she would have fallen to the floor
had not William Gregory caught her in his
arms.
Goodness alive. Mister William, what on
earth have you got there!
No wonder the old womans eyes seemed
starting from their sockets as she met the
young master of the mansion in his hall,
with that fair, unconscious girl, which he
and domestic were bearing toward the
parlor.
No matter now, nurse. In little while
you shall know all, only send Tom for doc
tor, quick
Two years more had joined the past. In
one of the parlors of his elegant home sat
William Gregory and Mary Strong. Itwas
evening, and the light from the two large
astrals fell in soft pillows on her golden hair
and May-bluo eyes.
The shadows of the past had all gone off
from her sweet face, and the purity of her
fresh, happy heart was written on every
feature, and yet there was little shade of
earnest purpose there, as she turned to the
young man, saying, in reply to some remark
of his, yes, Mr.. Gregory, our term closed
yesterday, and now l have been so long