The Lambertville press. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1858-1???, 1858-12-23

the privilege of begging his life. After mo-
ment of serious thought the patriot soldier con-
sented. He bound the torys arms still tighter,
placed him on the rock again and then led him
up the woods. A quiet cottage, embosomed
among the trees met their eyes They entered
the cottage. There beside the desolate hearth
stone sat the widow and children. She sat
there matronly woman of about thirty years
with face faded by care, deep black eye,
and long black hair hanging in disheveled
state about her shoulders. On one side, was a
dark haired boy, of some six years; on the
other side a little girl, one year younger, with
light blue eyes. The Bible-an old and yene.
rated volume lay open on the mothers knee.
And then the pale-faced tory flung himself on
his knees, and confessed he had butchered her
husband on the night of Paol, and begged his
life at her hands
"Spare me for the sake of my wife Ell my
child I"
He had expected this pitiful moan would
touch the widows heart, but no one relenting
CLEAN softened her face.
"The Lord shall Judge between us /" she
said in cold icy tone, that froze the murder
er's heart "Look, the Bible is in my lap /
will close that volume, and this boy shall open
it, and place his finger at random upon line,
and by that line you shall live or die!"
Z This was strange proposal, made in good
faith of a wild and dark superstition Of the
olden times For moment the tory, pale as
ashes was wrapt in thought. Then in faint
ing voice he signifed his consent.
Raising her dark eyes to heaven, the mother
prayed to the Father to direct the finger of her
son. She closed her book-she handed it to
that boy, whose cheek Redeemed with loathing
as he gazed upon his fathers murderer. He
took the Bible, opened its holy pages at ran
dom, and placed his finger upon verse
Then there was silence The continental
soldier, who had sworn to avenge his brothers
death, stood there with dlating eyes and parted
lips. The culprit kneeling upon the floor, with
his face like discolored clay felt his heart leap
in his throat.
Then in clear bold voice, the widow read
this line from the Old Testament, It was short
yet terrible:
"That man shall die
Look the brother springs forward to plunge
knife into the murderers heart but the tory,
pinioned as he is, clings to the widows knees.
He begs that one more trial may be made by
the little girl, that child of five years DID, with
golden hair and laughing eyes,
The widow consents. There is an awful
pause With smile in her eye, without know
ing what she does, the little girl opens the Bible
as it lies on her mothers knee she turns her
laughing face away, and places her finger upon
a hne M
That awful silence grows deeper. The deep
drawn breath of the brother, and the broken
gasp of the murderer alone disturbed the still
ness The widow and the dark haired boy are
breathless. The little girl unconscious as she
was, caught feeling of awe from the counte-
nances around her, and stood breathless, her
face turned aside, and her tiny fingers resting on
that line of life or death.
At length, gathering courage, the widow
bent her eyes on the page and read. 1t was a
line from the New Testament
"Love your enemies"
All, that moment was sublime. Oh, awful
book of God, in whose dread pages we see
Moses talking face to face to Jehovah, or Jesus
waiting by Samaria's well, or wandering by
waves of deep Galilee. Oh that awful book
shining tonight as see, the light of that wild
owls home, the glory of the mechanics shop
shining where the world comes not to look, on
the last night of the convict in his cell light
ing the way to good, even oyer the dread glib
bet Oh, book of terrible majesty and child
like love - of sublinity that brushes the sopl
into awe-of beauty that melts the heart with
rapture, you never shone more strongly than
there in the lonely cot of the Wissahicon when
you saved the murderer's life. as fst
For need / tell you that the murderer's life
was saved; the widow recognized the finger
| Of God, and even the stern brother was awed
into silence. 9