Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1858-10-07

the newly neaVeQ eartn ana ruue ScaHOlO
ing told of some fatal preparation; an
there, with groans aud tears, with whit
lips and bowed head, agonzing in the lei
rible fervency of what would have bee
prayer had not the soul pleaded in ever.
element, while the tongte refused its Of
fee; could he have seen all this, he woult
have felt how much more poigant is th'
sorrow the human heart feels for the sui
ferings of others, than any pangs it ma,
endure for its own griefs.
The door opened softly; some pale fin
gers, dark, thin, and slight. held it for
moment and Then. figure. stole il,,--s,
noiselsssly that the young man did not a
first perceive the intruder, till a sigh S,
long drawn that it might have been thu
last severipg of body and spirit, caused hin
to turn.
"Why, Anderson, is it you!" said he.
"Yes, I manned the boat that brough
that cowardly traitor on shipboaad; but
sprang to the shore, knowing they woult
not dare to fire apon me; the coward
life was too precious, and needed all speed.
"Then be is safes''
"Yes; the bad, the guilty live; but the
good and the innocent hang upon the cross
The young man shuddered from head t
foot, and Anderson crushed his two hand:
together, as if the bones must yield under
tho pressure. His brow sharply contracted
while his carvenous eyes CLEANED with al
unearthly fire of pity. endurance, enc
sharp anguish.
allow did you find me?" asked th'
youth.
"In the same why that the brute crea-
tion find their yosng. followed the pull
ling of my heart strings, and they led me
to you."
"My poor Anderson" said the young
man, extending his hand as he had done
before upon the entrance of the man; but
Anderson did not take it; on the contrary
his person assumed painful attitude OF
respectful rigidity.
"You know my fate" said the youth,
''that l have but few hours left me-"
81 know all, have been to the Ameri-
can camp. 1 have prayed and begged for
your life as if-ay-as-if-you had been ,
And suddenly casting himself at the
feet of the youth,-"my own child!-
There was long silence. Anderson laid
his head upon the knee of the cnptive
gasping for breath till tears, SO long held
back, boured like torrent over his bruised
heart.
The young man held up the long grey
locks which streamed around the thin
sunken temple, and looked wonderingly
upon the small features, wasted by time
and suffering, and yet strangely reminding
him of something fitting in the vistas OF
memory.
ayes, yes, Go not mind. am woman
think nothing of me; and yet, oh God
nothing but woman could have endured
wha: have done to save you, to avert this
terrible fate. Ny child! my blessed child
dearer to me than the fruit of my own
body, born ofmy soul, and nurtured in the
foundations Of love, amid travail of tears
and the pangs of supplication, God comfort
thee!"
There was long silence, broken only
by the sobs of Anderson, who still lay al
the feet of the youth. He remembered the
strange story of his infancy, and the tears
of his mother when she spoke of her parent
bereft of reasoR-the many years of incar-
ceration in a naad-house, to which that par.
ent had been subjected-his occasional Wis
its to her, and her wild, unearthly prayers
the almost frantic love with which she
regarded him-and how at length he had
been kept entirely from her, as his presence
was supposed to aggravate her disease.
Then there were years of calm, of con.
centrated melancholy composure, which peo'
pie still called insanity, but of nature SC
coherent, so hushed, SO little in sympathy
with the rest of the world, and yet SO vast
in its deep religious fervor, its concentra-
ton of intense thoughL-a train of thoaght
lying so deeply back in the spirit, that none
could fathom its mystery; this was also
called insanity, insanity of the most hope
less kind; for she spoke solemnly of some
undivulged mission, some lonely painful
duty before her, to prepare for which she
tasted and prayed, and Injured herself to
sleepless nights and long solitary walks
Miles and miles did she wander over unfre-
quented ways, toilsome and rugged, climb
ing, with steady effort, high hills, and
threading lonely woods, till her form assu-
med litheness and power, an elastic and
attenuated vigor, astonishing to behold
Sunshine and storm were alike to her; she
was secure from injury whichever might as
sail; for tho intense spirit thus made ready
for its hidden purpose, glowed inward like
a consuming fire, and the eternal organiza-
ton became nodded and subjugated to its
will.
At first she had beeen closely followed
and watched witt care; but as years pass
ed on, and she remained ever the same, pa,
tient, laborious, silent-moving her round
of solitary walks, neglected of the graces Of
her sex, but intent upon all and the least
thing that concerned the interest of hel
family-she was left gradually to herself
and was supposed to have settled into one
Of those melancholy peripatetics whom we
sometimes meet in our paths, pressed by q
secret grief and lost to human sympa-
thies.
The young man felt all this sliding thro
his brain, rather than as train of events
called to recollection; and now, as he look.
ed upon the pale, wasted face, with its
strange beauty beauty which the high
est sense of the soul acknowledged as near.
est 10 the confines of the eternal-hs re-
membered how often the face and voice Of
Anderson had recalled some intangible
mystery, which still fitted from bis men