Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1859-01-27
FREEHOLD n J. THURSDAY MORNING, JANUARY 81 1859

burnt in her heart when one hand held
hers, and one voice whispered to her that
she was dearer to one heart than all the
jewels which Eastern princes held far
over that glittering sel.
1t all came back to her fearfully vivid
and distinct from the contrast, and alone
in the dark night with the light Of her
burning home pouring its red baptism
over her, she held the inanimate body of
her husband in her arms, and thought
piled up agony of the past.
She thought she felt the form tremble,
it was glorious tought 1t infused
new life into her veins and courage to
her heart? She started up, and tearing
open his vest placed her hand upon the
fountain Of life. Oh, what wild cry of
joy rose to her lips!
He lives he lives thank God =
She resorted to every means in her
power they were but little, alas hew
very little-to restore him. and Heaven
was pleased to bless her efforts with sue
cess. Breath came back to James More
lands nostris, and life and warmth to
his heart. His first words, when he open
ed his eyes, were but an added assurance
Of his fervent love.
MY wife-Ellen Heaven be praised!
She is aliyel2
Then he sank back upon her bosom and
said no more. But he lived that was
enough; and the brave woman casting
aside all thought Of herself, and regard
ing as nought the increasing pain in her
wounded side, prepared to go for assist
ance. The nearest settlement was two
miles up the valley, but what to her were
fatigue and exposure while James lived?
She sought the thicket where she had
hidden her infant it slumbered, and
carefully removing it, she brought it to
the side of his father. Then divesting
' T., q 'f her shawl and aproA she wrap
sosn 'ae ipiur $50, ass-ssts iF'''7.s
Eliru to the
\ \ - A upon her
erfand, bearing a l9lie tarca to light the
torturous way. Night hung dense and
lmpapable over the earth-not "a star or
CLEAN OF light, over the battlements of
the grim mountains, yet she faltered moi.
Wild animals infested the whole valley,
but the panther shrank away from her
white face with a growl of discomfort.
and the cowardly wolf hid himself in the
underwood as her torch went.
! At length after toilsome tramp Of an
hour or more, she reached the dwelling
OF the nearest settler and aroused the
family.
Peter kenney and his three stalwart
sons were dismayed when they looked
into the face of their visitor, and saw the
blood trickling slowly down her dress
from the cash in her side but their coun-
tenances burned with impotence when
she related to them in few hurried
words the events Of the night, begging
them to go with her to her husband.
NO entreaties were needed to move
| those hardy fellows to action in case
where humanity was concerned, and in
the space of FIVE minutes rude litter had
been constructed of interlaced rude
ooughs across which bed and some quilts
were laid, and then. each armed with his
trusty rifle, the three men set forth for the
scene of desolation.
Ellen Moreland refused to remain at
Peter Kennedy's house during the absence
OF the men on their errand Of mercy, and
not all the entrcaties and expostulations
Of the kind hearted Sc tiers wife, could
move her from her purpose. She must
go back to her treasures, and so, decln-
ing to occupy the litter, she went on be-
fore the little cortege-faith and hope
lending vigor to her frame and elasticity
to her steps.
When one Of his sons was urging her
to accept of the litter conveyance, Mr..
Kenny said +:
" Let her alone, John the good Lord
will give her strength, and shut the jaws
Of the panther"
The devoted woman reached her hus
band some time before the others and
she was more than rewarded for her ex
ertions by the favorable change which had
come over him since she left him. A faint
color flushed his face, and the handker-
chief she had bound around his head had
staunched the flow of blood.
Little Rachel nesting close up to her
fathers side, still slept-one tiny hand
dahbled in the blood which had oozed
from the wound in his forehead the 9TH
er supporting the smiling cheek--a pie
ture of unconscious innocence and beauty.
They put the father and child together
upon the litter, and then went out to look
at the smoking ruins Of the cabin. The
charred remains of the savages could be
perceived among the embers, and they
left them there undisturbed, feeling that
Ellen Moreland had done her duty in
thus destroying them. The next day the
settlers of the upper valley gathered to
gether, and casting the body of the un.
burned Indian into the as es with the
rest, they covered the place with the sods
oil the hill side.
James Moreland lived-but his illness
was long and tedious, and his. suffcrings
the intensity Of anguish. He has before
him an ever present reminder OF the he
roism Of his wife, for since that night her
right arm has hung uselessly at her side.
The wound inflicted by the Indian s SCALP.