Monmouth weekly herald., 1859-02-03

, take q pun or two at my pipe and the
5 will go to bed" He lit it as he spoke.
4 The wind howled without, and 6erc
gust swept down the chimney, causing TIL
dying wood FIRE to blaze up all at one
and afford new entertainment for the eye
Iof the child. 1t sounded outside in tn,
hall. and seemed to rattle the handle o
the door as it passed on its way.
Mr. Leycroft finished his pipe and laic
/ it away upon the shelf, and then sat fol
a moment gazing into the FIRE. Another
blast swept around the house, and Mrs
Leycrof shuddered as she murmured
1 forth
Heaven be with those now tossed
about upon the dreadful sea, and shield
them from the fury Of the raging temp
estW
.Amen ~
The handle Of the door had softly tern
ed, and the door opening, gave admit
tance to the form of man encircled in o
cloak. 1t was his voice that had spoken
in a solemn, deliberative tone, and as be
placed his foot over the threshold and
stood within the room, the same word
ulOppeu from AS lips.
" Amen, mother amen n
A shrek that echoed through the room
through tho passage from the top to the
bottom of the house. went up from the
lips of Agnes Leycrof, as she made a
tottering step forward and then fell sense
less aud motonless in the outstretched
arms Of Trente Leycroff!
| Ha bod kao~ ea,,od L.. IL Al :
ship went down, to floating spar, had
tossed about upon the waves for nearly
two days, and had then been picked up
by passing vessel in an exhausted con
dition, and carried on to her destination.
His iron constitution bore him through
severe illness in safety, and upon his
convalescence, he was brought safely back
home again. Despite the 6erceness OF
the storm raging, he had mounted horse,
and as fast as the animal could dash over
the road between the place of his disem-
barkation and his home, he had travelled
in the face of the lightning, the fierce
blasts and the da hing rain.
They did not go to bed that night un
til long after the day began to show its
light. chasing away the clouds of the
tempest that ragged above the homestead
on the night before. There was not a
great deal said, but they sat in loving
circle, aud gazed in one another's faces,
while Trente ever and anon pressed his
wife closer to his heart, and then stopped
down and fondly kissed the child as it lay
in its cradle at his feet. That youthful
individual found his attention continualiy
distracted form his contemplation of the
freight on the ceiling, and by daylight
had not apparently arrived at any salts
factory conclusion as to the subject of his
thoughts. What occupied his mind does
not satisfactorily appear, as he preserved
a complete and dignihed silence upon the
matter.
He did not know till long years after
how near he had once been to fatherless !;
and the story was told him by the old
man one night as he sat and smoked his
pipe by the side of the old familiar wood
fire. 1t sti' danced upon the ceiling, as
it had been wont to do when he lay in
the cradle. now standing in the corner,
and fixed his baby thoughts upon its
bright reflections, glowing merrily there
above his head, when the shadows Of
night had fallen upon the earth, and the
voices OF the wind were heard without,
signing among the orchaId trees.