The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1860-12-08
COUNCIL BLUFFS IOWA, SATURDAY. pEcEMBER s IS
! really began TO get scared

-~~N - Asossy 49, ~ kVs O08k'
, about you io
, Sand the supper's about burnt ts einder.
, added Rebecca, who was in something OF
hurry TO get the table cleared in time (,
|, singing school.
! The deacon was . squars-built sui
Drowned man, With shaggy eyebrows u
weather beaten face. lie came toward Il
table With SLOW, CROPPING movement, uhis
neither of the pre- occupied women notice,
and he cleared his thross twico before b
4 spoke.
'si was detaineda while on eome matter I
my own" and Mrs. Palmer and Rebecca .
once concluded that he alluded TO some ba,
gain with 9 neighbor.
"Dont you see the chair there, father !?
/ asked Rebecca; for the old man stood Ell
as statue before the table, though hi
daughter had just placed his seat Il hi
elbow. and now he eat down without speak
4 ing word.
"Why, husband, I do believe you are dea
tc-night You haven. taken your hat -
exclaimed Mrs. Palmer.
''Don's, wife, don't )" and the old ma,
laid down his straw hat on the floor bes,d
him.
The two women bent their heads reyer
emily over the board, waiting for the deacon
to invoke bis customary blessings upon tn
meal, but no sound broke the stiffness
Mrs. Palmer glanced up TO her husband
his head, too, was bent over his plate
and stream of candle light which fell OF
bis face revealed it fully to her gaze.
''John. something has happened to yot
to- night" she said, leaning forward, ane
br eut h lp sslv sara chipo hta f..,
deep convulsiye sort Of groan heayeG
out of the old mans lips, and both of tbs
women grew white as they heard it.
so, what is it, father: do tell US - tlat-
tered up the frightened voice of Rebecca.
Mrs. Palmer rose and went to her hus
band, and laid her shaking fingers on bis
hard hand. 20, John, it amt anything
about Reuben 90 She cried out the word,
as one might if sword had struck sudden.
ly into her heart.
Rebecca had sat still at the table, her
sweet face struck white with wonder and
fear, and her brown eyes fastened on her
parents but now she sprang up and Drop
ped down on her kness at the deacon's feet:
20, father, do say it isn't Reuben - and
her voice was like her mothers. The dea.
con opened his mouth but could not speak
lie took the hands of his wife and child, and
covered them with his own trembling
so, Lord have mercy upon us % sroaned
the strick en- man, and then thew knew.
Mrs. Palmer crept up to her husband, and
whispered in faint, broken voice, ''Just say
my boy isn't dead, father. | can bear to
hear anything else"
And the deacon made no answer, but the
great tears fell down his farrowed cheeks,
and il was enough.
The tldings of the disastrous battle at
Long Island, which closed the Summer of
seventeen hundred and seventy six had Il lied
the land with mourning, for thousands of
widows and orphans had heen made in that
terrlnac hour when 40 many ,hrara Americans
the skirmish which took place the following
month near Kings Bridge in New York,
was hailed with gladness and gratitude anl
the little village Of Woodstock bore its part
in the general rejoicing on that Au,umEal
night when the stage FIRST brought the tdings.
The deacon's family was the only one in
Woodstock to whom the news brought any
sorrow, for it WAS in this engagement that
Reuben had fallen. He was a great fayorite
through the village, and every heart was
filed with sadness when it thought Of that
bright, handsome face lying stark and rigid
on the battlefield. -s..zr.. 81. -.
1t was late that evening that Parson Hun
ter entered the stricken house, for friends
and neighbors feared to intrudc on Its aw-
full grief. But the tender hearted old min.
lister could not rest till he had carried the
sweet balm of his love and faith into their
broken hearts. Parson Hunter was tall,
whte-haired old man, u fine representative
OF the stauDch old Puritan minister, but be.
meath some stateliness and austerity of man
ner beat heart whore were fair and fra
grant blossoms, and golden fruits Of charity
and love a heart in whose pleasant and
goodlv paths the angels love to walk with
their shining faces, and of whom they wrote,
"Of such is the kingkom of Heaven"
The minister found the family in the
kitchen, where weleft it, utterly crushed by
a grief which expressed itself neither by
means nor tears. Mrs. Palmer sat in the
large arm chair before the ERE, where her
husband bad placed her, the crimson light
futtering over her face, which seemed fro
zen to stone, and her fearless eyes fastened
in blank gaze on the wall and 1t was we'll
perhaps that alarm for her reason or her
life had somewha, diverted the thoughts Of
the deacon and his daughter from the dead
to the living. though it seemed TO the minis
ter that the last hour had done the work Of
years for both Of them.
.My friends,' snid the minister, speaking
in his deep solemn tones, 81 should not have
come into Your house Of mourning to night;
feeling that the Lord could speak to your
hearts far better than | !; bu. | remembered
tha. 1t was tw enty Tour years this very month
when you brought your Reuben up to she
altar to dedicate him to God. and felt that
| had right and title to come.'
And these words unlocked Mrs. Palmer's
face. She turned suddenly towards the old
man ns the vision of that Sabbath m orning
rose aud walked up the lsng path Of years
and stood before her.
81 see him 1 SEQ him !" she sobbed out,
with the little brown curls dancin' ronnd
hi. face, and the merry brown eyes blinking
under them. My little Reuben! be was the
sweetest baby that ever gladdensd mother,
heart, and was so proud OF him, and
thought God would spare him to be sh'
staff Of his mothers old age, because hat
given all others to him. .. Psrson Hunter
It can't be true that shall never look into
his face again, never hear the sound of bis
| field, and his mother was not there to smoot!
away the hair from his forehead. or Civ,
bin one kiss when he looked up to her fac
the last time"
| The old man sat still, overwhelmed b,
| this mighty burst Of mothers agony. II
closed hi. eyes for the tears that filed them
and felt that for her he hsd neither help No
/ consolation. Lao -sas
1.-The Lord giveth and the Lord hath take