The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1860-12-20
She had not.

! were Kept. They were gone.
! A hot flush shot up, like fame, into my
| cheeks. My heart throbbed so wildly I thought
! for moment must sufocate. Yet wondered
at my own agitation. 1t was not such an un-
usual thing for the child to go out of the house
| Why should feel so uneasy now? l could
not feel it was SO, without explaining ,ohg it
was. l made a hasty survey of the whole
house. None of the servants had seen nv
| little girl; she was nowhere to be found upon
the premises. The wind was blowing a gale
now, and the clouds were as black as if choked
with deluge they were about to pour upon
us. l could see the waves dashing wildly up
on, the lake shaking their foamy crests over
| the rocks which bound the shore. Looming
high above them ALL like some gigantic priest
of Nature standing on the snore preaching to
| those rebellious waters, rose the gloomily grand
proportions of Black Rock. As my eve fell
upon it fearful dread entered my soul Sum
unoning the servants l sped away, bidding
them follow me; and, needless of the rough
path and the wild winds, rushed up the crag-
gy Steep struggling to gain the summit,
while the wind, blowing fIriously in shore,
thwarted my every effort. | was about to re-
inguish the attempt, when something futter-
ing on withered shrub above me caught my
gaze. 1t was a tangled bunch of blue fringe
l knew where that came from. | knew whose
little scarfhad caught there and left those tang>
led threads. With wild energy which out
stripped the most earnest efforts of those who
| followed me, l clampered up, up, and stood at
last upon the very pinnacle alone. Yes, aLone!
do not mind it that | utter that dreary shrek
with the word it aoM rise when I remember
with what wild hope | struggled to that fearful
height and found no little Agnes there She
had been there, though, for on the branch of
| q low thorn bush, under which some blue eyed
| flowers still bloomed, was thin tress of sunny
| hair,--a little golden curl to which thecruel
thorn had clung and held, to meet mothers
gaze.
What must believe? How much had I to
fear, how much to hope? Had she gone safely
down as she came up, had she wandered off
over the lowlands, or, horror of horrors! had
she fallen over the cliff into those wild waves
below! The little shreds of blue silk, the little
tress OF hair plainly proved she had been on
the uttermost height of the fearful crag Was
she alone?-had she disobeyed my injunctions
never to come here by herself? As I stood
breasting the wind in this agony of doubt, my
eyes were sweeping the climbing waters below
me, and just as the servants joined me, I des-
cried upon the comb of distant wave a floating
object, something which might be drifting
log or little boat l pointed it out to the
| rest.
ut is boat, cried John, the gardener, as
it rose again; "that little nutshell of thing
which the Mayor kept moored here for his
boys ! know her by the queer gunwale aRd
the scarlet flag she carries"
What did the little boat hold for use that kept
US watching there, when we know not yet of
our lost one?
We were all transfxed by one wild fear
Evidently the frail boat was managed by some
one who understood his work. Who would
have gone forth in such gale, but old Bart
lemy Boyd? Was our lost darling with him2
| remember that as the little plank rose and
disappeared, and rose again on the foamy
waves, how all of earth seemed to melt away,
and all the world resolves into little fragile
speck upon an angry sea! One more wave,
and nowwe could plainly see the boat con-
tanned two persons -one an old man with gray
locks, the other fragile palid little child, sit
ting in the stern, her apron full OF forgotten
wild flowers, her bonnet gone, and her shi-
ming hair wet with the dashng water
Ropes, John!' cried; 'be quick; no boat
} can live in yonder surf. Fly! your fortune is
made If You return In time
} stood, fascinated, gazing at the little one,
so calmly facing her fearful danger l could
not go down to the beach, could not lose
) sight OF her long enough for tn t. l could see
the old mans efforts to keep his boat out to
} sea. What avail was that feeble strength
against the wind and wavesl I saw his look
OF blankdlsmay as he found his little boat rush
ing into the surf. He turned and said some.
: thing to Agnes. She shook her head in answer
t and smiled. knew, as we'll as though |
heard her, she had told him she was not afraid.
lie dropped his oars and caught the child in
his arms; the next moment aud the boat was in
5 pieces, my child, my darling, struggling in the
white waves, in the arms of a mailman!
How shrieked-how | raved! Far out in
) to the waters ran John with his ropes, cansting
J them towards those frantic arms which made
no effort to reach them. Like a green mons
ter came rushing huge dark wave for mo-
ment it staggered with its own terrible height;
the next, it had fallen like curtain before the
!, stage, shutting frcm sight a little whitened
face and head of golden hair,
have a faint remembrance of seeing that
face once again; it was ashen pale, and as cold
as Il snow drift Perhaps il was all a dream,
aud never really dill see it again. l remem-
!, Der though my bitter, burning regret and agony,
when | recollected my refusing to crafty any
} OF those little childish pleadings that morning,
one of which, cordially granted, would have
: kept my darling by me that terrible day.
know my remorse was no dream. 1t is my in
tensest reality yet. Do you wonder some
) times that wake up screaming in the night,
or that | occasionally Shrek alone in the day
time? | thought when first came here and
t heard such shouts of bonid laughter, and
shrieks so much louder than any of my own,
that they had brought me to a mad house.
rebeled frantically, but I soon found out my
r mistake. Why should they put me in mad
house?
saw, after few moments reflection, bow
: absurd my suspicious werel This is large
: handsome building-a great resort tor invalids
and sorrowing people who need change of scene
my rooms command lovely prospect-my
harp and piano are here. faithful attendant
walks ordrves with me every day / could not
, be better cared for. On rainy days when the
sky looks gray and the wind is cold, | sit and
stroke this little sunny curl gathered from the
; thorn bush high up the beetling cliff ! Irvine
itround my finger. / let it uncoiI itself. in The
, rivaling sunshine when it pierces the clouds,
and bind it about with this bit of blue fringe
which was torn from her silken sash. | always
find a great pleasure in thus contemplating
these frai treasures left me ofmy Agnes; only
when my heart suddenly swels till it bursts
with these relieving shrieks, do | let them lay
out of my hands. Sometimes | remember that
my little girl went away from me with great
clusters of just such curls, and occasionally
when the sun is going down, long golden beams
come reaching through my window, and |
know my darling is strengthening her bright
curls and laying them thus from the sunset to
me, that may &C out over the shining path
way to her in Heaven.s
Patrick" said ajudge, "what do you say
to the charge, are you guilty or not guilty?'-
Faith, that is difficult for your honor to tell
let alone myself Wait till hear the Evidence"
-SS~
! DEPENDENcE.-Tbe race of mankind would
perish, did they cease to aid each other, From
the time the mother binds the child's head till
the moment that some kind assistant wipes the
death damp from the brow Of the dying, we
cannot exist without mutual help All, there
fore, that need aid. have right to ask it of
their fellow mortalJ No one who has the
power of granting it can refuse it without
guilt
/ A good story is told concerning the writing Of
certain railroad manager He had written to
man on the route, notifying him that he mus
remove barn, which in some r5Il4er incom.
NODDED the road. under nenaltY 6f proseention.