Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1860-06-07
g&Itttf0 @ ale.
From the Atlantic Monthly.I
CIR G L VI ST A n CE .

She had remained, during all that day, with
SICK uejghbor, those eastern wildS of Maine
in that epoch frequently making neghbors
and miles synonymous, and so busy had she
been with care and sympathy that she did not
at first observe the approaching night. But
finally the level rays, reddening the snow,
threw ;heir gIeam upon the wall, and, hastily
lonping cloak and hood, she bade her friends
farewell aud sailed forth on her return
Home lay some three miles distant, across a
copSe, a meadow, and piece of woods,-the
woods being a fringe on the skirts of the for
eSts that stretch far away into the North
That home was one of dozen Lighthouses "
lug few furIongs apart from each other, with
their haIt-clcared dCmeSneS separating them at
the rear from a wilderness untTOdden save by
seaIthy native or deadly panther tribes.
She was in a nowise exalted frame Of spirit,
OR the contrary, rather depressed by the
pain she had witnessed and the fatigue she had
endured but in certain temperaments such a
condition throws open the mental pores, so to
speak, and renders one receptive Of every inAu
ence Through the little copse she walked
slowly, with her cloak folded about her, ling
ering to imbibe the sense of shelter, the sunset
filtered in purple through the mist of woven
spray and twig, the companionShp of growth
not sufficiently dense to band against her the
sweet home-lecling of young aud tender win
try wood. 1t was therefore Just on the edge
Of evening that she emerged from the place
and began to cross the meadow-land. At one
hand lay the forest to which her path wound !;
at the other the evening star hang over tide
Of failing orange that slowly slipped down the
I %. l. J. -. [ L
with sweet regret. Walking rapidly now, and
With her eyes wide.open, she distinctly saw in
the air before her what was not there a mo-
ment ago, a winding-Sheet, cold, white, and
ghastly, waved by the likeness Of four wan
haads,--that rose with a long initiation and
fell in rigid folds, with a voice, shaping itself
from the h0Ilowness above, spectral and mel
anchoIy, sighed -" The Lord have mercy on
The people !" Three times the sheet with its
cOrpSecoyering outline waved beneath the pale
hands, and the voice. awful in its solemn and
mysterious depth, sighed, "The Lord have
mercy on the people y Then all was gone,
the place was clear again, the gray sky was
o0Structed by no deathly blot she looked
about her. shock her shoulders decidedly, and
pulling on her hood went forward once more.
o''' ''''O oCSu d lIlLie lEtguleuel by
Such an appaTltion, if she had led life of
less reality than frontier settlers are ant to
lead but dealing with hard fact does not en-
gender tmsy habit of mind and this woman
was 100 sincere and earnest in her character.
and too happy in her situation. to be thrown
y antaSonISm merely upon supersttious fan
cies aaI cH,neras of the second.sigbt. She
uld not even believe herself subject to halluci-
Hauon' out smiled simply, a little vexed that
Ecr thought could have framed such a CLAM
out from the days occurrences, and not sorry
~ ,'I lAe Dough of the warder of the woods
ana enter aud disappear in their sombre path
:. sue had oeen imaginative, she would have
Sss''a'eu ~ at her hrst step into a region whose
T%~u8eLS t% were not visionary but | Suppose
nro1,, -a' '"e thought of little child at home
bsb;,.con br conquer that propensity in the most
che b',,ualed; r 30, biting bit of spicy birch,
1O vent along. Now and then she came to
5saP %nere the trees had been partially fell
Ill tI1 acre she found that the lingering twi-
SSu' vas explained by that peculiar and per.
GaS eectrIc tlIm which sometimes sheathes
SosA %S say in difused light for very manv borrs
I've rG's brilliant aurora. Suddenly a swift
Tr;,E' -tIO%' like the fabulous aying.dragon
f0I. fGi.'lea through the air before her. and she
l. me- ne'sell instantly seized and borne aloft--
vas 'nat wild beast-the most savage and
p'"'lue and subtle and fearless Of our lat,.