Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1861-02-15

sible. A thrill of JOY pierced and shivered
through her like weapon, her voice trem-
bled in its course, her glance lost its steady
strength, fever.fushes chased each other
over her face, yet she never once cea ed
chanting. She was quite aware, that, if
her husband shot now, the ball must pierce
her body before reaching any vital part of
the beast, and yet better that death, by
his band, than the other. But this her hus-
band knew, and he remained motionless,
just covering the creature with his sight.
He dared not fire, lest some wound not
mortal should break the spell exercised by
her voice, and the beast, enrased with pain,
should rend her in atoms; moreover, the
light was too uncertain for his aim. So he
waited. Now and then he examined his
gun to see if the damp were injuring its
charge, now and then he wiped the great
drops from his forehead. Again the cocks
crowed with the passing hour,-the last
time they were heard on that night. Cheer
ful home sound then, how full of safety and
all comfort and rest it seemed what sweet
morning incidents Of sparkling fire and sun
shine, of gay household hustle, shining
dresser, and cooling baby, of steaming cattle
IN the yard, and brimming milk-pails at the
door what pleasant voices what security!
and here
Now, as she sang on in the slow, end
less, infinite moments, the fervent vision Of
Gods peace was gone. Just as the grave
had lost its sting, she was snatched back
again into the arms Of earthly hope. In
vain she tried to sing, There remaineth
rest for the people Of God, d,"-Ler eyes
trembed on her husbands, and she could
only think of him, and Of the child, and Of
happiness that yet might be, bat what
dreadful gulf of doubt between. She
shuddered now in the suspense; all calm
forsook her; she was tortured with dissolv
ing heats or frozen with icy blasts her
face contracted, growing small and pinched; ;
her voice was hoarse and sharp,
tone cut like knfe.-the notes became
heavy to lf,--wilhhed by some hostile
impossible. One gasp, a con
vulsiye effort, and there was silence,-she
/ had lost her voice.
The beast made sluggish movement
stretched and fawned like one awaking,-
then, as if he would have yet more of the
enchantment, stirred her slightly with his
muzzle. As he did so, sidelong hint Of
the man standing below with the raised gun
smote him he sprung round furiously, and,
seizing his prey, was about to leap into
some unknown airy den of the topmost
branches now waving in the slow dawn.
! The late moon had rounded through the sky
4 so that her gleam at last fell full upon the
bough with fairy frosting the wintry morn
ing light did not yet penetrate the gloom.
The woman, suspended in mid-air an instant,
cast only one agonized glance beneath, but
across and through it, ere the lids could fall,
shot a withering sheet of fame,-a rife
/ crack. half heard, was lost in the terrible
I yell of desperation that bounded after it
\ and filed her ears with savage echoes, and
] in the wide arc of some eternal descent she
was falling but the beast fell under her.
! ! think the moment following must have
been too sacred for US, and perhaps the
three have no special interest again till they
issue from the shadows of the wilderness
upon the white hills that skirt their home.
The father carries the. child hushed again
into slum5er, the mother follows with no
such feeble step as might be anticipated,-
and as they slowly climb the steep under
the clear gray sky and the paling morning
star, she stops to gather spray of the red
rose berries or feathery tuft Of dead
grasses for the chimney-piece of the log
house, or a handful of brown ones for the
childs play,-and of these quiet, happy
folk you would scarcely dream how lately
they had stolen from under the banner and
encampment of the great King Death. The
husband proceeds step or two in advance
the wife fingers over a singular footprint
in the snow, stoops and examines it, then
looks up with hurried word. Her hus-
band stands alone on the hill, his arms fold
ed across the babe, bis gun fallen,-stands
defined against the palid sky like bronze.
What is there in their home, lying below
and yellowing in the light, TO fix him with
such stare? She springs to his side.
There is no home there. The lighthouse,
the barns, the neighboring farms, the fences,
are all blotted out and mingled in one smok-
ing ruin. Desolation and d ath were in
deed there, and beneficence and life in the
forest Tomahawk and scalping- g-knife, de-
scending during that night, had left behind
them only this work ST their accomplished
hatred and one subtle Footprint in the snow.
For the rest,-the world was all before
them, where to choose.
An Irishman who had lain sick a long
time, was one day met by the parish priest,