The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-12-11
From the Atlantic Monthly
A Story Of Thank sgiviny.Time.

OLp jacob Newell sat despondent beside
his sitting room fire. Gray-haired and ven
erablc, with hundred hard lines, telling oil
The work OF time aud struggle and mistor-
tune, furrowing hi, pale face, he looked the
incarnation OF silent sorrow and hopelessne-s.
waiting in quiet meckness for the advent OF
the King of 'rc,ror>: waiting, but not hoping,
for his coming without desire to die, but
with no dread Of death.
At short distance from hin, in an an
c'ent s.raight-back d rocking chair, dark
with age. anil clumsy in is antique carvings,
sat his wife. St;fsly upright, and with an
almost painful prinness in dress and figure,
she sat knitting rapidly and with closed eyes.
Her face was rigid as a mask the motion in
her fingers. as she piled her needles. was
.pasmodic aud machinc-iikc (; the figure,
though quiet, wore an air OF iron rcpoSe that
was most uneasy ami unnatural. Still, thro n
the mask and from the figure that stole the
aspect and air Of one who had within her
deep wells Of sweetness and love which only
stron. training oc pog OF education
had thus covered up and obscnrel She
looked of that stern Puritancal stock whose
IRON will conquered the severity Of New
England winters and overcame the stubborn
ness oflts granite hills, and whose idea ola
perfect life consisted in the rigorous dis
charge of ali Christian duties, an | the ban
;shment, forever and Mt all times, the levi
ty of pleasure and the folly Of amuSements
She could have walked, if need were, with
composure to the stake but she could nei.
thor have joined in game at cards, noT have
have entered into romp with little children.
All this was plainly to be seen in the stern
repose Of her countenance and the stiff harsh
ness Of her figure.
Upon the stained deal table, sta,dirg a
little in the rear and partially between the
two, reposed an open Bible. Between its
leaves lay pair of large, old-fashionsd, s'l.
var.bowcd spectacles, which the husband had
but recently laid there, after reading the
usual daily chapter Of Holy Writ. lie had
ceased but moment before, and had laid
them down with heavy sigh, for his heart
to-day was sorely oppressed and no wonder;
for, following his gaze around the room, we
find upon the otherwise bare walls five sad
mementos of those who had:gon before, =
five coarse and unartstic, but loving tributes
10 the dead.
There they hang, framed in black, each
with its white tomb and overhangng willow,
md severally increased to the memories OF
Mark, John, James. Martha. and Mary
Newell. All their flock None left to hon
or and obey, none to cheer, none to tighten
the labor or soothe the cares. All gone and
these two left behind to travel hand in hand
but de,olate, though together, to the end OF
their earthly pilgrimage
There had, indeed. been one other, but
for him there hung no loving memorial. lie
was the youngest Of all, and such no.
ble, strong, and losty infant, that the father
in the pride OF his heart, and with his iond-
ness iOr ScTlptut1i "o"'Ss, 'A"'s S'''~'iT-
him Samson. He, too, had gone; but in the
dread gallery tn at hung about the ro'm as
no framed funeral picture ITO the Memory
of Samson Newell" Hin the the tomb OF
his fa,her's or mothers heart he lay buried,
no outward token gave note thereof.
So the old couple sat alone before the sit
ting room FIRE. II was I often used, this
room, scarcely ever now, cxcep' on Sun
day, o. on those two grave holidays that
the Newels kept, Thanksgiving and Fast
Day. This was Thanks-giving-Day, The
snow without was falling thick and fast
II came in great eddies and white whiris,
obscuring the prospect from the window
and scudding madly around the corners. II
lay IN great drifts against the fences, and
ono large pile before the middle front -wlh-
dow had gathered volume till It reached ha''
up the second row Of pancs; for It had
showed all night and half the day before
The ruads were so blocked by Il that they
would have been rendered impassihlc but f.!
the sturdy efEarts 81 the farmcrs' boys, who
drove tea,ps of fauy and five ysko .of oxen