The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1861-03-28
EBENSBURG, PA, THURSDAY, MA

hur, hanging IN dlSneYeleQ state ABOUT
her shoulders. On one side was dark
haired boy of some six years, on the other
side girl one year younger, with light
blue eyes. The Bible-an old and vener-
able volume-lay open upon the mothers
knee And now the pale faced tory flung
himself upon his knees, and confessed he
had butchered her husband on the night
of Paoli, and begged his life at her hands
"Spare me for the sake Of my wife-my
child"
lie had expected this pitiful moan
would touch the widows heart, but not
one relenting CLEAN softened her face.
''The Lord shall judge between US,
she said in a cold, icy tone that froze the
murderer's heart. "I.ook, the Bible is
in my lap; | viii close the volume, and
this boy shall open, and place his fingers
at random uron a line and by that you
shall live or die"
This was a st a7ge proposal, made in
good faith of a wild and dark superstition
OF olden times. For "a moment the tory,
pale as ashes, was wrapped in deep thought
then in fainting voice he signifed his
consent.
Raising her dark eyes to heaven, the
mother prayed to the Great Father to di-
rect the finger Of her son. She closed
the book-she handed it to that boy
whose cheek re9dened with l0athing as
he gazed upon his fathers murderer-
He took the Bible, opened its holy pages
at random, and placed his finger upon
verse.
There was a silence. The continental.
| soldier, who had sworn to ayenge his
! brothers. death, stood with dilating
eyes and parted lips. The culprit, kneel-
ing upon the floor, with his face like dis
co'orcd clay, felt his heart leap to his
throat.
Then in clear, bold voice, the widow
read this line from the Old Testament-
1t was short yet terrible:
"1Hat man &aaH die! -
Look the brother springs forward to
plunge a knife into the mur.lercr's heart;
the tory pinioned as he Is, clings to the
widows knees. lie begs that one more
trial may be made by the little girl, that
child of FIVE years old, with the golden
hair and laughing eyes.
The widow consents There IS an aw-
ful pause With smile IN her eye, with
out knowing what she was doing, the lit
tlh girl opens the Bible as it lay.on her
mothers knee; she turned her finger upon
line
The awful silence grows deeper The
deep drawn breaths OF the brother, and
the broken gasp of the murderer, alone
disturb the stiffness the widow and dark
haired boy were breathless. The little
girl, as she caught feeling Of awe from
those about stood breathless. her face
turned aside, and her tiny finger resting
on the line of life and death.
At length gathering courage, the wild
ow bent her eye on the page and read
1t was line from the New Testament:
"LoUc gour enemies p
Oh book of terrible majesty and child
like love-sublimity that crushes the
heart with rapture, you never shone more
strongly than there in that lonely cot of
the Wissiahicon when you saved the muir
derer's heart
Now look how wonderful are the WAYS
of Heaven. That very nightas the widow
sat by hoEfreside-sa there with crush
ed heart and hot eyelids, thinking OF her
husband who now lay Wondering on the
drenchcd soil of Paoli--thcre was tap
at the door She opened it, and that
husband, living, though covered with
wounds, was in her arms.
He had fallen at Paoli, but not in
death he was alive and his wife lay pant
ing on his bosom.
That night there was a prayer in the
wood embowered cottage Of the Wissahi-
con.