The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-05-13
DAY, MAYi13, 1868.
in an awful manner from tbe window.

in an awful manner from the window. i
z e I'm speaking to you. Do-you hear me?''
| the old man repeated; but, before the words
had left his lips, Alice had turned and caught
him by the arm, and there was an awful roar,
/ like the voice of 5 me fend, an exLlusiou
which shook the house, chorus of wailing
screams and groans, and then a terrible silence.
There were great black torrents of smoke
pouring from the windows of the factory, and
/ the wall toward the side where most of the
great engines were, bulged, and tottered, and
| fell, and the roof caved in, and before them
in an instant, as though some fend had been
at work, stood a ruin, black and horrible, a
smoking and steaming mass, seeming with its
awful yawning jaws to groan and scream
And from the lips of the father and those of
the betrothed maiden broke one word, sinul--
taneously: 49, "a =
.' Harry i'' 5,-.-,,.k
1t united them in their great love and ter
ror. They clung together, feeling the link
between them for the first time. Both loved
him, and he-oh what was he now? hv-
ing, breathing being or a mass of crushed
flesh, senseless, helpless, lost to them forever?
Together they rushed out into the open air,
seeking him or what remained of him.
Oh! the awful sight thatsummer sun shone
upon Men dead and dying, crushed and
lay SCT0tCLSQ OuI uDOu VIC SiuutiO
The women of the village came pouring
through the streets, some with their bare arms
wet with soap-suds, some with babies on their
bosorns, wailing and shrieking, sohbing and
faihting, clinging to corpses which an hour
before had been breathing men. peering with
livid faces into horrible black hollows in the
wall whence hands and feet protruded, list
ening for groans under those piles of rubbish
that they might hear the voice of some loved
one amid those awful sounds; and there,
amidst the ruins of his mighty factory, stood
the old man, calling aloud for help to save his
Harry.
''5fhere's no hope for him, sir,' said ono
Of the few workmen who remained unhurt.
" He was in thecellar He went down TO see
what was the matter w en- the old noise first
began. and never came up again.,.' - -.
" Hush !'' cried the old man. Do you
dare 10 tell me there is no hope? They shall
save Harry !'' And then, turning to the trem-
bling girl beside him, he repeated, in caress-
ing way, "Never fear, my lass, they shall
ave my Harry; and he shall have you, or
what else he likes Pll never thwart him
lgain. But if there is God above MS, He'll
save my Harry
This was. the burden of his talk, while the
.laborers were hard at work digging away the
'uOUlSLj Oub uCet0 pOhtSH ~ ttiO
score Men ground to pulpy horrors Beau
tiful girls with torn. limbs ! and children so
alike in this awful death that every one was
claimed and struggled for By twenty mothers
All day long they dug and lifted iron
weights and nlasses of stone, but there was
no sign of Harry's body yet. At the bottom
of that awful pile, no doubt, he lay mangled
into shapelessness. Alice knew that it must
be so, but the old man kept saying, still,-I
!" They shall save Herry."
Dusk had come. and they work by torch
light now All had been found dead and dy-
ing, wounded and MANNED. They Were car
ried to their houses. Y ct still the crowd was
thick about the ruin, waiting for the moment
when what was left of Harry Graymarsh
should be brought into the open air, An aw-
full silence prevailed. Only the click of spade
and pickaxe broke it. -.
Suddenly there was a shout, lifting of
those hundred voices. They had come to
the lower door of the building, and part of it
remained entire. There was little hope;
yes, more than little; for, listening, they
heard faint voice calling to them,so it SEEM
ed, though the words were inaudble. Faster
nowhere are great rafters to lift, and piles
of stone and machinery to cast out. But that
voice Inspires them. They worked as they
never worked before, and at last they hear
the cry again. 1t comes from the part of the
cellar where the floor remains. Aud one great
man, crouching on his face, forces himself
down into the blackness and screams, "Who
is thefe?''
9 And the answer is returned from that aw-
full cavern, Harry Graymarsh. Help me if
you can." .'l
y Then the men came out with glorious
shout, and set to work like giants; and even
women came to help, as they thought of the
fair young face buried in that darkness. He
may be MANNED and wounded, but at least he
lives. Aud there is no pause, no respite from
that toll. At another time many there would
faint beneath it, but not now, for every lifted
stone brings them closer to the buried man,
and gives him a firmer lease of life. As the
morning broke the last is heaved aside, and
the bronzed giant who before crept into the
cavern, leaps down now and vanished in the
shadow. y.
Silence, in which you might hear pin fall
or a heart beat-silence that freezes the blood.
and then, breaking upon it, a woman'S
scream; a shrek from the lips of Alice, as
they bring in the form of her lover, bleod-
stained and senseless, to the light. Not dead
oh! she thanked God for that The great
beams had protected him. He was bruised
and wounded, but not mortally, and in lit
tie while his blue eyes opened, and his pale
lips whispered, I" Father!'' -.
Then tho old factor, kneeling by his child
as he had knelt upon his dead wife's grave so
long ago, took the white hand of Alice in his
own and placed it in his sons. "She is
yours" he said. Take her Harry, and be
happy. Wealth isn't worth as much as love.
should have known that all along, remem-
bering Hetty. Live, Harry only live! and
and Tn never do anything to grieye you !!'
And Harry did live. Long before the win
ter SHOWS had come he stood--a little paler
and thinner than before, perhaps, but well
and strong agan-before the altar of the lit
tie church. with Alice by his side, and that
night, when the moon was high and no one
watched him but the angels, the old factor
stood beside his Hetty's grave, and whispered
words of yearning love, which told that the
soul of the young lover only slumbered in
its iron-bound case, and that when death
should set it free, it would rise, pure and I'M
sullied to meet its angel wife in heaven.
MARRIAGE sANNIvERsARIEs.-Itis a COM
mon thing for people, to take some special no.
tce of their birth days. and those of theirchil-
/ - l.