The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1864-07-22

might still be alive; but if by any acciden,
ne should De detained beyond the time She
closed he! eyes and besousht God for pro-
lection and help.
Cold and hungry, and drenched by the
mist OF the river, Charley began to cry for
home. She could bear anything better thar.
that. She took off her own garments to fold
around him, and held him to her breas, and
sang him the sweet cradle songs which had
I so often soothed him.
! But the fierce howls of the wolves, ard
the sullen thunders of the river, filled his lit
tie heart with terror, and all the long dark
night through, he clung TO her neck, sleep
lessly crying to 60 home to papa.
Day dawned at last, the pale sun swimming
through the sickly sky, the pallid forecast of
a storm. Weak and faint from hunger, and
suffering intensly ly from cold-for summer is
no bearer OF tropical smiles in that inhospi-
tai cllme-Martha paced back and forth the
narrow limits of the rock. Noon came
the faint sun declined-it was night again.
A cold fog sank down over the mountain
followed by drlzzing rain, which before
morning changed to perfect deluge. The
river rose fearfully, foaming milk-white down
the gorge, filling the air with a shuddering
roar, like the peal of an Imprisoned earth
quake.
Tne day that followed was no better-onlv
gray rain, and ashen white mist-not a raw
of sunshine.
| A new fear arose in the heart of Martha
Warren. The turbulence of the stream must
have swept away the bridge over which her
husband would cross on his return, and he
would be detained-for days may be for
weeks.
She gave up all for lost. Strongly and
fearfuiiy was she tempted TO fold her child
IN her arms and plunge into the cauldron
beneath, and thus end ali her fear and doubt.
1t would be better, she thought, than to suf-
fer that slow, painful death of starvation.-
But something held her back-God's curse
was on those who do self murder.
Towards nigh a los: robin, beaten about
by the storm, stopped TO rest a moment on
the rock: Martha slezed upon him and rent
him in twain, with almost savage glee for
her child to devour raw--she. who three
days before would have wepl at the sight of
wounded sparrow.
Another night and dav Ike the other.
only more intensly agonizins. Martha War
ren was ,ul!enly indifferent now; suffering
had Palslrd every LGble feeling Charley
mCaned for sGpper too weak ana spent to
sit up, he VAS laying on the rock, his head
IN her zap, his great eyes fixed on her face.
She tore open vein IN her arm with her
scissors, ard made him drink the blood
Anything, she said to herself, TO calm the the
Wild, wistfui yearang Of his eyes.
The boy raised-he sat UP, and peered
through the darkness.
Mamma he said, "p2pa is coming. |
fit him touch met"
She wepi a, The m9ckery, and drew the I.
child trlutica " 10 ner b0soT.
Tie night was tair-iit up by new moon. /,
Overcomc by deadly Enthusiasm, against :
which sAe could make 10 resistance. Martha !
fell IN an uneasy siumber. which, toward mid F;
mig was broken by d slaT'!:"g cry. She
spfuns 70 her feet and gazed arcuad her.
No. her eyes did not deceive her-there /
on the shore stood the stawart form of her |
husband, and he WAS calling her name with !
the energy Of despair. She could only cry
out " On, Mark Marx " a1d fell senseless (
10 the earth.
When she woke to consciousness, she was
living on her own bed in the cottage, support !
ed by her husbands arms.
1t was no dream. Sne and her darling .
boy were safe, and he had Come back. I
Many weeks passed before she grew
strong again, but Mark tended her as
mother would an infant, and by the time the |
autumn frosts fell, she was the b.ithe Mar
tha Warren of old.
At the time Of the freshet the bridge over |
the Amonoosuck had indeed been swept
away, but Mark. impelied by an uncontro!a- /
lear-amost preSeatiment crossed the
river, at the risk of his life, on log raft,
and reached home only to find it vacant.
TIE descendants of Mark Warren and his
wife still dwell among the fertile valleys Of
Amonoosuck, and the old men still tell to
their grandchildren the story Of Martha
Warren and her child.