Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1865-02-09
THE PERIL OF MARTHA WARREN.
\ STORY OF THE AMoNoosUCK RIVER.


Good bye, Martha God help you
shall be back in three days, at the farthest"
The hardy White Mountain pioneer, Mark
Warren, kissed his young wife, held his two
year old boy to his breast for a moment, and
then shouldering the sack of corn which
was to be converted into meal at the rude
mill, forty miles away, trudged off through
the wilderness
Martha Warren stood at the door Of the
log cabin, gazing out after the retreating
form of her husband An angle of the
dense shrubbery hid him from view, but
still she did not return 10 the solitary kitch-
ell. 1t looked so dark and lonesome there,
she shrank from entering or perhaps the
Grand sublimity of the view spread out be-
fore her, held her attention and thrilled her
soul with that unexplained something that
we all feel when standing thus face to face
with the works of His fingers
The finest and most satisfactory view of
the White Mountains, is that which pre-
sents itself from what is now the town of
Bethlehem, on the road to Littleton and
Franconia. Mount Washington, the king
among princes, is there seen III his proper
plaCe-thc centre of the rOck-ribbed range,
towering, bald blue and unapproachable.
Far up in the wild clearing, close by the
turbid waters of the Amonoosuck was the
cottage situated--a place wild and eyrie
enough for the nest Of an eagle, but dear
to the heart of Martha Warren, as the home
where she had spent the happy days of her
young wifehood. When she had turned
from many patrician suitor, in the fair old
town of Portsmouth, to join her fortunes
wife those Of the young settler, it was with
the full and perfect understanding of the
trials that lay before She would walk in
no paths of roses for years to come much
of life must be spent in the eternal solitudes,
where silence was broken only by the winds
of the forest, the shrek of the river over
the sharp rocks, or the distant howl of the
red-mouthed wolf afar in the wilderness.
The necessary absence of her husband
she dreaded most 1t was So very gloomy
to close up her doors at night and sit down
by her lonely freside, with the conscious
ness that there was no human being nearer
to her than the settlement at Lords Hill,
ten miles away through the painless woods
There was little to fear from Indians, al
though number of scattered tribes vet
roamed over these primevalhunting grounds
They were mostly disposed to be friendly,
and Mrs. Warrens kind heart naturally.
prompted her to many acts of friendship to
wards them, and an Indian never forgets
benefit
The purple mist cleared away from the
SCARED forehead of the dominant old noun
tain the yellow sun, peered over the rocky
wall, and Martha turned away to the per-
formance of her simple domestic duties
The day was long one but it was toward
evening, and the cleaning comes much
sooner in these sOlituteds than in any other
places. The sunlight faded out of the un.
glazed windows though it would illumae
the distant mountains for some time yet,
and Martha went out in the scanty garden
to inhalc the odor of the sweet pinks on
the one meagre root she had brought from
her old home
The spicy perfume carried her back in
memory to those days away in the past,
spent with kind friends and cheered by
bright young hopes. But though the
thought of home and kindred made her sad,
, not for a moment did she regret the fate she
had chosen.
Absorbed in thought, she had not OBJ
served the absence of Charlie, her little
boy now she saw with vague uneasness
that he had been playing, and was not to
be seen. She called his name, but only
| echo and the roar of the swollen river re-
piled.
| She flew back to the house, the faint hope
, remaining that he might have returned
thither for his pet kitten but no, the kit
ten was mewing at the window, but nc
sign of Charlie
With frantic haste she searched the
clearing, but without success. Her next
thought was the river black as night save
where it hickered with spots of snow-white
foam-it flowed on but few rods below
her She hurried down to the brink, call
ing out, "Charlie Charlie !"
The child's small voice at some little dis
tance replied. She followed the sound, anc
to her horror saw her boy-his golden hail