The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1865-02-03

0oHIt II WOulu htlt ilit 10 lose YOO! anu u IStI
fell wilfuly down against her check
Her husband did not answer but he felt tru-
ly that such tender f5wer neelcc! tender and
loving care, o. it would be blighed He look
ed out of the window-the landscape looked
dreary.
81 am sure you do not feel well; what can
do for you :"
John Elmer forced her anxious face down up
on his bosom that he might not see how sweet
il was, then he said:
Marian, wife, l have unpleasant news for
you can you listen to me now /? Il will ef-
feet US materially"
His speech blinded her perception. She
asked:
'.EIne your wages been reduced! know
old aIr Hugh Is very stingy, Perhaps we can
get along though, if we are very saving, If
the winter IS nor to be hard. | could get a
long almost anyhow with you and baby"
Tie strong man bowed his Lead over hers
on them. How should he tell her the awful
truth?
Marian" he faitered. Marian, 1 am
drafted.''
She started-showed him white, terrified
face, and then she was very still II was over.
He ha told her, and that patient, passionate,
earnest heart had been sentenced to It's torture,
She lay in his arms very still, moaning as one
means when hope has been orercome by life.
This was the skeleton she had tried to hide,
and, now how naked, how distinct and terri
ble--how ghsstiy it stood up before her, What
a wonlan'S heart suffcrs-what il breaks with,
was cnuiuu tu this chi ID woman
Baby Grace wakeued up and stretched out
her arms and snicd. Marian arose slowly
and wen; and raised her 70 her bosom She
had given up John as 10 death, and she felt this
was al that was le.t her. The night fell as ii
had Fallen upon her heart.
John Elmer could have bought his life for a
pa.;ry sam; but ue had not the sum which
could buy it Three hundred dollars is a pltl-
ful amount, but for want Of it Marians heart
was beginning 20 pvirify. Marian did what
she could. Ii was bat little; that which She
could not do was killing her. He could make
no provision for wife or child there was none
in iis power. He would leave them in the care
Of Him wi 10 fed tie ravens. The no ming cane
when John Elmer was To leave his home
dark and rainy-cOld, and oh SO dfeary. He
felt that 1t was for the hast time He parted
from Mariin-oh, what parting! So wretch
ed, So sorrowfni! [, was just like a soul torn
from the budy--he looked into her face-he
saw nothing but anguish; and that strange
stiffness which sometimes comes uaaccounfahly
over ildren WAS upon Grace. He snatched
himself away--he dared not look back Mar
iuu took mp her child. close against her bosom.
So close that it struggled to get free, and turn
ed al,d went IN
A rich stockholdeT remarked at dinner that
day, having paid SIX hundred for his two sons.
That copp,rhead Elmer went to-day--could
not raise the 'spondulicks Good enough for
him-he might have volunteered long ago"
Such sympathy had Marian,
Weeks ana months passed on. It was drea-
~ with Marian; oh, So lonely. She had moth
ing but Grace now She heard from John but
seldom. 1t was very seldom he sent her mon
ev, for the wages of drafted man are not
wonderful, and 1t was bard TO make tie ends
meet. The winter was come on, and every
thing was going up; her house rent had fallen
due, aud she was in need OF wood. Strange
what changes are wrought in SO short lime.
From modest ease, Marian was coming TO want
it might be 10 suffering or starvaton--she
C'utA iiOb E1ilS lClt lltt baD( anu Nelll Out
to hunt for work She had her sewing ma
chine, and she could sew. She had not count
ed the difficulties Her husband was drafted
mana ''butternut"-- had nothing for her
to do. They gave their work TO the families
Of Union volunteers Marian looked in their
faces and wondered what they meant. Was
her husbands belief reproach? Was it u
disgrace to be drafted? If So it fell upon him.
She was proud-this little woman But when
she went back and found Grace crying for her,
and the room cold, her pride began to give way
TO despair. One day came a letter to Marion.
She read it tearlessly, but it was the wedge
that, driven sharply in, divided the already bro
ken heart. 1t was from companion of Johns
telling how he had been unable to bear the
rough usages of war how he had fallen ILL., and
after lying a long time in the hospital, had died.
He should have written her before, but had
been separated from John ON detached service
during his sickness. Then it spoke Of his gal
laliry. bis close observance of his assumed du-
ties, etc. But what mattere,l all this TO Mar
ian? He was dead-he was gone-she could
never, never see his dear face again. She would
never be held in his armS-never feel the pres
sure of his kiss. He was dead, and Grace
was fatherless. But Marian's grief was silent.
She rose up and took up her burden, and
thought she would live for the sake of the lit
tie one. But it was hard work TO live. She
got some little work to do, but she could only
rent one room now, and barely keep them in
food. Sometimes they had no fire for an en-
tire day. Even Afarians health suffered, and
the child took severe cold that ended in the
Group and Terminated its little life. Marian
thought she had suffered her full measure of
loss /; but when ills List and only treasure was
taken away, the last tie tliat bound her to this
life was broken, What was. country 10 her !?
In al is lergfil and brea ith-she had none to
love h7r-no spot in its boundaries she could
call Ier home. What was i. to her that the
country should be saved She was dying OF
grief and starvation.
Work became scarce and hard to get. Some