Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1865-12-02

exactlv with that described by Us tail
and there it lay, with its head slightly
inclined on Que side, and its intelligent
ewes fixed upon me, ike thing Oh stone,
save indeed that I do not believe any
sculptor would have selected such
subject on which to exercise his art.
By degrees L became interested ID
the patient and unobstrusive little am
NAL which seemed as if thoroughly
aware that it was there on sutferance,
and did not venture one gesture OF en-
treaty or irritation; the aforesaid licking
# the lips, however, being to me as
intended palpably "to remind, as any
duplicate card to an entertainment that
+ ever received so inscribed from par
| ty-giving acquaintance.
7 had Just renewed my ciyiiity to my
new acquaintance, when / was suddenly
startled by a gruff ''Vous etes bien bon
ne. Madame" uttered close behind me;
and raising my eyes, / saw the short,
/ thickset, weather-beaten, and usually
taciturn helmsman who was at the wheel,
standing hat in hand, looking down
with a sort of complacent astonishment
upon myself and the dog. OF course
comprehended the thing at once. The
| ill-favored cur was his property, ana he
was putting into words the gratitude
which the soft and speaking eyes OF his
canine favorite had already expressed
much more unequiv0cally "BiJon"
!. lat a Riiou thought II sis not used
To so much kindness from a stranger,
pursued the man, as If in reply to my
look ''tIaveIers who come aboard TO
I Il Il l. Ia IA nv
es them ON the deck, for they have no
time to discover his good qualities.
But am convinced that he has good
qualities, :" said 1, in my turn 81 can
| read them in his soft and beautiful
eyes"
The sailor gently shook his head
"Were he to you, Madame, what he is 20
ne, !" he said, sadly, ''wife and child,
and friend, you would think him a
beauty"
And does Biiou indeed hold so high
ticket in the lottery of your life, my
good friend ~ / asked. as ] passed my
hand carpssingly over the head of the
animal, which had gradually crOuched
down beside me, and now glanced up
wand towards its master, as though per
fectly conscious that 1t had become the
subject of discourse. ''SuTely, if you
cared to try, you might find prettier
wife, more graceful and endearing chill
dren, and more sympatbiZiIS friend /;
for, after all"
Madame has said the very words, !"
interposed the man, with melancholy
energy "after all-yes, it is indeed
after all is gone that | once loved so
fOndly, / learn the real value of the last
living thing on earth that cares for me y
The tone in which these words were
uttered excited my interest at once,
and it appeared to produce its effect
also upon the dog, for the creature
Turned its head toward its master, and
the long. straight tail moved slightly,
more as it seemed in sympathy than in
pleasure. After some time, / ELECTED
the story of the Eelmsman's life, and it
was truly one of suffering and OF sor-
row. He had lost his wife and three fair
children in the brief period CT two days
all his little ones at one fell swoop-
by an epidemic disease which ragged in
Rotterdam some years previously. They
oil Law dead together IN the same mar
row room, and as his last light went out
as the expiring mother turned her
glazed and failing eye from the face of
Ter husband to the he'd on which be
had placed their cold and stiffsHing in
fants in one m0tionless and CHASTITY line
for the poor have no Injuries or
curtained couches to shrOud from
the gaze of agony the amount of its
wretchedness-th bereaved man would
have been alone, with that fourfold
! L.. 81 br I, MI 70 nf
his little lost ones still bore him com
pany; but as he sank down, exhausted
by watching and despair, upon the
body of his wife, the faithful dog held
its place beside those of the innocent
beings, whose joyous voices he was
never again 10 be summoned to sport
by whose fond hands he was never
again to be fed or fondled. IT was a SAD
picture-the utter desolation of the
widowed man. even simply and hurridly
as he sketched its outlines; and his thick
tones became thicker, and his thin lips
quivered as he reverted to his time of
trial.
after that, all was over" he pursued
at the close of amOmentary pause, which
/ had not found courage to break.
'sThe grave follows fast upon the death
groan; aud all that had loved best on
earth was taken from me, and shut from
my sight forever. He followed with
me 70 see them laid In the earth" and
as he sroke he looked toward the dog,
which had never once removed its eyes
from its master since he commenced
his narrative, ''and we stood together
to see The grave filled in, and the cold
sOds fang upon the fair young faces
which had SO often been pressed by the
fond lips of their dead mothar-and
upon the loving heart of the mother
herself, which TO its lust beat had been
full of love, both for them aud for me.
We dill not move away until The four
mounds were filed in. and heaped up.
and the crosses planted at their head
There were other lockers on, Madame,
though needed them not then; but
many stood by. aud pitied the stricken
victims of that fell disease, for 1T was
dreary sight, even to the lightest heart
ed. to look upon those three little fresh
made graves, with the mother in the
midst; they should have pitied me; they
should have wept over the desolate spir-
it of the one lett When all was over
| turned homeward; or rather made
my miserable way back to the empty
hut which had so lately heen my home,
and where had been a husband and
father; but neither smile nor voice
greeted me now. 1t was only when /
closed tie door behind me, and tnat my