The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1865-11-03


not. No letter, no Charlie. Anoth-
er month--anothGr--still no news.
One morning she stood 10y the
window, watching, and the landlady
came to her. She was good wo.
man, and hcsitatcd to speak; but her
boarding house only Kept her out of
poN irty, and this blue.eyed girl was
a boarder, after all. So she said
"ilrs. Oliver, l don't like to tell
you, but--but-- .......'
"Ohl you've heard i'll news from
Charlie?f t, .ra..
Janet. turning with ashen cheek,
clung TO hor arm
mo, my dear. Oh! no, thank
goodness, it's quite different. Your
husband paid your board for six
months in advance, You know
Yes" ..0
"Wcll, ahem! its nearly ten
months since he went, and I'm quite
poor, and I'm often cheated, very
orten-and--the fact is, can you pay
me?r {.
'I?" Oh!no. Charlic--Mr. Oliver
will settle with you the moment he
returns" ..
"Ycs--but its no use 'nincing mat
ters my dear I'd be glad to wait.
But are YOU sure he will come hackp
The sea is trcacherous and they say
sailors are also; wife in every port.
There now, somebody will help
your p ..'. '
''NIy father, I'll 90 to my father"
said poor janet she will forgive me,
now" ...t -.4 .-.u.
She left the house ne q child might
have done, longing for that good old
breast that used to be her shelter -
Far out of town the homestead stood
and its doors were locked and it.
windows barred against her. A
strange servant came at her sum
moas. She had anticipated that ant
written few lines begging that hel
father would see her. They wer,
returned to her, and on ii was writ
ten:
81 have no longer a daughter. Sh,
Is dead TO me-"
Janet Oliver went back to the cit,
J boarding house, and that night bab
was born to her, Nailing thin.
, that struggled for lie, and won it n
. last; and Janet, holding it ayains
her breast, felt that Fragment o
her Charles lite lay there, and clun,
to il as drowning man will cling t,
the faintcst floating thing. But 70
, those little hands, those strange in
| nocent eyes, that precious nothing
holding the embryo SOUL Charli
divers wifa woald have lot go o
, life and hoatcd away upon the sea O
death that night. Her baby KEEP
her alive. ..0
And now her watch, her rings An,
/, her little jsweleJ kespsallcs began t
, 20; by and by ber costlcr clothca
Tie wlite ilr. she had wrapped her
, self in When she eloped that nigh
with Charlie. One by one, every
thing went save some cotton dresses
: her hood, and q large shawl.
, At last came the climax. Sh
, stood with Aor babe before the land
Lady, who said firmly, though no
, unkindly:
"lfrs. Oliver, l an sorry for you
but you have father ana he mus
keep you, ] cau't'
, Janet took her child and went on
3 igto the r,idwintcr afternoon. Sh
g had no hopes Of her fathers pity
, but she sail: ......
we can die, my child and
! within sight OF the old house; ant
l perhaps, he may forgive me when h
sees me dead"
Then another hope entered he
p, soul, she would wrap the child u,
carefully. the little one might live
9 and he would have mercy on that 70
t its innocence.
Poor glrl she had no money fc
stage fare; she plolied on throug
the cold streets and out upon th
. weary road for hours; and it gre,
T darker and darker; eight was ran
from tho city clocks, nine, ten, an
D only then, by the clear, frosty moon
@ light, she saw the roof OF her father
= homestead, with the Gins about it q
- they had been when she fed from
5 with Charlie Oliver. ..Ha.-
It She had Ihatured her plans, an
c dragged her weary steps up tn
B; porch. Upon it whose deep window
IT. opened To tho floor. There slI
c would lie down, and in the mornin
n they would find her dead. All, poe
+ child. | hardly dare tell what 81
IL had done, it was so wicked; hut 81
was very miserable At the botto
Of her pocket lay bottle which W,
p labeled ''laudanum."
e At last she stood before those wi
Il dows, and ono Of them was open
n wide at half past ten on night
midwinter,
4 God had opened it for her.
X she said, Aud she knew thc stran.
It truth of herwords. h pol. '..'
z Oh. my home,y she walled, sDrtl
a "0h! my father. Inwill 90 in.
Ie will lie in myibed. i will die ther
3, aud my babe will live, and all goC
a angels help her TO be n better chi
le to father than | have been.
~ So she crept in on tlp toe, unfa
IS tened her saoeso and leaving the
>, without, that she might make !