The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1866-11-16
Che alansufk 5tffersuaiaa
The Forgers.

VIII Jell you Jalo OF tchTS, COn-
cerning the last inhabitants VI yondcr
solitary house, just visible on the
hill side, through the gloom Of those
melancholy pines. Ten years have
passed away since the terrible catas.
trophe of which i am about to speak;
and l know not how it is, but me.
thinks whenever I come into this glen,
there is something rueful In its 81
lence, while the common sounds Of
nature seem to my mind dirge-like
and forlorn. Was not this very day
bright and musicala we alked across
all the other hills andvallies; but now
dim missoveispreads the sky, and
beautiful as this lonely place must in
truth be, there is a want of life in the
verdure and the flowers, as if they
grew beneath the darkness Of per
petual shadows" H .i' ..
AS the old man was speaking, a
female figure, bent with age aud in
trinity, came slowly up the bank be.
low us with pitcher in her hand,
and when she reached a little we'll,
dug out Of low rock all covered with
moss and lichens, she seemed to fix
her eyes upon itas dream, and gave
q long, deep, broken sigh.
"The name Of her husband and her
only son, both dead, arc chiscllcd by
their own hands on q smooth stone
within the arch of that fountain, and
the childless widow at this moment
sees nothing on the face Of the earth
but few letters not yet ovcrgrown
with the creeping time stains. See!
her pale lips are moving in prayer,
and, old as she is, and long resigned
in her utter hopclessness, the tears
are not yet all shed or dried within
her broken hcart,-a few big drops
are on her withered checks, hut she
feels them not, and is unconsciously
weeping with eyes that old age has
of itself enough bedimmed"
The figure remained motionless be-
side the well; and, though | knew
not the history of the griels that stood
all embodied so mournrully before
me, ] felt that they must have been
gathering together for many long
years, and that such sighs rs ] had
now heard came from the utmost des
olation of the human heart. At las'
she dipped her pitcher In the water
lifted up her eyes to Heaven, and
distinctly saying, 80 Jesus! Son oI
God! whose blood was shed Tor sip
ners, be mercitul to their soulsn' sh,
turned away from the scene Of lie
sorrow, and, like one seen in Wis
ion, disappeared. 81 .n,qs ...4
81 have bcheld the cl ildless widow
happy" said the pastor, seven he
who sat alone, with none to comlor
her, on q floor swept by the hand o
death of all its blossoms. But he
whom we>have now seen dare no
call happy, even though she puts he
trust in God and her Savior. Ye
religion may have softened ever
sighs like those, and, as you shal
hear, it was religion that set her ire
from the horrid dreams of madness
and restored her to that comlor
which is always found In the posses
sion of a reasonable soul"
There was not bee roaming nea
us, nor bird singing in the solitar,
glen, when the old man gave me thes
hints of melancholy tale The SIX
was black and lowering, as it lay o
the silent hills, and enclosed us fror
the far. Off world, in sullen spot tina
was felt to he sacred unto sorrow.- =,
The figure VIII ich had come and gon
with sigh was the only dwelle
here; and / was prepared TO hear
doleful history of one left alone t,
commune with 4 broken heart in tn
checrless solitude of nature.
"That house, from whose chimney
no smoke has assembled for ten lonl
years." continued my friend, son
8 showed its windows bright wit
: cheerful fires; and her whom we nov
saw so wo begone, l remembe
brought home youthful bride, /
all the beauty of her JOY aud innc
!, cence. Twenty years beheld her
y wife and mother, with all their mos
D perfect happiness, and with some
too, of their inevitable griets. Deaf
= passed not by her door without hi
victims, and of five children, all bu
one died, in infancy, childhood, @
blooming youth But they died |
natures common decay,-peacofl
prayers were said around the bed {
peace; and when the flowers gre'
upon their graves the mothers cy
could bear to look on them, as sill
passed on with an unaching heart il
to the house of God. All but on
Idied,-and better had it been if til,
! one had never been born.
"Father, mother, and son no
come to mans estate, survived, an
in the house there was peace. Bl
v. suddenly, poverty fell upon them. :
The dishonesty Of n kinsman, {
s which need not state the particl
;. lars, robted them OF their few hereC
Of itary fields, which now passed int
e. the possession of stranger. Tho,
Z however, remained as tenants in I'll
IN house, which had been tl.eir owl
and for while, father. and son boz
= the change of fortune seemingly III
dismayed, and toiled as common Ii
horers on the soil still dearly belo,
il ed. At the dawn OF light they wer
out together, and at twilight they n
turned. But it seemed as If the
industry was in vain. Year aftc
yaar the old man'a facp hocame mos