The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-08-17

When Elliott GU rded there,
And each proud fo.d q hero pals
Whose life nerves our despair.
NEW YonK, Marca 20, 1866.
PER1t.S OF THE MINES.
No one knew ,'hy the tiny woman
who lived near the great coal mine
was called Aunt Nudge, although
every one knew the instant she came
in view why shs was called little, for
very small she was-not much larger
than q child.
This little Aunt Nudge had g. heart
so large that it could not live in her,
but came out through kind words
from her lips and loving tides from
her eyes, until 1t fell all about her,
'enveloping her little person Sc COM
pletely that she was all heart, and
when you looked at her you could not
see anything else; and you thought
she was as large as any one, until an
other person chanoed to come and
place five or six feet Of human growth
beside her mite of being, and then
you could not help exclaiming.
"What little womanw
When You were on your way to
visit Aunt Nudge, and saw the brown
est little nutshell of house in the
world, standing close to the mouth of
the great coal mine, you thought,
ooh, that is a nut which ripened
years ago, on one of the giant trees
that grew to make the coal beds, and
it has been getting browner and
browner every century since the trees
forgot how to grow, and know it
must be very hard to crack"
And so you would go up to it, and
put out your hand in all its strength,
and give knock on the place where
the shell looked thinnest; and just
when you were expecting to hear q
great cracking noise, the door of the
shell would open SO gently that, be-
fore You were aware, the kernel would
be before you, and you would be
drawn into the nut by friendly
hand; and when the door was closed
the nut would seem to be singing
about all the suns that had shone
upon, and the winds that had blown
over the great tren on which it grew
Once upon time somebody whis-
pered that little Aunt Nudge had
made great discovery which she was
keeping profoundly secret-that she
had certainly found the fountain of
perpetual youth, for there grew not a
wrinkle more Oh her loving face this
year than the last, and the winter
passed and cleft no sign"
The miners who went below always
stopped to say goodbye, and for
their coming up Aunt Nudge watched
with a strange wAstful look that never
seemed to tire. It was this that kept
her young-the miners coming ap
from the mine. Her wistful look
could not be diverted ut the magical
hour, and no inducement could tempt
her TO stay from home even for one
day.
During the months of one spring,
nm owner of the great mine removed
with his family to small house mid
way between the village and the house
Of little Aunt Nudge. His name was
Owen Vail. He had two sons, Paul
and Arthur, boys just emerging from
childhood into that restless, transi-
tion state that furnishes so much ma
terial for ship owners.
Day after day the two boys wan
dered about the mountains, lingering
long at the entrace to the mine, and
scarcely restrainsd from going down,
notwithstanding warming and prohi-
bitiol.
There were strange gases and mys-
ferrous gusts OF dampness far down,
hundreds Of feet below the surface
signs which made the miners give the
lips at home ferewells witt, strong
impulses clinging in them; born OF
fear that they might be forever
signs which caus ID little Aunt Nudge
to watch the bl, ckened features MS
they came up, with something very
much like tears in her eyes.
One morning-it WIS hours after
the last man had disappeared within
the shaft for the day-Aunt Nudge,
opening the door Of her brown little
nut, saw Paul and Arthur raanipulas-
ff go 80 TA