The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1867-01-29
,unded away, and ran till she reached

bad, forgotten passion OF his boyhoods
bad, forgotten life swelled within him
He vas dizzy and faint with agitation.
lie was so wildly, madly jealous because
another man had dared to touch the lips
of his wife, that the mans life seemed q
trihing expiaticn for the deed and yet,
though he murdered Abel in his heart, he
was incapable to stir his hands; his frenzy
seemed to consume his strength. He
clcnched the rail of the fence convulsivcly,
his teeth chattcred, ard every limb shook,
till Abel Garth, after an instant. turned
back the way lie had come. and was soon
out of sight. Then Jules unaccomplshed
vengeance curdled in his heart, with n
sediment of venomous evaporation. lie
went slowly home. and even l3ertha's face
looked changed to him. lie was bitterly
retlcent, and gave no sign of what he had
seen az he brooded upon it. While she
after little struggle yielded to a wosnan's
common horror Of disturbance, and. treat
ing the matter in her clear, sensible way,
as to be redeemed through her own dig
nifty, was silent about Abel's act.
Jules could not doubt his wife. lie re-
allied her too truly, and the bettor and
longer he trusted her balanced judgment
and steady, upright heart, the more he
hated the man WHO had dared to wrong
them
The blowing and planting went on; the
summer ripened and waned, but jules was
not himself. lie breathed tainted air, ate
poisoned food ; his happiness was dashed,
and he sullcnly waited Tor the comprnsa-
tion Of revenge to bring back hls lost
peace.
The harvest was very bountiful The
barns were filed to overhlwing, AMI just
before the time .or the threshing to begin
he went out, one midnight, trod, with his
wrctched purpose, over the road where
Abel had met Bertha, re-lived what he
had suffered in that April dusk, and nerved
with its remembrance, fired Garth's gran
aries. The lofty mows hissed and crack
led great, hollow, roaring fame swept
up TO the midnight sky, and the years
wealth was blotted ont.
1t was pitifu silly revenge. A man
of common judgment would have counted
conscquences-thc arrest, trial, sentence,
and its executon-all of which came, OF
course. Jules counting was dore after
ward, through the intcrminabe years oI
imprisonment, drudgery, death in-hfe,
which followed, and not all finished that
winter night, when he stole within sight
of the home he had forfeited, and shrunk
back into the icy woods.
And yet, the prison had not degraded
Jules Griflin's soul its di.cpline had
tempered his mpatience, its solitude had
chastered him; it had shaken his self
reliance, and taught him-God.
lie came out-perhaps it would be
presumptuous to say better man-hu,
more available for worthy life than he
had entered. But his selftrust was
shaken to the center. He needed now to
be trusted and encouraged by others -
But who is there TO encourage man who
has herded with the refuse of the earth
for ten long years, even though his strug
Cling soul has risen above his captivity
"Come in"
Bertha Griffin raisel her pleasant voice
In answer to a tap at the door, and a
slight tiush crossed her face as she did So
She sat alone in her tidy kitchen, by the
iirelight-a fair, comely woman, with "A
youthful freshness about her face and
form, although she was no longer young.
The room seemed to be saying that it
was New Years Eve, for Bertha had the
Faderland love for the season; it was her
unadmitted sentiment-her one holiday,
and her kitchen walls were hung with
eversreens, making deep bays of shadow,
against which the glow of the freight
broke in ru !dy culi es. The ispeechless
pine table was covered with fro sty cakes,
and fiaky pies, made ready for tomorrow,
and a little tripod on the hearth held a
bright saucepan, in which tumbler or
more Of spiced, home made wine simmere d
temptingly.
BeItha's needles clicked in the silence,
as she knitted away--l}ertha was always
blsy-and her face expressed the compa-
cent thoughts which filed her mind. II
was New Years Eve; she had the events
of the en- ing year on trial, and was sum-
ming a satisfied retrospect of crops an |
clearings, increase, profits, and improve
ments.
1t was ten years since the shock and
horror of Jules fate had overtaken her,
and during those years she had managed
the farm alone. Few women would have
had the heart to have undertaken such 5
work, under such conditions. They would
rather have stolen away from ncighbor
hood where such disgrace had fallen
upon them, and where every child could
say, "She's the wife of State prison
Bird Such women might have justified
their husbands crime-for even a crime
IN ,ove's cause is often dear to woman
as Bertha never thought Of jlslifying
jules; but they would not have had thC
courage to confront the repeated story for
ten years. Bertha, however, would have
found no consolation in fight. She re
garded Jules deed with astonishment, an'
with unmodified censure. She had intens
respect for property, and no appreciation
of recklessne-s in revenge. She was clear
headed and impartial no sentimentalitl
tempted her to think hard of the jury VIII,
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