The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1868-08-01

"Good-bye. Martha. God help you
I shall be back in three days at tn
farthest."
The hardy White Mountain pioneer
Mark Warren, kissed his young wife
held his two-year old boy to his breas
for moment, and then shouldering thu
sack of corn which was to be converted
into meal at the rude mill, forty miles
away, trudged off through the wilder
ness.
Martha Warren stood at the door oi
the log cottage, gazing out after the re.
treating form of her husband. An angle
of the dense shrubbery hid him from her
view, but still she did not return to the
solitary kitchen 1t looked so dark and
lonesome there, she shrank from enter.
ing, or perhaps the grand sublimity of
the view spread out before her held he.
attention and thrilled her soul with that
nameless, unexplained something that
we all see when standing to face with
the works Of his fingers.
The finest and most satisfactory view
of the White Mountains is that which
presents itself from what is now the
town of Bethlehem, on the road to Lit,
tleton and Franconia. Mount Washing,
ton, the king among the princes, is there
sen in its proper place--the centre Of
the "rock ribbed range-towering bald
blue and nnapproachable.
Far up in wild clearing, close BY
the turbid waters of the Ammonoosuc,
was the cottage situated-a place wild
and arie enough for the nest of an eagle
but dear to the heart of Martha Warren
as the home where she had spent the
happy days of her young wifehood.
When she had turned from many a pa
trician suitor, in the fair cid town Of
Portsmouth, to join her fortunes with
those Of the young settler, it was with
the full and perfect understanding of the
trials that lay before her. She would
walk in no tn of roses for years to
come much 3, = must be spent in the
eternal solitudes, v re silence was brok-
en- only by the wild winds of the forest,
the shrek of the river over the sharp
rocks or the dismal howl of The red
mouthed wolf afar in the wilderness.
The necessary absence Of her husband
she dreaded most. It was so very gloom
by her lonely freside, with the con-
seriousness that there was no human
being nearer to her than the settlement
of Lords Hill, ten miles away through
the painless woods.
There was little to fear from Indians,
although few, of the scattered tribes
vet roamed over these primeval hunting
grounds. They were mostly disposed to
be friendly, and Mrs. Warren's kind
heart naturally prompted her to many
acts Of friendship towards them, and an
Indian never forgets benefit.
The purple mist cleared away from
the SCARED forehead Of the dominant
old mountain; the yellow sun peeped
over the rocky wall, and Martha turned
away to the performance of her simple
medostic duties. The day was long
one. but ii wore toward evening, and the
glooming comes much sooner in these
solitqdes than in any other places. The
sunlight faded out Of the unglazed win
dow, though il would illumine the dis
tant mountains for some time yet; and
Martha went out in the scanty garden
TO inhale the odor Of the sweet pinks on
the meagre root she had brought from
her old home
The spicy perfume carried her back
III memory to those days away IN the
past, spent with kind friends. and cheer
Cd by bright young hopes, Bnt though
the thought Of home and kindred made
her sad, not for moment did she regret
the fate she had chosen. Absorbed in
thought she had not observed the alb
sencc Of Charlie. her little boy; now she
saw with vague uneasiness that he had
left the bed Of PEPPERMINT where she had