The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-25
TRULY THANKFUL.
A THANKSGIVING STORY.
Written for The Evening Telegraph.
I.-Dne Account,
ny A. Il. LANCASTER


when father was out visiting some OF the poorer
families in the villages who used to be his
parlshioners before he grew too feeble for con-
slant work, aud took his placc-only this
morning Mrs. scrannel came into my study
where was writing my sermon, aud, seeing
Alice seated near me, looking SO happy eX'
claimed. claspipg her hands together:-
"Ah! It's q true saying Mrs. Maverick, what
4be Scripture says them a. sew the whirWind
shall reap life everlasting"
Then she darted out again without another
word and improvsed dinner herself, though
it's my belief that she had come for the purpose
of receiving orders.
Yes, Alice aud are happy, though The storm
through which we became so was very dreaa'
ful for us both. Without endeavorlng to recon
cile Mrs. scrannel's somewhat Incompatible
statements that we have sowed the whtrlwInd
and are now reapng life everlasting as the pro-
per and legitimate consequence, ] am sure
that the trouble that engulled us during the
week in which we were to have been married.
can never become painless in recollection,
Before ever noticed the change which trans
formed Alice Bleaberry from q listless, medtta-
tive girl into thoughtful, serious one, used
10 wonder at myself that had reached the age
OF thirty and never been in love. Now, have
long ceased to wonder; for that | should ever
meet with another nature that would so per-
fecty dovetail with all the outings and pro-
montories, the bays, nooks, and alcovse OF my
Owl, stands before me as an impossibiity.
So it happened that one Sunday noon, as
walked home with father from church, the
image of Alice Beaberry became fixed IN my
mind, as an image standing apart from all
others. In due time 1 made known to her my
4bav ,a1 in hpr W
became engaged. With the story of that time
/ have nothing to do; my story is with the
events Immediately succeeding it,
One week before our intended wedding Mrs.
Scanned came running TO me with the announce
ment that servant had come from the Blea-
berries with the Intelligence that Alice had
been suddenly taken Ill, and was not expected
TO live adding, as a couglomeration of texts
remarkably applicable to the occasion, my
son, If sinners entlce thee, 60 ye into all the
world and preach the GOSPEL TO every people,
Understanding Mrs. Scanned perfectly well, and
feeling that this was merely meant for an
assurance on her part that the danger was i'm
minent, / went as hastily as could to the place
where Alice Bleaberry and her uncle lived.
1t was too late, The last sigh had been
breathed few minutes before entered.
Alice's uncle, her ouly relative, with whom she
had lived alone ever since she was child, was
seated in one corner, surrounded by q few
sympathizng neghbors. For the last few
months the old mans mind had been thought to
be gradually departing. For nearly fifty years
past the sexton OF the church where my father
used to preach, he still insisted on retaining the
functions of that Office, although the small
fortune that had lately been left him by de.
cayed branch OF the family enabled him to keep
H.
him to dispense with active service.
For the past few months his friends, say,
had believed that his mind was giving way.
The facts On which this belief rested were that
much of his time was spent in seclusion over
the invention OF a complicated piece of me-
chanism to which reference at length will bs
made elsewhere. OF all the beings that sur
rounded him, Alice was the only one who sym
pathized with old Mr.. Bleaberry in this hobby,
embraced so late in life aud cherished with
pertinacty which should naturally have been a
characteristic of younger years. Perhaps this
pertlnacty was less wonderful, however, when
it is considered that the mechauism IN referred to
was intimately connected with the duties OF
sexton, which he had so faithfully transacted for
so many years.
To return to Alice, however. The truth which
poor Mrs. Scanned had meant to convey in her
distorted quotations was only too apparent.
All The known tests for death we're applied in
vain. No trace OF life remained in her. The
circumstances of her seizure were very singular.
She had been suffering from no previous disease.
Her health had been unusually even and good.
Suddenly, upon the very morning in which /
had been summoned, she had been attacked
with iaintness aud giddiness, to which rapidly
succeeded that sickish vacant feeling in the
bosom that always brings in remembrance to
those that once experience it the idea of death.
This state did not last loug. Within half an
hour from the first premonition of the attack
she had breathed her last, without being able 10
utter one word to those around her.
will not attempt by single word to describe
my emotions as l bent over her remains. Words
have been used for such descriptions ever since
time commenced, and they have been used in
vain. Enough TO say that hope had died as
instantly out of my soul us breath had died out
OF her body.
1t was just one week before Thanksgiving
Day of that year when Alice Blesberry died
and consequently four days before Thanksgiving
Day when we buried her. The many .moodea
climate of the United States had been in one of
its happiest and brightest phases, and so con.
tinued for the rest of the week.
Well, we buried her in Beaberry church, the
prettiest church In all Tlnsdae village. / ought
to have mentioned, that, although S4s Bleaberry
held no more distng gushed office than that of
a sexton, he was descended from one of the
Oldest families OF that community-a family