Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1868-09-11
The Peril of Martha Warren
a STORY OF THE AMMoNoosUC.

STORY OF THE AMMoNoosUC.
Goodbye, Martha. God help yOu
| | shall be back in three days at th'
farthest."
The hardy White Mountain pioneer
Marx Warren, kissed his young wife
! held his two-years old boy to his
breast for a moment, and then shoul.
dering the sack of corn which was tC
be converted into meal at the rude
mill, forty miles away, trudged of
Through the wilderness.
Martha Warren stood at the door oi
the low cottage, gazing out after the
retreatiDg 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. II
looked so dark and lonesome there,
she shrank from entering, or perhaps
the grand sublimityOf the view spread
cut before her held her attention and
thrilled her soul with that nameless,
unexplained something that we all see
when standing faee-to faee--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
Littleton and Franconia. Mount
Washington, the, king among princes,
is there seen IN its proper place-the
center of the ''rock-ribbed" range
towering, bald, blue and unapproach-
able
sFarsup in a wild clearing, close By
tie tUrbid waters of the Ammonoosuc,
was the cottage situated place wild
and aerie enough for the nest of an
eagle, but dear to the heart of Mar
tha Warren as the home where she
had spent the happy days of her young
wifehood. When she had turned away
from many a patrlcian suItoT, in the
fair old 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
path of roses for years to come much
of life must be spent in the eternal
solitudes, where silence was broken
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 huaz
band she dreaded most 1t was so
very gloomy to close up her doors at
night and sit down by her lonely fire
side, with the consciousness that there
was no human being nearer than the
settlement of Lords Hill, ten miles
away through the painless woods.
There was little fear from Indians,
although few of the scattered tribes
yet roamed over these primeval hunt
ing grounds. They were mostly dis
posed to be friendly, and Mrs. War
ren's kind heart naturally prompted
her to many acts Of friendship towards
them, and an Indian never forgets a
benefit.
The purple mist cleared away from |
the SCARED monument of the dominant
old mountain the yellow sun peeped !
over the rocky wall, and Martha turn
ed away to the performance of her do !
nestle duties. The day was a long
one, but it wore toward evening, and !
the cleaning comes much sooner in /
these solirudes than in any other
places. The sunlight faded out of the |
unglazed windows, though it would IL
lumine the distant mountain for some |
time yet; and Martha went out IN the |
scanty garden to inhale the odor of the |
sweet pinksf on the meagre root she /
had brought from her old home.
The spicy perfume carried her back |
in memory to those days away In the /
past, spent with kind friends, and
cheered by bright young hopes But |
though the thought Of home and kin
dred made her sad, not for a moment /
did she regret the fate she had chosen.i
in thought; she had not OBJ
seTyed the absence OF Charlie, her I
little boy; now she saw with vague un-
that he had left the bed of
whefe he had been play
ing, and was not to be seen. She
called his name, but only the echo and. i
the roar of the swollen river replied. /
She few back to the house. the faint
hope remaining that he might have re-
turned -thither for his pet. .kitteR=; but
no, the Kitten was mewing at the win
dow, but noisigns of Chaulie;
With frantic haste she searched the
clearing, but without success. Her
next thought was -the river Black
as night, save where it f1ecked with
spots of white foam-it flowed on but
a few rods before her. She hurried
down to the brink, calling out, Charlie,
ChaFliel ~ s.rs1re TT-Fe
The child small voice at some lit
tie distance replied. She followed the (
his golden hair and rosy cheeks clear
ly defined against the purple twilight /
sky-standing on the very edge OF the /
huge, detached rock, some ten feet
from the shore, out in the sweeping
current of the river
This rock, called by the settlers. /
The Pulpit, was a good situation for (
casting fishing lines, and ~Mark--W ar |
hoI r "a u,r-our oh o,r,, h.
tween it-and the shore with a couple (
of hewn logs.
Aliured by some clusters Of flaming
freweed growing on the side of the /
Pulpit. Charlie bad crossed over, and (
now stood there, regardless of danger, |
holding out the floral treas
ures to his mother Martha few over
the frail bridge, and the next instant
held the child in her arms joyful /
because she had found him uninjured |
and N entally resolved that the logs
should b removed to prevent further |
accident, she turned to retrace her
steps, but the sight that met her eyes
froze her with horror to the. spot
Confronting her on the Bridge, not
six feet distant, was an enormous
wolf, guant and bODy with hunger, his !
eyes blazing like live Goals through |
the mist and gloom, his hot, fetid |
breath seorching the very air she
breathed.
A low growl of intense satisfaction
stirred the air, answered by the growl !
of fifty more Of his kind, belonging
to the pack in another moment they |
would be upon her f7
Without an instant thought of the |
consequences, Martha obeyed her first
impulse, and struck the logs with her
g. .-a-.n;-s..o. al L. - aA.-..., a.aL |