Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1868-08-27

through the night, for she is afraid 81
wolves, Another morning and she is al.
] most hopeless, Oh, viii not heaven pity
her.f The little one grows weaker; he
cannot hold up his head. Another terri.
Die night; he means piteously; he falls
into eonvuliions; the next day he dies,
) All day she carries the little lifeless body
IN her arm, and all night, beneath the un,
plying stars, she holds it TO her bosom.
} She carried the little dead burden day
after day, until the purple hue of decay
was settling rapidly over il, and she felt,
with pang AT her heart, that she must
bury it, Then she looked about for spot
where she might dig tho tiny grave, 50
deep that the wildcat and the wolf might
not scent it out. Weak as she was, this
! was no easy task, but in her wanderings
she came upon giant tree, uptorn at
some former time by hurricane, In the
soft earth whore the roots had lain she
soooped out the baby's resting place, and
making il soft with moss, covered the cold
little form forever from her sight, Then
she sat down by the grave in a stupor of
grief, Hour after hour passed, how many
she knew not, when she arose TO her feet
TO commence the pilgrimage. Then she
! noted everything about the spot. Here
was a rock, there stood an immense hem
lock, Yes, she would know the place
i She could find IL easily with Robert.
Then began again the struggle through
the wilderness.
Day after day, week after week, she
! passed on. Her shoes were worn 20 frag-
ments and fell from her feet. Her gar.
mcnts were torn 10 tattcrs But the days
grew warmer, and the fever that was
burning in her veins made oven the soft
showers that fell upon her. welcome,
First she ate the buds Of trees and the
bark Of birch; presently she began 10 find
the young checkerberry leaves and now
and then she came upon the par,ridge's
nest and grcedily sucked the eggs. After
a time there was red raspbcrrics and
black thimblc-berries in the woods, and
then she knew it was July. The trees
had now put on afresh their beautiful
garments. But for the delicious poetry
that one finds in the woods, sauutering
out from the busy life for an hour, she
cared nothing. She saw nothing but
/ trees, trees, in interminable succession.
IL seemed years. yes, ages ago, that she
swept the hearth with birch broom, and
sung the baby TO sleep in Roberts cabin
Her mind became bewildered; still she
went on, on, ON. When she came to u
large stream, she went up toward its
source till she could wade across. So she
said, and affirmed that she never crossed
a stream widN than brook. She paid
no attention 10 sun or moon as a guide or
indication of the points Of the compass,
but she must have taken northwesterly
direction. There was Black, Mill. Otta'
Quechee, White, Waits and Wells rivers,
1 flowing into the Connecticut from the
4 Vermont side; but she constantly asserted
that she saw none of them. Through
July and August there were berries Of
various kinds, and by means of these she
sustained what little life was left her
And now the maple began to take on
the gorgeous crimson, and the silver
birches TO wear the pale gold of Septcm-
Der; the birds were leaving the forest
Occasionally she had glimpses OF hriudled
fur among the branches, or black bear
turned out Of the path, afraid Of the hui /
man form but no human being did she F
ever meet, and long before human voices
had ceased 10 call her name.
Was She alone on the earth, and Was
the earth one vast wilderness without out
let, without clearing or settlement Had
God taken all life but that of the hrutos.
and forgotten her, or ordained her t. wan
der forever. Tramping, trampung, with .
her feet bleeding and cracked al first, and .
afterward calouscd; naked, cor nearly ,a
knowing nothing of time or place, She
was fast becoming idiotic When she
was hungry she sought for food, bat the
great idea lingering in her mind was that
OF pressing on. Since the luxuriauce of
summer had filled the forest with fern,
and a new growth of briar and under
brush, there was more trouble in passing
through. But she had become aeeu,-
toned to the rough work, and the frenzy
at last became steady, constant habit.
almost the labor Of life to her
One day in October, the inhabitants Of
the village of Charlestown, n II. were
startled into the widest excitement by
seeing a nearly naked, emaciatcd woman, +
with hair streaming upon her shoulders, /
walk with bewildered gaze along their
streets. She told them she was Robert
Harris's wife, and she was lost.
Robert Harris's wife, who disappeared I
from the opposite side of the river in
April" exclaimed the villagers. How
had she crossed the Connecticut: Where
has she been all this time But she told
them She had never crossed the Conuectl-
cut. And she had been lost in the-wood-
all this time. There was no lack of hos .
pitality; the wanderer was Immediately .
clad, and fed, and cared for to the utmost. /
Volunteers went at once and brought her
husband, for the story Of his bereavement I
was well known on the Charlestown side
of the river. We can imagine the meet /
ing and what tears were shed al the
thought Of the little forsaken grave bv the |
uprooted tree. But it is said Joy bells |
were rung in the village and the poor
woman, living skeleton, was nur>ed and I
petted-everybody vieing with her neigh /
Dor to lavish every good thing upon her. I
until her weakened mind recovered il, /
tones again. As she constantly asserted .
she had never crossed the river, il is sup
posed she wandered into Canada and
going round the Connecticut at its source.
or crossing where it was brooklet, passed
down cn the New Hampshire side. till I
she reached location just opposite whore
she started
When she began to grow strong again
her mind REQUIRED constantly to the grave
IN the wilderness. She described Ia her
husband its surroundings, and he went
out to look for it, but without success.
As soon asf she was able she went out with
her husband and other friends to search.
but baby's grave was never found. Ii
was thought very strange that she, in all
her wanderings, never met rowing In
dian, but so it was. The Indian tribes
had, perhaps, mostly disappeared from
New England since tho French and Indian
war, but, however that may be, the first