The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1869-11-12


strong personly interest in amy affairs
Ny old guardian was to take sort o
nominal care Of me while my husbauC
was gone; and Randolph d Co. were tx
furnish me with all the money I needed
l could stay in one spot as well as an
other. So I wrote to my guardian thai
l liked the place where my cousin lived
that the climate agreed with me, and
the baby, and that 1 had concluded tc
remain there for while. 1 rented a
small house in the suburbs of the town
and there lived very quietly with my
two children.
4 wrote to my husband very often
of his child, who had been christened
Clyde Dudley Randolph. I told hin
of all his pretty baby wages, of his
frolics, his laughter, his caresses-all
that could interest father in the baby
hood of his boy. But l told him moth
ing of my son, of Willie. Some time
he must know; But I put afar off the
evil day. What 1 should say to him,
the form of speech that 1 would use,
the very phrases I would utter were in
my brain day and night. | could not
write to him. I would wait until he
came; and then when his whole being
was melted to tenderness oby the kis-
ses of his own child, I would lead my
poor fatherless boy to his feet and tell
him my pitiful story, I would beg him
in the name of the All-merciful, to take
US both to his heart, to pity us, to love
US.
For Oh, my friend, knew my own
heart better than when he went away.
l had learned during the months that
had passed since he left me that l low
ed him-not with a girls romantic,
dreamy, ideal love, but with all the
passionate strength Of womanhood.
The two children were very happy
together. Clyde was large of his age,
and remarkable mature learning to talk
and to walk when he was a year old
Willie, on the contrary, was small, slight
delicate. A quiet, reticent child he seem
ed much younger than ne really was
When he was three years old lhe was
hardly larger Than Clyde, and they
might almost pass for twins. Clyde
had had the sunshine of mother-love
to grow in, Willie had grown in the
shade, until l reclaimed him. Per
chance therein lay the difference.
But one day sudden sickness fell up
on Clyde. At noon he was at play up
on the floor, shouting and laughing,
and Growing in measurless content, At
midnight he was dead.
81 thought my heart would break. !
How could tell Dudley Randolph that
his child was dead, and show him the |
child that was not his alive and well |
l think there was no difference in my |
love to my sons. One was as dear to |
me as the other. But would have
given Willie's life for Clyde's in a |
moment if so I could have placed in |
my husbands arms, his own living, |
breathing, laughing boy. His letters |
said: I dream of you-and of Clyde |
every night. You cannot know how 1 |
love our hoy. / long for him unuttera-
bly,
"And l must answer that longing by |
leading him to the graveyard
''One night-the night after the
funeral-as 1 lay with Willie in my /
arms, thinking of Clyde in his cold |
and narrow bed, on which the moon
was shining, and of Dudley tossing on
.he Indian seas-for he was now on his
way home-a great temptation seized
hold on me, and my soul trembled and
,hivered in its grasp.
''You can 60 back to your home
with your own child, said the tempter.
God has had mercy upon you, and
made your path plain and easy. You
have only to give this boy to your
husband as his own, and all will be
WE'LL"
"Trembling from head to foot, 1
'rept from my bed and struck a light.
Willie lay asleep. He was a fair and |
beautiful child, more beautiful than
Clyde had been, with clustering curls
# reddish-gold, and great blue eyes,
lear and limpid as sylvan lakes. ANY
nan might be proud Of him, thought
Though small, his limbs were perfectly
and his diminutive size was
n his favor. No stranger would have
bought him more than two years old.
4 tried to pray, but could not
tined to ask direction and guidance,
'ut the heavens were as brass above
ne, and still the tempter whispered, i
Do this, and all shall be well !"
"The next morning 1 arose early and
'egan my work. l packed my trunks
md sent my furniture to the auction
ooms. l was going home, | said. l
vas tired of this great bustling town.
nd wanted to see my friends. Besides
ny husband was on his way back. / i
,urned htae Clyde's clothes. Some of
hem Willie could have worn. but l
ould not have borne to see them upon
im. l took my dead darling's hair
be soft, shining rings that had been
ut off before burial, and laid that, too
pom the blazing alter. 1t was nv
urnt-Ofering. Would it be an atone i
lent for sinl l did not stop to think.
'TheD, when all was done, / dis |
lissed my servant, and went back to
~ husbands home. Henceforth VIII 7
9 was Clyde. He soon forgot all
bout bis little companion; and, if he /
ad not, his broken speech-did l tell I
ou that he was very backward about .
liking l-was ineligible to uone but '
le. There was no danger that he c
ould betrsy our secret. i
''You know all my friend. You Q
now that 1 gave another mans child b
Dudley Randolph as his own. You il
now that all these years l have lived I
liei but you do not know, you never b
N dream, what ] have suffered. | t
ave never seen the boy that we call v
lyde, in my husbands arms that a d
lie, dead face has not risen up between a
g two, claiming the kisses, the o
resses, turning its reproaehful eyes le
ION me, and seeming to say, Defraud- tC
Of my birthright, not even such a
We as IS given to The dead is mine. p
ou have made me to be as if I had P.
yer BEEN" Q
Utterly exhausted, Mrs. Randolph v
2 hack n.y., H.. iii q,