The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-10-07

no more Trains conld run through IOF Ten
days. The telegraph posts on all the lines
we're down in places, and stages could not
come in from the interior towns. The
woman with the baby groaned, and the
Young lady asked what she should dor
While we were standing ON the platform,
an engine taking a couple of cars filled with
Iaborers up to the break in the embank-
ment, went by u.s. The anxious mother
and The young woman hailed it with ac-
clamations, but saw it rush through and
fade into the horizon with the track a mile
beycnd, in silence.
''Iets go down 10 the river" said to
Emily.
We walked down 10 the bridge, which Is
built over dam and from which We could
look off on the waters beyond us. The nv
er toward the west has but a slight fall, and
it had overfiowed its banks and stretched
away through the valley more like lake
than a riyer, afi4r off losing itself among
the dark pines or tapping around the wood
lands of yellow and crimson, and purple.
and summer green, that came doSn the
hillside to meet it. Points of green mead
oy land ran into il here and there, and
elm trees as green as in June, their trunks
eptwIned with the scarlet leAved aInphop-
sis, fose from its surface. large willow
| from an island ridge near us, reached down
to the water and dipping ITS fingers IN the
| flood, PLAYED with the white foam that came
down from the dam The morning sun was
all the while flashing on the waters, vivliy-
| ing the color of the trees and gloryfying
the whole scene.
Isn't it beautiful l asked
in some way think Of water more as
an element of destruction than OF beauty,
this morning Look therer she said, point
ing down below us, where the water poured
over the dam n heavy volumes and broke
on the rocks with force that sent the spray
up in our faces, and white foam far down
the stream.
just feel how the bridge shakes now.
Didn't you bear them say at the depot that
only a few miles below, this stream carried
xay factory2 And don You know that
On were up all night watching the water
bereP
Emily spoke with a vehemence of tone
and n nervousness of manner that surprised
me. looked up and saw that her face
was very white, and, thought that she was
frightened We turned and hurried away
from the bridge and up to the schoolhouse.
One telegraph line was in operation IN
few hours, and that afternoon message
came for Emily. A BOY brought it to my
door and carried it in to her.
She WAS hearing class in geometry, her
! face pale as in the morning. L handed her
the telegram, but her fingers trembled,
and sho gave IT back to me to open. She
asked her class a question, while split
open the end of the envelope with my pen.
knife, and the young lady answered as
spread the telegram open before ber:-
| Your father was drowned while taking
floating timber from the river, yesterday
afternoon; his body has not bsen found,
it read.
have said that Emily was pale that
morning. Not a trace of blood WIS to be
seen in her cars, her lips, or her hostrils,
when she looked up at me.
i will send one of my girls in to hear
this recitation through, and you had better
| 60 home, said.
She put on her hat and shawl quietly,
tied the little Roman scarf that she wore
about her neck, and gave few directions to
the Young lady, who was TO take her place
at the desk. As she went out she grasped
| nv hand with u nervous force that made
it ache long afterward. She raised her
eyes to mine, and Isaw the suffering which
| looked out of them and that which was to
come.
What passed in those two hours before
went to her never sought to know. 1t
may have been the harder for her that she
never allowed herself to doubt the ortho-
do1 faith of New England. Brought
face to face now with its most
fearful doctrines she could only
sit and stare blindly while her heart bled
with the torture. She saw absolutely no
hope, and she had too much honesty OF
soul to turn aside for comfort 10 what she
had always been taught was an error IN
belief.
When l went TO our room after schoo
she sat in the chair with q little package Of
letters and her fathers pictsre in her lap
Before laid off my hat, l took both Eel
hands in mine and looked down into the
sad white face. Years ago should have
, hugged her, cried over her, and kissed her
but girls who teach school lay aside the
gushing style as they grow into women.
''Can do anything for your / asked
, s.No, Persis', said she in her even voice
: 81 think shall feel differently by and by
! Don't talk TO me, please"
understood her wish not TO be "talke,
to. well. People can bear a great deal O
! truuble-more than they know before i
|. comes, they have capacity of enduring
But there are natures to whom, In times o
People bring coincidence TO such a person
!, they bring blister salve, and laying it on tn
! ! raw fibre think to heal
. The next morning Emily was Cheerful
! and self-forgetful, preparing for her schoo
: duties as usual We had company i
. school that afternoon, q grandIloquen
gentleman, superint+ ndent of schools Il
the city of Blank. He remained after til
: classes we're dismissed, comrlimented En-
= ily's methods highly and hinted at findin
: n position of great eminence somewhere L
: the city for her. No doubt when he bO1e
, himself out he imagined he left MS 10 jU
2 bilant spirits and mutual congratulations
: Oh he should have seen the look of Weal
= iness and utter disgust that oversprea
Emily's face the moment the door close
r. after him
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday wer
O ON as the Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fr
r days had preceded them. Emily hardl
h alluded to the telegram or to her trouble
n She was never in the habit of saying mac
3 about herself-the conversation on Sabbat
evening had been rare exception-but
il knew, / could not help but know ho
|, much she was thinking and suffering. II
v psllor did not leave her face, and wor
v look grew there fast. She laughe
Ie S0metl mes, Dut tne lauSu seiuCl
+ mounted to the sad eyes. Ii Is E
a hard, Ohlso hard to struggle for resignatio
/. when within life, or death, or the word I
a revelation, holds any hopel Emily used
,s rise in the night time, when she thought
q was sleeping, and sit by the window fo
,e hours looking up to the stars and to Il
r infinite space beyond. Itmay be that Go
"a and her mother seemed nearer 10 her alor
h and in the hush Of night. BY a hundrt
"A different ways tried to express my symh
"a thy for her, but always with sense of
"a powerlessness to help.
On Sunday, the trains ran through al
"A the mails came. Then We learned tn
10 EmiIy's father had gone down to the nv
a side, half intoxicated, to rescue drift-Woo
"A A factory dam. a mile or two above, hS
an given way, and the great water that can
m down the river, had swept him on with
10 floating ruins. His body bad beea ioun'
Tuesday afternoon, below the place whe
ye he was drowned, and ''suitabe' burial hi
Is been given it by the proper town autho
er ties.
Mt at the same time Emily received a b
from "Joseph Petts, clearinghouse a.
o. saloon keeper" asking for ninety-thr
., dollars. the balance due for her fathe