The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-11-25
anether's painstaking. And just look

twilight crept over the earth. Jan,
came sleepily upstairs, holding doll
clasped to her heart, bottom upwart
{ and scattering sawdust all the wa,
Faith undressed her, and In tive mir
utes she was in the land of Nod,
which place Tom had already betake
himself.
d. SFaithwas free now, for the babyswa
already asleep, and Mrs. Harris wa
reading the last magazine, undisturbe
by nerves or headaches. But she ha
lost the desire for walk. She wante
to think. ~
1t was all over between her an,
Kenneth Marston. Of course it was
Or rather it had never been begun
Only she had thought-she had hope
i-she had been sure-l E{SEey
But she did not blame him. Oh no
Why should sh e? Shall a man stoO]
to pick upa; pebble when q diamond
has fallen in His way? Shall he. pricl
his fingers in attempting to pluck
wild sweet-brier when there is moss
rose, dewy and fragrant, blooming a
at his feet? = q
Ah, Faith! Men have preferred
sweet-briers to moss-rcses. But yOl
have not learned that yet.
Size had always known she was no
good enough for him. She had alway.
wondered why he sought her compan'
ionship. He was so much wiser thar
she-he knew SO much more of books
and of the world. He had been-why
every where; and she had never beer
farther than Burlington in all her life
oh fpnsn hn,
one year at Mrs. WOrcester's school
which was all her father could afford,
she had intended to do SO much. There
were her French books on the little
shelf, and her Botany, and Ancient
History, and Literature, aud she meant
to have gone on with them. She had
come home with all-a girls eager am
bition-her desire to do and to be. But
she had washed dishes, ald tended ba-
by, and skinned the milk, and put
Tommy to bed, and darned stockings,
and hemmed ruffiing for Janet's aprons;
and the Fren ch books were unopened,
and she was forgetting who built st.
Paul's and inrwhat year Shakespeare
died. That was the end of It. Her
time was all fritted away, and there
was nothing to show for it.
Yet she had thought-she had really
thought sometimes that Kenneth
Marston loved her; and she had
dreamed-she was ashamed Of it now,
but she acknowledged it bravely as she
communed with her own heart, sitting
there with her head buried in her arms
she had dreamed of a beautiful home
with him, where her innocent tastes
and fancieS might find free indulgence,
and where Il gentle, guiding hand
would leadL her in the fiOwery paths she
loved. And now the dream was over.
She had awakened the first time she
saw him and Judith Grant together,
and she should never dream again.
If she could only go away somewhere
and do something teach, or make
bonnets, or so into shop, or keep
books, she did not care what-anything
that would take her out of herself, and
open a new life for her. But there " as
no escape. She must just stay there
and listen to her mothers complaints,
and tell stories to Tommy, and mend
Janet's doll, and grow old and homely,
and fretful, maybe! That was the
worst of it.. To feel that she was grow
ing down rather than up. Dwarfing
herself when she had SO lOnged to grow
to the full stature of a perfect woman
hood. r-.
She stopped thinking for moment
and listened. There was strange pre-
ternatural hush abroad-a portentous
silence that startled her She raised
her head. The soft, rosy tints had faded
from the sky, and dense black clouds
were gathering overhead. Presently
window-blinds swung to with crash
at the other side of the house, and the
trees swayed and bent before the cotr-
iers of the approaching tempest.
Faith went down stairs to close the
windows and fasten the doors. Just as
she did so heavy peal of thunder rat
tied overhead, and lightning seemed to
dart from every quarter of the heavens.
This little girl of ours was physically
brave. She did not know the meaning
of fine-lady tremors, or what it was to
shrink from real or imaginary dangers.
In her present mood she rather enjoyed
this fierce convulsion of the elements,
and deliberately seated herself upon
the doorstep to watch the progress of
events. Not drop of rain has fallen;
but now the rumbling of the thunder
was incessant, and the black clouds
were rent and riven by the fierce fOrked
At one moment the dark
ness was intense, the very blackness of
the densest midnight; the next both
earth and heaven were Lit with lurid
glare that seemed to come straight from
the regions of everlasting flame.
She had forgotten Kenneth Marston,
forgotten Judith Grant, forgotten Faith
Harris. Her thoughts had gone OH
the wings of the lightning to the Ut
termost parts of the earth. Mans
voice is so small, so weak, when God
speaks. But just then the sultry fires
Lit up the brow of the hill, and for one
moment she beheld a vision.
A flying steed, white as the driven
SHOW against the background of ebony
clouds, mass of tossing drapery, a
gleam of golden hair streaming out
upon the night wind, white faced fix
ed in terror and despair, and two hands
clutching the silvery name.
Faith took it all in at a glance. She
thought as the drowning think. A
lifetime was condensed into one mo-
ment's space.
Straight down the hill came the
frightened horse. At the bottom of it
if he kept the road, there was a short
turn, sharp and sudden as a right an
gle. If he did not keep it, there was a
deep ravine straight ahead, and stones
at the bottom. Faith Harris knew
that Judith Grant was riding right in
to the Jaws of death either way. For
one instant she clasped her hands over
her eyes, as ifto shut out some fearful
sight, then she darted across the road
as if borne on the wings of the wind.
She said afterward that she could not
account for it-that it was like an in
spiration; but that during that one mo-
ment of doubt or irresolution she SEEM
to see herself standing on the smooth
stump of tree that had recently been
cut down close to the roadside, with
her left arm wound around large sap
ling, an OffshOot of the parent tree.
That gave her the thought upon which
she acted. In far less time than
have been writing this paragraph-in
less time, perhaps, than you have
been reading it-she had taken her pO-
sitiOn, and was awaiting Judith's ap-
proach.
On swept the herse. A second more
and she shouted, standing there like a
young Pythoness upon the tripod, with
the lightinings darling about her:
"Judith! Judith Grant. / can save
you! Turn him this wayw
The sharp accents pierced the nearly
deadened ears, looking up, the white.
faced rider saw Faith almost within
reach. Instinct rather than reason
taught her to give sudden pull upon
the side nearest to the stump. The
horse swerved. Faiths arm was eX-
tended, and clasped Judith's waist; the