The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1870-11-16
THE LIGHT IN THE WINDOW,

uncertain. slouching kind of way !;
Il might be latc.'
'lt's dark along the lane" said
the mother, ':and bit of candle
light would be i'll spared if you
got a tumble by it. I'll keep a
candle burning till YOU come back"
She was q hard-fraturcd Scotch
,womau, healthy and active, though
no longer young; and as she talk
Cd she worked on, ironing the lin
en- she had washed and starchcd,
and heapins it, like q snowdrift,
In great basket beside her.
Four other cfildrcn were in the
room, girls and boys, too young to
do much for themselves but San
dy was eighteen, q :all, handsome
fellow, with ripe lips and checks,
and dancing eyes.
''Ef Sandy only acoulI have been
little Steadier," the mother often
sighed; but to be "steady" was
not Sandy's forte.
OFF, ever and always to the riv-
er.side, where other lounging boys
watched the boats come in at the
ferry. or plunged stones into the
water for the village pet, the great
Newfoundland "Whiskers" BY
name, to fetch.
No harm in that, the mother
thought, if the boys had been all
good; but evenings at the public
house, they were worse; and the
decent washerwoman shivcred rs
she listened to her boys home
coming step at night, lest some
day he should copy Squire Pcelcr's
boys, and drink TOO much.
Squire Peeler's boys were her
terror, though they were the sons
Of the richest man in the ncishbor-
hood.
But now, as Sandy stood in the
door, so tall, and fair, and bonnie.
the mothers heart grew light.
He'd be sure to settle down
! and help her with the bairns some
S!day," she said.
I No doubt of that he was but a
!Nbit of . boy now; and she ironcd
Pm until her work was done, and
'Ehen put the candle in the window
ito light the boy along the lonely
;,lane at bis homecoming.
The candle burnt Itself away
and sunk into the socket. and the
very wick smoldcrc1 out, leaving
only smell and smoke behind it,
and still lit no Sandy across the
threshold Of his humble home, for
that night Sandy ran away.
The life at home was too hard
for him. The restraints Of his mo-
theirs watchful eye annoyed him.
TO do his own will, to have his
own way, Sandy left his home be-
hind him; but he had grace enough
to remember, with 4 pang, these
words:
Ill keep the light burning till
We come back, Sandy"
Some vague hope Of being rich,
and doing great things for those
at home was in his mind, or he
believed so; but selfish desire to
escape the drudSery and the re-
straint gave the actual impulse to
his steps.
He shipped as sailor the next
day, and began in earnest a wild,
reckless sailors life.
It suited him. Now and then,
when the storm was 1T its helgh,,
and far in the distance the lamps
of some tall lighthouse shono like
s great red eye, the tiny flicker OF
that window-sheitcrcd candle
would dawn upon his memory,
and be would hear his mothers
voice saying:
"Ill keep it burning until yc
come back, Sandy"
Now and then, amidst the yarns
and songs of the forecastlc merry
making, he heard the grooming Of
the tunes she used to sing over
her worlz-old Scottish ballads, or
perhaps some hymns handed down
from the time when the old Cove
nantcrs worshipped God and de-
fed man amongst the purple heath
er.
They never lurcd him home to
help her, though.
The years rolled on, and even
+bis ono stinr of conscience ceased