The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-11-24

TIE VISION OF .ToH CHUFF.

At the edge of melancholy Catstean
Moor, IN the north of England, with half
dozen ancient poriar-tTces with rugged
aHl hoarY stems around. one smashed
across the middle b a flash OF Lightning
thirty summers before, and all by their
crea: height iwar.ing the abode near " Inch
they stand, there savatS rule stone
house. with a thick chimney, kitchen AMI
bedroom on the ground floor and Il loft
accessible BY ladder, under the sLingle
roof, divided into two rooms.
rs owner was Z man OF III rcpute. Tom
Ch1f was his Lame. i shock headed,
b~0ad-shoulder2d. powerful man, though
somewhat short, with lowering brows and
a sUiien eve. he was 4 pOacher, and
hardly made an Ostensible pretenCe of
earning his bread by any honest industry.
lie was dUmkari lie beat his wife, and
led his children Z life OF terror and lamen-
tatiOn, when h was at home. Ii was
blessing TO his frightened little family when
lie absented himself, a. he sometimes did.
for week or more together.
On the NIGHT speak Of he knocked at
the door with his cudgel at about eight
O'Clock. Ii was winter, and the night was
very DIRK Had the summons been that Of
boyle from the moor, the inmates OF this
small house could hardly have heard it
with greater terror.
His wife unbarred the door in fear and
haste. Her hunchbacked sister stood by
he hearth, starting towards the threshold
The children covered behind.
Tom Chuff entered with his cudgel in
his hand. without speaking, and threw
himself into chair opposite the fire. lie
had been away two or three day. He
looked hag9ar,! aud his eyes were blood
shot They knew he had been drinking
Tom r3ked AMI KIN cl,ed the peat fire
with his stick, and thrust his feet close to
H. re signed toward the little dresser
and mold q at his wife. and she knew he
want d a cup, which in silence She gave
him. lie pulled bottle of gin from his
coat-pocizet. and nearly filing the teacup,
drank of the dram at few gClps.
He usually refreshed himS If with two
or three drains OF this kind 10 fore beating;
the inmates of his house Ills three little
children. covering ii 4 corner. eyed him
from under table as JAG did the ogre in
the nursery tale. His wife, Nell, stand
ing behind a chair, which she was ready
70 snstch up To meet the blow OF the
cHdgel, which might be levelled at hey al
any moment, never took her eyes off him;
and hunchbacked Mary showed the whites
Of q larg pair Of ewes. similarly employed,
Is she stood against the oailen press, her
dark face hardly distinguishable i'll the
distance from the brown panel behind il.
Tom ChIf was at his third dram, and
had not yet spoken word since his en-
trance; AMI the suspense was growing
dreadful, when, ON q sudden, he leaned
back in his rude seat, the cudgcl slipped
from his hand, a change and = death-j
pallOr came over his face.
oil
tlcir fear OF him, they dared not speak or
move lest it should prove 10 have been but
soze, and Tom should wake up and pro
eeed forthwith to crafty his temper and
exercise his cudgel
In little time, however, things began
TO look so odd, that they yentured, his
wife and Mary. to exchange chances full
Of doubt and wonder. lie hung so much
over the side of the chair, that if it had
not been one of cyclopean clumsiness and
weight, he would have borne IT to the
floor 4 leaden tint was darkening the
pallor of his face. They were becoming
alarmed, and finally Drawing everything
his wife timidly said. q Tom and then
more sharply repeated>-it and finally cried
the appeilative loudly, and again and again,
with the terrified accompaniment, Hes
dying-he's DYING her voice rising TO a
scream, as she found that neither il nor
her piuclls and shaking Of him 10y the
shoulder had the slightest effect in recall
ing him from his tOrpor.
Anf, now from sheer terror OF a new
kid the children added their shrilly piping
% the talk and cries Of their seniors and
if ANYTHING could have called Tom mp
from his lethargy, it might have been the
Ii Tcing chorus that made the rude cham
Der OF the pOachers habitation ring again.
But Tom continued unmOvcd, deaf, and
stirless.
His wife sent Mary down to the village
hardly a quarter of mile away, 70 i'm
plore Of the doctor for whose family she
did duty as laundress, to come down and
look At her husband, who seemed to be
dying.
The doctor, who wa. good naturcd Eel
low, arrived. With his hat still on, he
looked ct Tom, examined him, and when
he found that the emctic he had brought
with him, on conjecture from Mary's
description, did not act, and that he felt {
pulseless wrist. he shook his head, and in
wardly thought:
What the 0lague Is the woman crying
for? Could she have desired greater
blessing for her children and herself than
tie very thing that has happened? p
Tom, in fact, seemed quite gone. AT hi
lips no breath was perccptible. The doc
tor could discover no pulse Ills hands
and feet were cold, and the chill was steal
iEg up into his body.
The doctor, after a stay of twenty min
Utes, haf. buttoned up his great coat agaiI
and pulled down his hat, and told Mrs
Chuff that there was no i'm his remain
inc there any longer, when, all of sud
den, little roll of blood began to trickl
That's very odd, said the doctor lie
us wait little"
| must describe now the sensation which
Tom Chuff had experienced.
With his elbows on his knees, and hi
chin upon his hands, he was staring int
the embcrs, with his gin beside him, whel
suddenly a swimming came in his head
ne lost sight of the fire. and a sound lik
one stroke of large church bell smote hi
brain
Then he heard a confused hu,nming ant
the leaden weight of his head held hin
backward as ne sank in his chair, and con
sciousness quite iorsOOk him.
When he came to himself he felt chilled
and was leaning against huge leailes
tree. The night was mOonless, and whc
lie looked up. he thought he never ha
seen stars so large and bright, or sky $
black. The stars, too, seemed to bin
down with longer intervals Of darkness
and fefcer and more dazzling eInergenc'