The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-03-16

And Ms Ruggles rose from the table
while the corner Of her apron made
sudden Journey to the corner Of her
= eve. 1t was evident her moral nature
had received a wound that ranked.
; 4 year before this time the Marquis
and his playmates had watched sew
eraI vigorous fellows plant a theOdO-
lite on the bank Of Crawfish Creek,
. very much as the natives must have
watched the Spaniards plant their
first cross on San Salvador. The con-
tract for grading the new railway bed
was in the hands of a stranger named
! Miller, who was said TO have known
, better days, and in the time Of his
prosperity had been thought proper
person to be called Colonel. He was
p a bluff man, of forty years, who ap-
9eared to have known both the ups
and downs of life, and whose deter
mination to wear black beard was
equalled only by its determination u
be gray. RumOr said that he had
been 8 railroad president, that he had
made and spent vast sums of money
and that his home was somewhere in
the East.
His only child, Alice, ten years or
twelve wears old, bright, fair, full of
the last degree by the roughly gener- I
Gus colonel, sometimes accompanied /
him about the half-develOped country I
searching for the strange birds and /
blossoms in the woods, or watching
demurely the laborers ply their picks 4
and shOYels while he inspected their .
work.
The two rode almost daily to and /
fro between Thompson City and the /
/ line of excavation, passing the house
of Mrs Ruggles and cool spring by
the roadside near it, whence that la
DIV had obtained the water which
made the tea which was stirred into
the maalstrom which has been de-
scribed. While obtaining ii, clad in
/ her working garb, the patter of hOOfs
and clear girlish laugh-sweet as
/ the carol of a meadow lark-came
ringing along the road. As the colo
mel and Alice halted to let her high
mettled pony and his heavier Morgan
drink, Mrs Ruggles, who could not
otherwise escape observation, with
/ becoming pride and mOdesty stepped
1 behind the thick willows, leaving the
/ Marquis with pail of water between
! his legs and a bunch of mottled feath-
! ers in his hand.
/ He stood dumb before the lovely
girl, with her face sparkling from ex-
ercise and enjoyment, and her golden !
! hair escaping from its prison of blue I
ribbons. While the horses drank she !
espied a cluster of cool viOlets bright
ening the damp grass near the spring
The Marquis had presence of mind
enough left to step forward and pluck
them. Her "Thank you padded I
greatly to his embarrassment, which
he expressed by vigorously twisting
the mottled feathers. I
"What bird are those from ?'' asked
Alice.
The question so increased his en- |
barrassment that now the Marquis !
could express it only by chewing his
cap, and she smilingly waited a mo-
ment for the composure of the young l
naturalist's feelings. {
"She was a low, chunky hen,n said
he, at leagth-"she was low a chunky '
hen, an then she had spazzums an ]
whirled roun' till she died" t
A burst of irrepressible laughter eS- 1
capped Alice with the exclamation, {
"Did anybody ever see such a boy?" s
as she and her father rode away. $
And those were the eXceptiOnable \
words concerning her son which so
ranked that evening in the heart of J
Mrs Ruggles.
The Marquis gazed with hungry {
eyes after the airy little figure as it |
dashed down the unlovely wOrm-fene- {
ed road. The golden hair, overflow
its boundaries of blue ribbon, was {
more to him than the golden sun
shine overiiowing the blue sky. They 8
of NJ of hn hrut q
al times a week from 8. respectful dis
tance, he watched her riding by. i
From Thompson Cisy o the little log /
bridge over Crawfish Creek the road e
lay for four miles through heavy '
woods. Then came cleared fields and v
soon the house of Mrs. Ruggles. {
So the summer days went by. The 4
season was waning, the grading was-iF
almost done, and soon the contractor |
would bn olsowhoro Then came one
particularly warm and sultry day. a
The scream of lOcusts everywhere d
suggested that they were frying. The G
colonel, riding once more slowly out d
toward the wOrkmen with his daugh / i
ter, was near the middle of the forest. t
The trees on either hand were tall,
and the road was so straight and mar 7
row that the sunlight scarcely touch
ed it. The Marquis, in the top of a
tan chestnut tree that Overhung the y
road near the edge of the wood, was e
Overhauling a nest of flying squirrels 1
perhaps in the hope of finding mot d
tied feathers on their wings. From
his elevation he could see for a great C
distance down the level, dusty road Z
between the trees and far across the y
surrounding country.
n or ala t,.ffr Inf 10
not a cloud was in the sky. The at v
mOsphere, thick, oppressive, Opaque, c
yelled hehorizOn with strange gloom. 5
Not a leaf could stir in the vast forest. I
Not dimple nor the resemblance of /
a current broke the sluggish creek. t
Not a sound, save the the intermina-
bic frying of the lOcusts.
The colonel slackened his pace, sur
prised that his horse should so soon {
begin to drip and pant-Alice famil- Y
lar with the road in the mean time
riding a mile ahead. The Marquis il
clung to the tOpmOst branches look V
ing at the still sky far above him, the e
still stream below him, the still tree h
tops far around him, till he caught t
a glimpse of the only interesting OBJ Fl
ject to be seen-a black pony bearing g
its usual burden, if Alice Miller could {
be called burden, and pacing leisure 3
ly up the road beneath him. He gaZ t
ed as far as the palisade of trees per- C
mitted, but her father was not yet in e
sight. s
Suddenly, in the west, a single vein of
darted down the sky. A few h
trees shuddered as if to shake the gath
ering shadows from their bosOms.- a
Then tenfold stiffness. A bird flew pas Il
with 4 scream of terror; the Marquis s
looked in vain to see a hawk pursuing I
it. The distant moan of COW came {
from the fields. Not another sound, q
it seemed, was in the world. s
In an instant the southwest was il
black. a strange, remote murmur t
smOte the colonel's ear. Overhead he a
could see but a strip of hot, hazy s
sky. Had he seen the whole a
heavens, he could have done moth I
ing but go on. Quickly the muir Q
mur became an awful muttering, v
then deafening roar. The clatter, n
the rush, the crash of a tornado were I
behind him. The groans of the very o
earth were about him. The darkness n
of twilight was upon him. Alice and U
death were before him. A cloudy
demon, towering high as the heavens, e
in whose path nothing could live, was {
near and nearer.
Farm houses were overthrown.- e
Trees were twisted off from the roots n
and torn to pieces. Wild animals and e
birds were dashed to death. Streams G
were emptied of their waters. HUI b
man beings and horses and cattle were v
lifted into the air, hurled hither and {
thither and thrown dead upon the il
earth. C
The whirlwind was following the g
line of the road! Colonel Miller had O
no opportunity to see this, nor could o
he ride aside from this line if he tried. 4
He could but cry aloud, "My darling 2
o God! Alice ~ and lash his horse s.
forward. The high close forest would y
keep the wind from lifting his horse d
from the ground or himself from the
saddle. But the great trees crashed i,
like thunder behind him. Their frag- O
ments whirled above him. Their
branches fell before him. The limb e
of huge oak grazed his face, and b
crushed his horse, and both rolled to s.