The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-06-01

beckoned and he started toward her. She
arose and reached him her hand IN he came
up to her and then sat down again, look.
ing into his face and talking.
The miller, who had .cons down to ses
that everything wasi In off1eF for ths week
work to commence tbs nsxt tmoIninG caught
sight of them, and stood insids the mil
watching them through dusty window.
Nerv did most Of the talking, the miller
said but the tones were 30 low that he
could hear only IN occasional word. She
seemed very earnest, but not angry and
two or three times, he thought, she stopped
as though sobbing.
They must have talked 30 for nearly hall
an hour, when the schoolmaster turned and
stepped q pace OF two up the hill
"Good-by," tbs miller heard her say,
distinctly, N she grasped the schoolmas-
ter's hand And-kissed It.
II am going away tonight, she contin-
ued, scill hOldinS his hand in hers, ''to-
night and l am never coming back good
bye; God bless youj goodbye.
She dropped his hand, and stood looking
after him Is he hurriedly walked up the
hill.
to disappear, she turned, ran rapidly to
the very edge Of the water, and nervously
gathering her clothes about her, plunged in
and went down.
The miller was through the door, into
the dam, and by her aide in a moment,
dragging her out, with loud cries for help
The schoolmaster reached the shore from
above n the miller stepped upon it from
the water and the two carried the drip
ping form into the mill and laid il upon the
floor
The miller began Q vigorous rubbing of
her hands, and the schoolmaster hurried af-
ter doctor.
At the doctors heel came an excited
crowd of men, women and children. The
dobtor entered tee mill, closing the door
after him The people gathered around
the schOolmAstsr, and he commenced de-
failing to them, in low and trembling
voice, what he knew about the terrible
affair.
''She told me al" !" he said, after stating
how he happened TO meet her. ''She told
me abe left home to escape the sneers and
taunts that met me everywhere, ON account
she thought, of the sad life her father was
leading. She hired out at kitchen work,
abe said, in towns and in the country,
wherever she could find Q weeks employ
ment, and when out Of place, walking on
in search of another. In this way abe f.
nally reached st. Louis, where she secured
pleasant and permanent situation ut plain
sewing. There she heard from home for
the first time after leaving, and strong
desire seized her to come back again. SO
abe took the scant savings she had laid up
from her wAgesrbarely enough to pay her
way-and started for Larnxville. She
reached here yesterday, you know, and-I
hate to repeat it-but she told me when she
opened her fathsrs gatei her step-mother
shut and locked the door and denied her
admission and than, he wandered over 70
the graveyard and mt IN night, without
food or sleep, beside her mothers grave
I've known misery; oh, such misery : she
said to me but I've kept my honor
through it all And believe she told Gods .
truth y
Gods truth, came out, as If in echo,
from the mill, as the door swung open and
the doctor said Stand back give her
air :"
1t was Nerv who had spoken, repeating
the first words words she heard as she re-
vived, which chanced to be the last the
schOolmaster had spoken.
The rays of the setting sun, subdued to
q mellownhss that seemed half light and
half shadow, touched the poor girls face
with . tinge never seen on canvas. She
trembled, as though in . chill, from head
to foot. Her breathing was like that of y
strong man in restless sleep. Her eyes
were closed, and her lips quivered a. with
the shaping Of a smile She lifted hand.
Il want 10 go now" she said, inst above
q whisper, but loud enough to be heard by
all the lockers on, 80 still are they.
my class is called" she continued
"And that hard lesson Please let me 20"
and she raised on her elbow, with eyes
wide open now, and staring through the
open window and up to the blue beyond.
''See They're REVEALING for me-an in
white-aud beckoning-and . rainbow over
their heads. Incoming com"
And with sudden start abe sat upright
only q moment-then her head dropped,
sank and struck the floor.
Dead, said the doctor, without look
ing up, a. he tenderly crossed her arms over
her breast Dead, he repeated, remov-
ing his hand from her wrist, and addressing
the people at the door. The schoolmaster
stepped inside, and toward the corpse, shut
ting the door as he did 80. The crowd
fingered few moments, and then, as if by
command, moved slowly up the hill, no
body speaking word.
The church bell was tollsd that night.
i there were no funeral ceremonies next
day. They buried hsr quietly-the school
master, the miller, the doctor, and two or
three others-bsside hea mother. And on
her grave. springing from the seeds plant
ed, nobody knows when or by whom, there
blooms each season q bunch of beautiful
purple panaies-
That's for thought"
American Monsters.