Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1872-11-16
PROVIDENCE.

1t was Saturday afternoon! The
midsummer sunlight lay warm and
bright on all the green New England
hills, and crept in waves of glim-
mering gold over the white, sanded
floor of Deborah Hunters kitchen.
Debbie herself sat just beyond the
doorway, with a huge basket of
neWly-ironed clothes beside her,
from which she was asserting a va
riety of little garments, pausing now
and then to darn a hole, or sew on
button, and singing softly to herself
the while; for she was happy wife
and mother, and her smile was
bright and her heart cheerful, des-
pite the endless duties that kept her
willing hands forever busy.
Out in the garden, under the sha-
dow of the elm-trees, where the
Haunting tulips and sun-fiOwers
blOomed, and the bees made honey
music, Mark and TOtty were play
ing and chattering like a pair of par
rots.
And presently there came todding
in Mark, leading hls chubby little
sister by the hand.
"Mother," he said, "may we go
down by the wood and gather some
strawberries? Father likes 'em with
cream, you knowl Please let us,
mother? I'll put TOtty's shoes on,
so the briars can't scratch her feet,
and I'll take good care of her. Mo-
ther, may we go?"
Debbie smiled and nodded, and
Mark ran off for Totty's shoes, and,
after considerable grunting and tug
ging, succeeded in getting them on
her chubby feet. Then he Chamber
ed upon the dresser, and got a little
tin kettle, and off they started hand
in hand.
'tNow, Mark, take good care of
your sister," called his mother, "and
don't go near the pond; and come
back soon, for think we shall have
rain before night"
Y es, mother !"
Totty looked back, her white sun
bonnet tapping in the breeze, and
| disclosing her dimpled cheeks and
tangled, golden hair.
Mother" she lisped, "touldn't
| you dive US one te intake, for we
does-does one, mother?"
And Debbie put aside her needle,
and going to the cupboard produced
| the coveted creamScakes and put
them in the chubby, little hands.
| Then she came back to her work,
and resumed her song.
And the midsummer afternoon
waned slowly. The sunshine danced
and glimmered amid the green elm
branches, the bees hummed about
their hives, and the hens scratched
lazily in the barn-yard; and the
breeze growing stronger, tossed the
purple lilac boughs until the air was
| heavy with their sweet perfume.
Debbie worked on, singing softly to
| herself; and the sunlight Crept steal
| thily across the sanded floor and dis
! appeared at last beyond the doOrsill.
Her work was done; all the little
garments ready for the coming Sab
bath. She rose and put her basket
/ aside.
"Tis time the children were COM
ing back" she said, going TO the
door and glancing out.
| The west was one mass of black
| thunder-clOuds, with lurid, brassy
edges; and even while she stood
there, there came = distant rumble,
prophetic of what was coming.
"We're going to have a thunder
Storm" she thought, her heart thrill
ling with fear "surely Mark Will
hasten home"
She set about her evening prepa-
rstions, eager to get them over be
fore the rain. Half an hour went
by and the children had not come.
what can make them stay so -
she thought, looking out again and
finding the sky well nigh overcast
and the great black thunder-cloud
rolling rapidly up before the rising
wind.
The poor mother, now thorough.
" frightened, caught up a shawl
and, throwing it over her head
closed her door and ran down to,
wards the wood, calling her chill
dren as she ran. But there came nC
answer-nO sound but the roar o
the gathering storm, and the angry
booming of the thunder.
She searched and called in vain 80
they were nowhere to be seen (; anJ
half frantic with anxiety she raj
back again and met her husband
] lust returned from his labor, at tn
door.
, "Oh, Nathan" she cried, "th
children are gone-lost in the wood
What shall we dO?"
He turned, without a word, to
! huge New Foundland that stood be
, hind him.
; "Gyp," he said, 1.-The children ar
: gone; come, we must find them -
: And Gyp trotted soberly afte
him, followed by the poor, distract
! ed mother. AS they reached tn
wood. the storm broke upon theI