The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1872-04-05
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From the Buffalo Courier.
THE BLACKSMITH'S STORY.
BY FRANK cLTvE.

BY FRANK cLTvE.
Well, no! My wife amt dead, sir, but I've
lost her all the same;
She left me voluntarily and neither was to
'sJne;
It's rather queer story, and think you will
agree
When YOU hear the circumstanees-'twas
Il her rough on me.
She was soldiers widow. He was killed at
Malvern Hill;
And when married her she seemed to sorrow
for him still;
But brought her here to Kansas. 1 never
want to see
A better wife than Mary was, for five bright
years, to mel
The change OF scene brought cheerfulnes5, and
soon rosy glow
OF happiness warmed Mary's cheeks and melt
ed all their snow.
think she loved me some-Tm bound to
think that of her, sir;
And as for mel can't begin to tell how
loved her!
Three years ago the baby came, our humble
home to bless;
And then reckon was nigh to perfect hap
piness;
Twas hers-'twas mine-but I've no language
10 explain to you
How that little girls weak fingers our hearts
together drew!
Once we watched it through fever, and
with each gasping breath,
Dumb with an awful wordIess woe, We waited
for its death;
And though I'm not pious man, our souls
together there
For Heaven to spare our darling went up in
vOiceless prayer.
And when the doctor said twould live, our
joy what words could tell?
Clasped in each others arms, our grateful
tears together fell
Sometimes, you see, the shadow fell across our
little nest,
But it only made the sunshine seem doubly
welcome guest.
Work came to mo q plenty, and kept the
anvil ringing,
Early and late you'd find me there hammer
ing and singing;
Love nerved my arm to labor, and tuned my
tongue 10 song,
And though my singing wasn't sweet, it was
almighty strongI
One day one-armed stranger stopped to have
me nail a shoe,
And while was at work we passed compli-
ment or two.
I asked him how no lost his arm He said It
was shot away
At Malvern HILL cat Malvern Hill! Did
you know Robert May7"
"That's me-" said ne. "You. you!" I gasped,
choking with horrid doubt;
"It you're a man, just follow me; we'll try
this mystery out"
With dizzy steps led him to Mary God
Twas truel
Then the bitterest pangs Of misery unspeaka-
ble knew.
Frozen with deadly horror, she stared with
eyes OF stone,
And from her quivering lips there broke one
wild, despairing moan.
Twas he! the husband of her youth, now risen
from the dead,
But all too late-and with that bitter cry her
senses fed.
What could be done9 He was reported dead7
On his return
He strove in vain some tidings Of his absent
wife to learn.
Twas well that ne was innocentI Else I'd
have killed him too,
So dead he never would have riz till GabriePs
trumpet blew?
1t was agreed that Mary between us should
decide,
And each by her decision would sacredIy
abide.
No sinner at the Judgment seat, waiting
eternal doom,
Could suffer what 1 did while waiting SEN
tence in that room.
Rigid and breathless there we stood. with
nerves as tense as steel,
While Mary's eyes sought each white face, in
piteous appeal
Godl Could not woman's duty be less hardly
reconciIed
Between her lawful husband and the father
of her child.
All, how my heart was chilled to ice when she
knelt down and said,
Forgive me, John! He is my husbandl Here
aIivel not deadl
I raised her tenderly and tried tell her she was
right,
But somehow in my oching breast the prisoned
words stuck tight!
"But, John, I can't leave baby'-"What! wife
and childY" cried I;
"Must I yield all? All, cruel Better that
should die.
Think of the long, sad, lonely hours waiting
in gloom for me
No wife to cheer me with her love-no bab'
to climb my knee!
And yet you are her mother, and the sacred
mother love
Is still the purest tsnderest tie that HEAVIER
ever wove.
Take her, but promise, Mary-for that vii
bring no shame
My little girl shall bear, and learn to lisp he
fathers namel'
1t may be, in the life to come, I'll meet m!
child and wife;
But yonder, by my cottage gate, we parted 70
this life;
One long hand-clasp from Mary, and N,
dream of love was donel
One long embrace from from baby, and m,
happiness was gone!
Miscejlaneous Selections.