The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1873-05-29
TIE CONNECTS RETURN.
4 STORY BY CHARLES DICKENS.

Nv hen ! tlT-t settled IN tins village
which Is now lust five and-twenty years
aga, the most notorious person among
mv p3ri-hiOHers was man Of the name
of Edmunds, who leased a small farm
near this spot He was a morose, say.
aga-hearted bad man; idle and dissolute
IN bis habits; cruel and ferocous in his
dispositions Beyond the few lazy and
reckless yagab0nds with whom be saun-
tered away his time in the fields, or sot
ted in the ale-house, be had no. q single
friend or acquaintance no one cared to
speak to the man whom many feared,
and every one detested-and Edmunds
was Stunned by ALL
This man had a wife and one son.
who. when / first came here, was about
twelve years old. OF the acuteness of
that womans suherings, Of the gentle
and enduring manner in which she bore
taan, Of the agony Of solicitude with
waish she reared that boy, no one can
form an adequate conception. Heaven
forgive me the superstition, if it be an
uucharitabIe one, but | do firmly and in
my soul believe that the man systematic
clIIy tried for many years to break her
heart but she bore it all for her child's
sake, and, however strange it may seem
10 many for his fathers too for brute
as he was and cruelty as he had
treated her, she had loved him once;
and the recollection Of what he had
been to her awakened feelings of for
bearauce and meekness under suffering
in her bosom, to which all Coos crea-
lures. but women, are strangers.
They were poor-they could not be
otherwise when the man pursued such
courses; but the woman's unceasing and
unwearied exertions, early and late,
morning, noon and night, kept them
above actual want. Those exertions
were bat i'll repaid. People who passed
the spot in the evening-sometime at
late hour Of the nght-reported that
they had heard the means and sobs of
woman III distress, and the sound of
blows; and more than once, when it was
past midnight, the boy knocked softly at
the door OF neighbor's house, whittier
he had been sent to escape the drunken
fury Of his unnatural father.
During the whole of this time, and
when the poor creature often bore about
her marks Of ill-usage and violence
which she could not wholly conceal, she
was 4 constant attendant at our little
church. Regularly every Sunday, morn
ing and afternoon, she occupied the same
seat, with the boy at her side; and
though they We're both poorly dressed
much more 50 than many of their neigh
bors who were in lower station-they
We're always neat and clean. Every one
had friendly nod and a kind word for
poor Mrs Edmunds;" and sometimes
when she stopped 70 exchange few
words with a ncighbor at the conclusion
of the service in the little row of elm
trees which leads to the church porch, or
fingered behind to gaze with a mothers
pride and fondness upon her healthy boy,
as he sported before her with some little
companions, her care-worn face would
tighten up with an expression of heart
felt gratitude; ard she would look, if
not cheerful and happy, at least tranquil
and contented.
Five or six years passed away; the
boy had become robust and well grown
youth The time that had strengthened
the child's slight frame and knit his
weak limbs into the strength of manhood
had bowed his mothers form, and en-
feebled her steps but the arm that
should have supported her was no longer
locked in hers; the face that should have
cheered her no more looked upon her
own. She occupied her old seat, but
there was a vacant one beside her. The
Bible was kept as carefully as ever, the
places were found, and folded down as
they used to be; but there was no one to
read it with her; and the tears fell thick
and fast upon the book and blotted the
words from her eyes. Neighbors were
Is kind As they were wont to be of old,
but she stunned their greetings with
averted head. There was no lingering
among the elm trees now-no cheering
anticipations of happiness yet in store.
The desolate woman drew her bonnet
closer over her face, and walked hurried
ly away.
Shall | tell you, that the young man,
who looking back TO the earliest of his
childhood's days to which memory and
consciousness extended, and CARRYING his
recollection down to that moment, could
remember nothing which was not in some
way connected with a long series of vol
untary privationS suffered by his mother
for his sake, with ill-usage, and insult,
and violence, and all endured for him
shall | tell you, that he, with a reckless
disregard Of her breaking heart, and
sullen, willful forgetfulness of all she
had done and borne for him, had linked
himself with depraved and abandoned
men, and was madiy pursuing headlong
career, which must bring death to him
and shame to her? Alas Tor human ma
ture You have anticipated it long
since
The measure Of the unhappy woman's
misery and misfortune was about to be
completed. Numerous otfenses had been
committed in the neighborhood: the
perpetrators remained undiscovered. and
their boldness increased. \ robbery of
daring and aggravated nature occa-
stoned a vigilance of pursuit, and
strietness of search, they had not calcu-
lated upon, Young Edmunds was sus-
|pected with three companions. He was
pprehended = committed = tried-con- /
ID mned-to die.
The wild and piercing shrek from
Fwoman's voice, which resounded through
the court when the solemn sentence was
pronounced, rings in my ears this mo-
nent The cry struck a terror to the
|culprit's heart, which trial, condemna-
|tion-the approach of death itself, had
failed to awaken. The lips which had
been compressed in logged sullenness
Throughout quivered and parted involun-
|tarily; the face turned ashy pale as the
|coid perspiration broke forth from every
pore; the sturdy limbs of the felon trem- |
|bled, and he staggered in the dock.
In the first transports of her mental
anguish the suffering mother threw her
self upon her knees at my feet, and fer
vently besought the Almighty Being who |
had hitherto supported her in ali her
troubles to release her from a world of