Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1873-06-19
MLLERsBURG, HOLMES County, o. THURSDAY 49, 1873

j The weeks that followed remembe
. only as one recalls a terrible dream
There were strange faces, knew, IN
the house and one pitying countenanet
that watched me always; that cared fol-
me with tender care, and supplied my
few wants; and when the horror hai
passed away, and came back to con.
sciousness and life, it was Captain Gra-
ham who sat by my side and said. 81
have saved you Alletha, henceforth you
belong to met" Then father, blind and
bent with grief, tottered forward and
when 1 took his trembling hand in mine
and asked of mother and Hugh, his
sobs were his only answer. / Turned
imy face to the wall and prayed to die.
But death came not. was young
and strong and drifted back into life,
if the hopeless aimless existence which
lay before me, could be called life
There was need for action. Father was
no longer able to provide for us, and ]
must do something. .a.egmaa ion 2
There are women so strong, so brave
and self-reliant that 1t Is little hardship
for them to face and battle with the
world; but / was cast in a different
mold. The thought was perfectly ter
rible to me. i did so love my home.
Every nook and corner had been rem
dered sacred to me by tile presence of
| my lost one, and I could not see my fa-
ther left in his helpless old age, to the
mercy of strangers. 1t mattered little
what became of me now. Hugh was
dead and 1 had given up all hope of
hearing from Hartley again and if !
could only brighten the few remaining
years of my fathers life, I was willing
to make any sacrifice. So / yielded to
his solicitations and became the wife of
Captain Graham. HHe -nss-fa
cannot say that ne was an unkind
husband. / think he loved me truly
and tenderly, but his love for drink,
which was his -besetting sin, made him
irritable and hard to please. strove
to do my duty, but had nothing In
common with the rough, noisy throngI
of companions which he gathered
around him, and sometimes my life
seemed intolerable. Ere the SHOWS Of
another winter fell, we laid my father
in the grave beside my mother, and it
seemed as if my work, too, was done,
and rlonged to rest beside them.
But the years dragged by one by one,
and at last tile war was over; and ],
whose hopes had died long ago, felt
only an added sadness as day by day
the boys flocked home from East and
West, and South. There was no one
for me to welcome. For my share Of
the nations glory and rejoicing, / had
but two graves--the one, lonely un-
honored spot on Virginia hill side J
the other, God only knew where! /! Per-
haps at horror haunted AndersonviIle;
or in some lonely spot by the seaside,
with the waves beating requiem.
g. In all these years the valley had been
rapidly filling up with settlers. The
river had been cleared of Instructions,
and tile snowy steamers fitting past our
very doors, brought crowds of strangers
to fill the spacious hotel which had been
erected near the landing. The gay
world beyond the hills had learned that
eur springs were celebrated for their
mineral waters, and straightway the
valley became fashionable summer re-
sort. ,..,.... ..5i t..E,l- ta.yi5a- |
1t mattered little to me. Lied my
lonely, quiet life untroubled.t 1 was
nothing to these gay butterflies fashion,
nor they to me, and L was surprised at
myself for experiencing faint thrill
of curiosity, when the gossips told of a
tall melancholy stranger whose martial
bearing and empty sleeve told story |
of battle fields, who had stopped for a |
brief period in our midst; had visited |
the cemetery to view the monument
erected by our patriotic citizens, to the
our brave, who fell in battle; /;
and after days tramp of among the
hills, had come back weary and sad to
take his place in an outward bound
steamer, "and his eyes" said the old
crone, "were SO maryelously like the
eyes of Hartley Heith.'' t.ast.-
For little time the story fingered in
my mind, but the sudden and terrible
disaster which fell Upon MS, swept the
away. You will all remember
doubtless the loss of the "Blue Bell;"
when hundred souls were Weakened
from peaceful quiet sleep, to the horrors
of watery death. Scarce a home in
the valley but felt the sudden shock of |
a severed chain. The Captain and En-
gineer, mad with drink, in a wild race
with contending steamer, lost all pres
ence of mind, and so the aBlue Bellr |
sank beneath the waters, and / was all |
alone.
found work to fill my lonely hours.
The many homes whose light had gone
out had my tenderest sympathy, and |
stroye In the many ways tender heart
to smooth the road for those
whose only hope and help were lost,
with the ill-fated steamer. For my
husband 1 mourned truly and tenderly.
He had been kind to me in his way, and
his terrible death washed out all bitter
memories.
And so another year went by and
May dawned upon the earth and from
hill and valley the people gathered to
do homage to their fallen brave. From
my eyrie on the hillside watched them
as they passed from tomb to tomb, with
their floral offerings, and blessed them
in my heart, but / could not join them.
On that lonely grave on q Southern
hillside there was no kind hand TO place
a garland; but ii every prayer l sent
to Heaven in my boys behalf had taken
form, his tomb would have blossomed
with ip,mortelles. '.Ai''l' ifi
When they were all gone and twi-
light was falling, / twined a simple
wreath OF violets and went my way to
the spot where marble slab, erected
none knew by what hand, bore the
name of Hartley Heith. I hung my
fragile offering on the tablet, and sitting
at its foot lost myself in dreams of the
past. riI- samar4H adf Do 5Hu i