The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-10-31
HUSBAND, OR CHILD!

No other axe resounded through the
forest with such n clear and decided
ring as that welded by Thomas none
other SO sure of its aim, while raised
between the sky and its destined rest.
His voice was the most cheerful ard
his carol the merriest that reverberated
in the beautiful woodland that extended
through the Rhineland to the borders of
Holland.
Wherever his hands were employed,
time. 1.-The merry Thomas, the "mag-
niticent Thomas" the industrious
Thomas, were the names given him by
people far and wide, and when he mar
ried and became the father of son he
was jollier than ever.
His wife seemed to partake of his
spirit, and his boy gave promise of be-
coming just such happy soul. The
whole neighborhood were happy in the
harmonious life of this joyous trio,
while each derived n particular pleasure
i'll witnessing the felicity of the other.
But suddenly the lightuing-flash of cir
cumstances penetrated this happy home.
One bright morning, axe i'll hand, he
stood beside n fallen tree, while wife
and son stood near, ready to gather the
fragments, and they were no mean chips
that fell beneath Thomas stroke.
High over his head the glittering steel
WIS raised, and, as his glance noted the
reflected ray of sunshine following it, he
shouted merrily, "Wife, sees't thou my
meteor? Hui is it not verify like the
flash of one?" But the shining metal
and its attractive meteoric light did not
disappear within the wood. CHANGING
lightly over the bark, it entered Thomas
foot, and there was no time for usele So
tears. The wife's grieving heart did
not vent itself in idle lamentation, but
questioned how she was to get her hus-
band home.
The other laborers had not arrived.
Thomas was always the first at work, as
now he was the first to regain his cheer
fulness to encourage wife and child i'll
this trial. a spring near supplied
water to wash the wound that proved to
be severe, and the manly Anton Invested
himself of his little shirt to bind it up
with.
This carefully done, Thomas set his
big, white teeth firmly together, rose,
grasping with one hand the shoulder of
his boy, and, supported on the other
side by his wife, he ordered, =" March
quick The house is not such n long
way off; then all will be well. "
Taking the shortest route home
obliged them to pass over a railroad
track Although this was forbidden
road for pedestrians, they considered it
the best in this emergency. But here
Y1iufnri,,,,n rl,o1, al tha,,, in
bic earnest.
At the first step the sufferer caught
his wounded foot in the rail, stumbled,
fell, throwing his boy into the middle
of the road, breaking the little fellows
leg.
helpless, living mass they lay there,
and before both could be rescued from
their perilous bed the steaming, roaring
m nster of the road came tearing down
upon them, leaving their boy a bleed
ing, mangled corpse the next instant be-
fore them.
Such was the story told by Thomas
and his wife to the Mortified and sympa-
thizing people.
But there must have been something
singular and mysterious connected with
this mournful event that remained I'M
told, secret within their own heart,
for, spite of repeated endeavors to have
the story told again, they would always
answer, !" You have heard it once, &"
while a shudder or horror followed at
the remembrance.
thus years passed without mitigating
the strange melancholy and deep dejec-
ton that had settled on this once mer-