The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-06-05

u11BuGSO yOuIu rose D0IOro MIN ike
sorrowful ghost. He went over to
Thee. and laid his hand gently on hel
head.
"Theo., my girl, don't cry" he said.
81 have no patience with crying
women. Leave Crying to babies, where
it properly belongs. Please God, you
and have many a brave days work
before us, my child. Together we will
tread the glorious paths of learning.
We will climb yet higher heights, my
daughter, and you shall lead and I will
follow: We will wait for the promised
time together. In the pursuit of lib
eral learning there is perpetual tri-
umph, unalloyed by single pang, the
splendid triumph of knowing and un-
dsrstanding. knowledge places man
on level with the angels. There are
Joy, consolation and repose. 1 turned
there for comfort, long time ago, and
it has never failed me. Theodore,
daughter, gift of God to a lonely old
man, come
&c / will, father"
So two went out to work, where it
was to have been three. They never
mentioned the wanderer, never heard
from him. The old man and the girl
shared their strdies together. At
length an attack of sickness came upon
Daddy Dinkle, and weakened him so
that he was never quite the same again.
After that Theo. heard part of the
boys lessons. " Liberal learning !"
brought her Joy and consolation indeed.
She seemed quite happy after a little
time. Her eye was bright as a birds,
and her voice as sweet, hopeful and
| cherry,
A lover or two crossed her quiet life,
as the years went on. That was the
only time her bright, sunny spirit ever
seemed disturbed. Her soft, pink
cheeks had turned very pale, and she
seemed faint and breathless for a mo-
ment, and then she had said firmly that
her life was devoted to the old pro-
fessor and boys. She never looked for,
or indeed never wished for, any other
life than her present one. So the fly
ing years still went on, ard Theodore
lived as mitch shut out of the world as
| # she and the old Professor and the
boys had been cast away on a green
island in mid-ocean.
At last there came sorrowfui day,
when Daddy Dinkle found himself in
total darkness. His worn-out eyes had
failed him completely, except for tears,
dear, stricken old man. Those rained
down from his poor old eyes freely
enough, but tears could not bring back
the lost light of day. And how Theo-
dora took the old professors tasks all
on her brave two shoulders, and the
academy, for the cultivation of his lib
eral learning, flourished as hardly ever
before.
Still the wing-footed years g1ided on,
and the young woman kept her school
and did her quiet work and lived her
quiet life bravely and we'll, until one
day she found herself thirty years old,
and Edward Wallace had been gone
twelve years. She tied ribbon in her
hair that day and looked in the glass
and saw herself. woman never hand
some, and no long er very young. Not
young in years, that is to say. In heart
and spirit she was younger than most
girls at eighteen. She looked in the
glass that day and saw a woman
with gray hair, soft pink cheeks and
bright spirited eyes. She looked happy
and peaceful as she smiled at her gray
hair in the glass. She was happy and
peaceful-quite, quite happy. She still
thought of Ned Wallace, I know that
in her silent heart she thought of him
fifty times day, but thoughts of him
no longer brought the bitter remem-
brances of old. All the burning pain
and humiliation had passed away and
the lost love had become only beauti-
full memory. So, on her thirt1eth birth
day she smiled at her gray hair and
went cheerily down to join her boys.
Daddy Dinkle's mind seemed failing
him little that year. He was not al
ways so cheerful and hopeful as former
ly. He used to have fits of deep gloom
sometimes-strange in this sunny-heart-
ed old man. One day he said to Theo.
"I am cross and old, Theo., and the
promised time isn't half so near at hand
as it used to be. I wish Edward Wal
lace would come home"
At length the gentle old man fell
sick. He seemed to be slowly declin-
ing, and once when Theo. sat beside
him he said
Theodore, daughter, I think the
promised time isn't so far off after all.
think shall find it where am going.
The friends of my youth have all found
it already. We love the next world
better than this when our dear ones die,
one by one, and we have a hope of
meeting them there. I wish Edward
Wallace would come home"
Theo. went to Norton one day in a
railway train. As she returned she OBJ
served stranger sitting directly oppo-
site her. He was looking at her with
cleaning, intense look. That was how
she happened to see him. He was
large man, with heavy, dark beard,
bronzed cheeks, and eyes. All Theo-
dOra's face turned white. She set her
teeth together, drew deep, shuddering
breath, and looked out the window.
The mans face turned pale too, pale to
his very brow, and he leaned his head
suddenly forward, as if dizzy. He tore
the back of an old letter and scribbled
a question on it. He touched Theodore
on the shoulder and gave it to her, look
ing steadily at her with his bright, in
tense eyes. People thought she had
dropped letter and he had picked it
up for her. She read the question,
looked full into the expectant face, with
its bright, intense eyes, and her face
turned winter than before. She looked
full into the bright eyes and deliber-
ately shook her head. The stranger
sat quietly down. The letter did not
belong to her after all
The train was crossing a railway
bridge, stilted upon trestle-work, half
disjointed, hastily thrown together, and
worm-eaten in some places. It was a
fashionable American railway bridge.
1t seemed fealfn1ly shaky to the stran-
ger with the bright eyes and brown
cheeks. A moment later every soul on
that train would have thought the same
thing, if he had had any time for
thought, which he hadn't. There was a
sudden noise of splintering timbers.
The bridge was going down beneath the
weight of the train. 1t was a very high
bridge. There was a deep ravine under
it, full of dry, jagged rocks and fallen
trees. The train was fitting over to-
ward the side where Theo. sat. She had
time to see that much. Theo. glanced
wildly around for moment, and then
closed her eyes. Something caught her
in grasp like steel and whirled her
madly around. She thought the Car
was turning over.
An awful crash, which will ring for
ever in the ears of those who heard it,
like the crack of doom. Wild shrieks
of agony, appalling, fearful death
groans, insane screams of frenzy, min