Port Royal commercial and Beaufort County Republican. [volume] (Port Royal, S.C.) 1873-1874, 1874-04-30
THE RED LIGHT.
Maggie, is the light there ?"

eyes, father"
"Is it red light ?"
eyes, father, but don't go out to.
night, please don't-stop at home for
your own Maggie's sake"
They were father and daughter
these two speakers, and the only occu-
pants of the little cottage that stood by
the cliff, near the booming sea. In a
pleasant little cottage, where every
thing was kept bright and cheerful by
Maggie her mother had been dead
many q year. They ought to have been
happy, and would have been but for
circumstances which will be made
known as we progress in our story.
Quite number of people lived in
the neigbborhood of the cliff-one Of
of whom was named Joe Clay. If there
ever was q singular character dwelt on
the face of the earth, this same Joe
was one. He sold liquor and when the
red light shone from his window you
could have had liquor for cash or for
credit. Once in q while Joe would
have what his neighbors termed
"moral fit" come over him and would
wake up to seeing how much misery he
was causing by his traffic and how
wrong it was for him to deal out the
liquid poison.
At such times the red light was with
drawn from the window and white one
was placed in its stead. If this light
was seen you might rs we'll try to walk
off with the State House as to induce
him to let you have drop of liquor,
for he wouldn't do iS-neitker love nor
money would tempt him to depart from
his resolutions.
How often and often Maggie wished
the white light always was shining
there. On the railway red light signi'
fes danger, as much as did the one III
Joe Clay's cottage to the heart OF Mag
gle.
"Now what's the use of your want
ing to deprive me of having pleasant
evening once in while, Maggie 2
said the child's father.
because it is goingto be a wild and
dark night, father, and you always ap-
pear so dazed like when you come homo
from the Clay cottage that [ fear you
will lose your way and make misstep
and fall over the cliff. Oh, it is so
lonely here for me when you are gone,
and / get so nervous and fearful some
times, that don't hardly dare to look
over my shoulder the very stiffness
often makes me cry aloud for fear, )"
answered Maggie.
2" There's nothing can harm ye, child:
90 to bed when am gone and get to
sleep, and I'll wake We up bright and
early in the morning with fathers
kiss"
"I could not go to bed, much less
60 to sleep, knowing you were out.
Do stay home, and I'll sing to you all
the songs know, and you shall tell me
all about dear mother"
There was q tear in the old mans
eye, but he wiped it away, saying as
he did so, "Now Birdie, don't feel so
badly; I'll not be gone long anyway,
and maybe III bring you back some
thing nice"
I'D rather have you stay at home
with me than all the nice things you
could bring"
"Well, can't stay fol all that, and
all your whimpering and whining can't
prevent me from going"
"Won't you let me go with you?
"No, 1 won't. A pretty thing it
would seem to have girl in Joe Clay's
bar-room. Why 'twould look Just as ii
I didn't know how to take care of my
SELF"
Maggie pleaded no more, she knew
from experience-poor child-that it
would not be of the slightest use, so
she was obliged to let her father have
his own way and saw him leave the
house going in the direction of the red
light.
An hour passed and Maggie had never
felt so lonely before. 1t grew darker
and darker outside, the wind had risen
and the rain commenced to come down
in torrents. Fitful flashes of lightning
would for q moment light up the scene,
and then die away only to make the
darkness denser than it was before.
The windows ratified in the easements
and the door shook as though some one
was striving to gain an entrance. The
child crept close to the fire as though
for protection. The old clock struck
the hour, but Maggie was so nervous
she did not catch the number tolled and
so she raised her eyes to see. AS she
did so she caught sight of lantern
hanging from beam.
~Thee, if father hasn't forgotten his
Mntern," exclaimed Maggie to herself.
Chow ever will he find his way home
without it such a pitch dark night !?
Supposing he should have started be-
fore this-he would certainly lose bis
WAY, The liduor he gets at Joe Claws