New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-05-17

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and the young woman with gray hair 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 her
| self, woman never handsome, and no
longer very young. Not young in years,
| that is to say. In heart and spirit she
was younger than most girls at eighteen.
| l suppose being SO much with boys had
made her SO. 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. l know
| that in her silent heart she thought OF him
| fifty times day, but thoughts of him no
longer brought the bitter membranes of
old. All the burning pain and humiliation
had passed away, aud the lost love had be-
| come only beautiful memory. So on her
thirtieth birthday, she smiled at her gray
hair, and went cheerily down to Join her
| bows.
| Daddy Dinkle's mind seemed failing him
| a little that year. He was not always so
| cheerful and hopeful as formerly. He used
| to have fits OF deep gloom some times
y
| day he said to Theo:
.1'm cross and old, Theo, and the prom
| Used time isn't half as near at hand as it
| used to be. | wish Edward Wallace would
come home.'
At length the gentle old man fell sick
He seemed to be slowly declining, and
| once when Theo sat beside him he said:
Theodore. daughter. think the prom
ised time isn't so far off, after all. l think
I hall find vuhn he
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 hope of meeting them
there. wish Edward Wallace would come
home"
Theo went to Norton one day in the rail-
way train. As she returned she observed a
stranger sitting directly opposite her. He
was looking at her with cleaning, intense
look. That was how she happened to see
| him. He was a large man, with heavy, dark
beard, bronzed cheeks and eyes. All The
Odoras 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 scrubbed a question on it. He
touched Theodore on the shoulder and gave
| ~ w AOAs AOoAAu6 cVOouAAy ~ AOA WIN LIS
| bright, intense 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 deliberately shook her head. The
stranger sat quietly down. The letter did
not belong to her, after all.
The train was crossing a railway bridge,
o%iltoA holf AiaiO,ufoA
hastily thrown together, and wormeaten
in some places. 1t was a fashionable
American railway bridge. 1t seemed tear
fully shaky to the stranger 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 sudden noise OF splintering timbers.
The bridge was going down. beneath the
weight CT the tram. 1t was very high
bridge. There was deep ravine under it,
full of dry, Jagged rocks and fallen trees.
The train was fitting over toward the side
where Theo sat. She had time to see that
much. 1t was nice situation. Theo
glanced wildly around for a 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 forever
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, mingled with the kissing
of steam and the sound Of women screech-
ing in that idiotic way which tries mems
souls. Five persons killed outright, little
child mangled ont of the shape Of human
ity. three more persons fatally wounded
and ten more or less injured.
Edward Wallace had caught Theodore
in his arms just as the bridge went down.
1t was his last act of consciousness for days.
He had hurled her away from the window
and turned so that he was next the side
where she sat. An old tree stump came
humping into the window. 1t struck him
on the shoulder. As Theodore had been it
would have struck her head She escaped
with some broken glass cuts and black
and blue bruse on her arm. He bad saved
her life. His shoulder was dislocated a
rib or two broken, and he was badly stun
ned and bruised about the head. That was
all.
We are nearing the end of our story.
They took the poor, bruised creature home
to Daddy Dinkle's own house Theodore
gave her school in charge Of some of tie
older boys. She told Daddy Dinkle that
stranger had saved her life at the risk OF
his own; that he was sorely wounded, per-
baps unto death, and she had brought him
home to be cared for. And she grew white
with watching and SORROW.
Blu. one day Daddy Dinkle, through the
open door, heard voice family speaking
in the next room. He had not walked with
out help for month, yet he sprang upon
his feet, quivering with excitement.
"Theo, you have lied to me; you, who
never told me a falsehoed before. 1t is no
stranger l hear in there. 1t is my well be.
loved son, who is dead and is alive again.
Take me to him."
And ne fell upon his knees and kissed
him, end they wept together-the weak
old man and the weak young man But
Daddy Dink1e took to his bed next day,
when Edward Wallace, feeble yet, and no
more than able to walk, went to his bed
side to take his blessing and bid him fare
well. he chung to the tall man and wept.
"My son." he cried, you will not leave
me again. Alone in my helpless blindness
l have prayed daily and nightly that l
might not depart this life till l heard your
voice. You we're spirited lad, full of life,
and maynard, sometimes, but I always
loved you as the apple of my eye. Next to
the one other, it was the cruelest disap
pointment Of my life when you went away.
Oh, my son, my boy You will not leave
me again9 You will stay with the foolish
old man till he dies'''
He reached out in his blindness and
him, and chung to him with his
hands. Theodore sat beside his
bed She turned her head away and wiped
a tear from her eyes.
"Father," at length Edward Wallace
said, "bow can ] stay! have accomplished
the career which was the dream of my boy
hood. / have sailed the seas from the !
northern icebergs to the southern ocean. | |
have prospected for gold in Australia, and
helped build telegraph through country |
where the foot OF civilized man never trod |
before. have climbed Mount Blanc, and |
blistered my feet in the sands under the
] have sailed around the globe, |