The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1874-09-29

paper was pushed down upon il to keep it
in place the hammer was then raised,
aud the cap carefully adjusted; then
with her finger on the trigger, the reso.
uta girl at once advanced toward the
middle OF the room.
Meanwhile, the knocking and rattling
at the door had ceased, but presently it
was resumed, though not with the seem.
ing impatienco that it was before
Father veutursd the girl, hoping it
might be her parent who had returned,
iii it is you, speak, and will let you in
She waited, but no response came,
other than nervous clicking of the latch,
and pressure like that Of foot against
the bottom of the door. With An inward
prayer that God would forgive the deed
she raised the gun 10 her shoulder and
pulled the trigger, the bali passing
through the door little below where the
bar crossed it. A groan from without, as
some heavy body sank upon the doorstep
"a shrick Of agony from the bed in the
corner and all was still, save the sharp
ringing in her cars which the report had
occasioned.
Hastily dropping tho weapon on the
floor, Rachel sprang to the bedside Of her
mother, but, to her horror, found her lying
upon her side, her pulse silent, her heart
silent, too
oh, mother, mother Speak
to your wrctched child and tell me have
not murdered you On tell me | have
not murdered you =
The words ended in wall of despair
and as the purple lips still kept silent the
poor girl sank upon the floor acrcft of
consciousness
At length she was aroused by loud
knock and voice, which she recognized
with II glad cry, called
Rachel. open the door quick For
heavens sake, what is the matter here .
Open the door, say =
Rachel sprang forward, took down the
bar, and admitted the old fisherman, her
uncle, and Dr. Benton, who bore in their
arms the form of man, bound hnnd and
foot and gagged, and from 4 small red
spot in the forehead a tiny stream of blood
tri kled dogn over hia face.
oh. my God, Walter " cried Rachel,
rushing to the side Of the wounded man,
and carefully removing the gag, have |
done this .
1t was not ,our fault, answered the
young man, speaking with great difficult
ty, and looking with a sad smile into the
face Of the maiden that man who sought
to carry you of this evening is :he cause
Of it. He aud one OF the paA caught me
Oh my way home, but managed to cs.
cape, bound ns am, and when they
searched for me approached the house
and pressed the latch with my chin hop.
ing might be able to,somohow or other,
let yon know who waa there But, never
mind it will soon be over Kiss me,
Rachel, for for feel as if | wonld not
last great while. | had hoped we
might -en~ day hc happy together IN n
little home If our own but il's all over
uow -
Rachel pllowc1 his head IN her lap,
but did not press her bloodlrss lips to his
as she had been requested 10 do ; and
after II brief period OF silence the suffer.
cr easpcd for breath his head sank back
= and the lower jaw dropped, AMI the ply
sician,who was looking silently on Tor he
could do nothiog--knew thar The soul o.
Walter Kelsey had left its tenement
\ wild, maniacal shrek burst from th,
lips Of the poor Girl when she made tho
discovery, aud She pushed the warn
corpse from her,as if it had been so mucl
poison, and sprang to her feet her eye
cleaning like balls OF fire
Hes deadr she shouted clutchiug he
father by the arm; he's dead, say ant
so is She :! pointing toward the bed ant
| did it fla, tla, LA did it Oar
you say didn't
The old fisherman disengaged himsel
from her grasp, with shudder and
would be impossible to tell the anguis
that racked his soul when he realized tha
, uaught but n maniac daughter was lei
to cheer his once happy home
Rachel's shot had, indeed, been inia
|, one.
The Superintendent of the Bureau c
d; Education has supplemented tho censu
report with some interesting statistics
The percentage Of totally uneducat,d pei
sons in tho United States Is larger tha
generally supposed being Il per cent {
I the males above childhood and % pc
| cent. of females but many of these al
recent emigrantS and far more wei
formerly slaves There are over III
: 600 schools in the country, with tot;
c income Of s95, 900, 900 of these, l2j
600 are common schools supported l.
b. nearly $4,000, 900 Of State aud mnnic
c pal taxes 1t is stated that 362l %
h males and 3 5S7 600 fenalr, p,r mud,
o regular instruction by % 3.000 u,,;c az
b 1877 600 female teachers IT,. sums d
s voted TO education vary girutly in diffe
It cnt States. Mus,a ;tu-rtis heads tho Ii
with $50 por head paid for ts popul
d tion Of school age, and Georgia brings L
> the rear with GS cents paid for a Ill
q purpose. The salaries Of teachers al
n vary remarkably, some Of the new Stat
is being especially liberal in this respeC
- Thus, Nevada allows its schoolmasters,
"a an average, SIG month, aud its mi
=, tresses sSS Massachusetts gives 81
and $50 respectively,which explains wi
m so many Yankee schoolmarms emigrut
!. For the whole Union the average pay
,e S55 for the scboolmas,er and S35 for 4
N schoolmistress. monthly
:, :, TIE people cannot fail to see that
=, this tends steadily in but ono dircctio
and unless they resolve to sicn the Gu
- " rent while they have the power the I
- snlls will be upon them when il will &C
them Infinitely moro to resist them wi
- success, if at all. They may think I
o. o. course Of events in the South does not
~ ~ q on nll other sections, bur facts u
!. daily acoumnla,ipg to destroy all sl
% delusion- We are one people aud o
~ couutry by higher law than any ca