The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1874-04-01

in . low voice that rung Ike bell, --s Yes,
my poor brother Yes. thousand times |
Comm in Gods time Z sMabcllei why,
Mabellc 7 said Mr.. Devereux, but she did
not seem to hear. Turnin' half about, she
saw me. go now with Mis-. Dawson, Jock =
she said in her old voice, and he came to me
in q moment We walked on few stops,
and l looked around, aud saw the Young men
standin' still with their eyes on the ground.
and Mr.. Devereux leanin' on Nlabelle's arm.
and waikiki slowly up the hill. Tom Porter
and Ben Brtton were mastery disappointed
that the Portland chaps went home next
morfiin' instead o stayin' for weeks fishin'
as they'd given out they would. The boys
had allowed to make good bit of them for
odd jobs, but Msbelle and l kept our own
counsel
"Mabelle and her father went homo in
November, and little while after, Mis-. Dea
con Price told me they had gone to France.
1.-The fall of 1910 was hard one for folks
as got their Twin by the sea. One gale beat
close upon another, and more than one boat
from the Island went to pieces. Winter
came, at last and it was comfort to have
the mackerel schooners all in, and settle down
a little. Comfort, leastwise to some, more
than to me, for Zebcdee was away somewhere
in the north seas, and many gusty night
used to lay and never shut my eyes till day
break.
Christmas Eve came. All day the Island
had been choked in a cold mist. Away to the
northeast the gray bank of fog broke a little
as the sun went down, and showed q pile of
cloud black as midnight.
"Jock'd been stayin with me ever since
summer. He didn't seem like himself that
night, SO restless and uneasy-like, and to see
If lcouldnt pacify him, got my Bible and
begun to read just where it opened, which
happened to be at the eighteenth Psalm.
He threw himself down and listened, but he
had such queer, wild look, that / shut the
Bible after little, and told him to go up
stairs to bed. He started docile enough, but
at the chamber door he stopped SO long that
| spoke to him again:
$50 on now, Jocls-that's my good boy.
He gave such a start that was scared for q
minute, then he put up his hand, and said
quite loud,
+" It's comm Tonight
Then he went up stairs
Somehow couldn't go to bed. felt as
If something was goin' to happen. The very
air wasn't natural. Before knew it, I'd be
sayin' over to myself, !" It's comm -to-night!
Twas no use tryin' to scold myself out of m,
feelin's, and SO Mt last, just Topped down o,
the lounge with my clothes on. As | lai
there, l could hear the wind risin' and tn
surf pound on the rocks outside of the bar
heard the clock strike ten, and eleven, an,
then must "a gone into n heavy Sleep 70
when l woke up all of sudden, the last sparl
OF fire was out and the room cold as a grave
The candle was burnt down into the stick
till there was hardly CLEAN of light left.
got up, for was shiverin' like an ague-chill
and as walked across the floor, / felt the
old house trcmble in the gale, and the roar OF
the sea was like one long roll of thunder.
Then, all to once-It's dreadful sound
ma'am, in night like that-I heard a gun.
and in a minute more, another, and l fell
down on my knees and prayed for the poor
wretches perishin' out there in the storm. I
couldn't abear to stay alone, SO | put somc-
thing around me and ran over through the
dark to 'Bijah Porter's. They were all up,
and 'Bijah and Tom had just come up from
the Shore. They couldn't make out any thing,
they said, and the sea run SO that there was
nothin' to do but walt for light.
"Toward mornin' the wind went down, and
with the first streak Of dawn, we all went down
to the beach. There was a great crowd there
already, and after agood while we could just
make out big black thing, lynn partly out
of the water to the leeward of Pirates Rock,
not more'n quarter of a mile away.
Poor creatures said Bile, they must
"a been all been dead hours ago..
So nigh the land, and Christmas Day =
said Martha Price, who was standn' close to
me. Then she gripped my arm, and says un-
der her breath, ~as
"'Ma'am DAWSON dare say that it's
cruel thng!'
81 couldn't answer her. | felt like a
blasphemcr, for twas my own thought she'd
voiced.
"All of a sudden / heard noise behind
me, like some one runnin', and tho crowd
parted every way. l turned around, and for
an instant, ma am, thought the sea ID give
up the dead it swallowed two and twenty
years agonel Wasn't it Cap'n Williston that
stood there, with black eyes flashin' and the
salt spray frozen into his hair? A dozen
women screamed, and old Mis- Pricefell down
like dead.
:" Jock called out then, for didn't
know what l was sayin'--'O Jocll is it
come -
"Hc didn't answer. doubt II lie heard
or saw me at all. He stood staiin' out to sea
with such face as l never saw ON mortal
man. All to once his voice, that used to be
SO weak like child's, rung out strong and
clear as trumpet:
"He bowed the heavens, also, and came
down, and darkness was under his feet -
And he rode upon cherub and did fly; yea,
he did fly upon the wings of the wind. His
pavilion round about him were dark waters
4 - I'll l.. - A