Middletown transcript., 1874-03-21
TOWN. NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE SATURDAY MORNING MARCH M 1874

n wi z ~ W 70 l1...--. -
He raised her lips to his With . half-sigh. !,
and then, ss il new thought had sud-.
denly struck him, said, abruptly, half to
himself and half to her: ftA lS's q
'.Good God! il can't be -soy Maria!
Tell tneado you'll love ms fp 4
The wonderful passion IN the full brown
eyes, 90 tender and despairing :, told him
all; and when. like foolish young man,
be took her in his arms, and sworo all the
oaths that all lovers have 50 often sworn
and 20 often broken; and when they.
strolled back syer ths sands. Maria' ttesrs
were gone, and james Gilmour claspsd
the hand Of his promised wife. !. !. 5fs
This was all the romance in Msria's
life. Tho pext day tho Delight spilsd,,
and for ten years neither strip nor super
cargo we're heard Of in Monterey. But
she nsvsr married. She had strange why
of every evening walking o the hilltop
where the cid fort stood, and looking
wistfully out across the water; then, sor.
and resignsdly returning to her
home. nnrsing her invalid aud .sour-tem-
pered mother, and training the roses a.
bout the adobe walls. ...s,.,...... Is. I
Ou this Christmas eve, Maria Igsacis,
kneeliug before her old fashioned engrav-
ing Of the Madonna. thought Of the man.
ger in Bethlehem centuries ago, and won
dered sorrowfully il James Gilmour was
enjoying in his Euglish home the Christ
mas-tree aud the mistletoe, aud al those
games he bad told her Of when they had
walked on the sands ten years ago. And
the9yhsr thoughts went back to that june
evening when he kissed her lips and call
ed her his wife, is.slst'..s,' !.
Boom boom! boom! through the still
night cir Sal f,ftaf s,a
Maria opened her window asd looked
out. A party Of Portuguese whalers went
rapidly by, and she learned from their ex-
cited EXPLANATIONS that a ship had gone
ashore on the Point Pinos rocks
"May God and tho Virgin succor
them r she murmured piously, as she
hurried to wrap her shawl around her,
and was soon in the street. ss.s
Everyone was astir. Men on horseback
with ropes rode fpriously along the beach
| and toward the Point; the whalsrs, man
ned their boats, set their sails, and sped
before the blast through the mooulit wat
er. They we're all too late. The cruel,
pointed rocks had torn the ill-fated vessel
to fragments; and tho breakers dallisd
with spar and mast, now finging them
high up on the beach. and again drawing
thom back to hurl them once mere against
the brown cliffs. But not single bodJ
did the waves throw up that night. ~ +
Christmas Day dawned, and when
| Maria Ignacia Gomez looked from hel
/ window down to the crescent beach. she
saw a crowd Of men standing about some
thing, They lifted it up and bore |
through the street. and to her door, fol
hers was the house nearest the beach. 4
/ els he dead r. she asked, fearfully.
! "When We irst saw him." said whal
er, "he was clingipg to spar, and bcfcr'
We got tbs boat gut gut he vas washed .
They laid. him OF a bed. His dar]
beard was full Of sand and weeds, and
white froth issued from his lips; fpel,
built man---handseme. no doubt. whei
those eyes. now staring % blindly. has
light and life. and those swell-eut lip
moved and smiled. ~
T .Maria- Maria. what ails you"
| She was standing BY the bedside, he
hands crossed over her breast; her eyel
as Fixed and vacant a the dead bofor
her. 81 IA ". 4i.t b. i .sssi. s,,a.s j,
| 80, my beloved r. she moaisd. layin,
her white face on bis bruised and stAtnes
breast ''at last, after SO many years.
l And then she smoothed back the tsngle'
hair. and wiped the foam from The livi,
| lips, and straiehtened out the limbs Q
him who had come to seek her after 8
long. 20 tea esai h.lr FHaa 4 ssia1 III sa9g
i For it was her great consolation tha
he had been true even to- death The
buried him behind the old fort, and Mari
! took up the thread other life again, An
now the roses we're doubly dear to her
for they were forlhis grave. dRAH 81