Huntington advertiser. [volume] (Huntington, W. Va.) 1874-1921, 1875-04-08
FROM UNDER THE CLOUDS
AND DARKNESS.
BY JEAN DE FOREST.

Oh, Poverty joys Unsuitable foe!
Thou viper, feeding upon the blood
OF thy victim. How poisonous thy
fangs! how sharp and piercing thy
tooth! Ye who live in palaces, with
wealth rolling in upon you--a golden
food-knov nothing of the bitter,
gnawing, fostering canker, eating in.
to the very hearts core, which that
hideous, relentless monster, Power
tv, implants within the lives of his
victims You know nothing Of the
sleepless nights, the dark, cold days,
when Death in It's most terrible form
would be a welcome guest, and is
PRAYED for in vain.
Pale, careworn Mrs. Allen gazed
almost madly upon the fading beauty
OF the once rosycheckcd little Floy.
\ mothers quick eye detected tke
increasing pallor of the wan face, and
the piuched look Of the sweet mouth,
signs of slow starvation; and gather
iug her closer to her bosom, let her
soul utter in one prolonged wall It's
own despairing cry. GLOW long, .
Lord, is this to last? Take us no,c,
from under the cloud and the dark
neSsw
Brightly, roundly, the blue eyes of
tho little maiden Ooeuei. and fixed
themselves wonderingly upon the
dark, dilated orbs Of her who prayed
so wildly
God is dood, mamma, in a
voice scarcely above whisper-"He
makes the dark, and then the stars
come by and by
Hush darling
"Docs your head ache? Is you
tired?"
YES" in = husky monotone
I'm tired. Let me rest"
Darker grew the shadows in that
silence room. Slowly, Silly, the
dusky pinions of the night folded
mother and child III close embrace.
But no stars appeared! In their
place, dense and black, gathered the
massive columns Of heavens ponder
Gus artillery. Peal after peal of deep,
reverberatiEg thunder shook the trsil
ralters and rotten foundations of that
lonely house on the outskirts of the
village.
Mamma, God is talking to you
Don't you hear Him? And why
won't YOU answer"
Il can't, love"
"He is angry with YOU ard won't
let His stars snine. How thick the
dark is"
"All dark, F!oy"
"Cau you see me, mamma =
"Now
"You can feel me?'
YES"
Put your face down close, nam.
ma, SO" nesting nearer, as vivid
fish OF lightning shot through tie
uncurtained windows, filling Gll the
room with lurid flame.
Mamma, I'm 'traidI !"
"Why afraid, precious darling,
since God is good" Crash and the
mother insinctively bends forward to
protect her child, and the falling
timbers of the old shell tenement are
piled in confused mass above the
two inmates Of the lonely house by
the roadside.
a moment perfect stiffness, then
a faint moan, little hutter of a
breath, a gasp, which only the
angels hear, and all is quiet.
The storm spent itself, muttering-
", tie heavy hattalions withdraw to
their gloomy caverns, and morning,
glad, bright and smiling as ever, APP
peared upon the earth. A labOrer,
with his little in dinner pail on his
arm, and song Of grateful praise in
his heart, is fastening to his daily
toll. He pauses before tie ruins,
and tries 10 recall the names and oc
cupation OF the inmates. Did any
one occupy it?, he queries. All, he
remembers now. 1t was pale sew
/ ing woman and her child. He had
often watched her face at the win,
dow.
He wonders if it is possible that
the mother and child were in the
house at the moment of its fah.
Cautiously he steps over the broken
! timbers. He thinks he discovers
signs oflite under a network of raf-
tiers and broken lath. He approach
es. As he does so, clear, upon the
morning air, in childish treble, is
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