Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1875-01-19

The ninth son, her own twin brother
child with her of their parents old age
Prudence and the keepiu'room had moi
seen on his way to the unknown.
His ship was lost in those northern
seas. But Prudence knew that, where
the ice of an eternal winter locked up all
yeSlige OF his fa:e, his rest was Just and
unbrokon and rs grateful 10 the tired man
rs il he had been laid with his brothers
in the graveyard up in The old High Street
of Ipswich Town.
On the evening oil the l9lh OF October,
then. Prudence Heard sat with her rugged
husband aud her rosy boys in the glow OF
the iirclighl. One OF the lessons oil her
homely lie had been that no waking
holr should 60 unemployod and so.
though she had just put away tho traces
OF their support. she was busy with her
knitting. following tue stitches with one
/ eye. and with The other The noddinS mo
lions of the relics in the chimney shadow.
lest they should tumble in among the
ilredogs. and end their homcspun days in
an apolheosis OF combustion.
There was 4 furious storm at sea that
night. Harry Main had never bowled so
! hoarsely in n twolvemonlh. For won
der. whether rom awe at The hurlling
tempest that stirred every easement in
I the old mansion (Which. however they
ratified. had ballled the worst the storms
could do for matter OF one hundred and
sixty eight years or more), or whether
| from pure physical sleepiness, the shock
headed urchins were quiet, and Ezekiel,
being noiseless sort Of parsonage, was
sitting, ai was his wont, staring at VA
cancy, and dreaming OF nothing. Pru'
dcnce had mental leisure for once. and
her tholghls. leaping beyond her
conscientious Puritan control, were idling
and summing themselves away back In the
days when she was child.
She remembered her li,s eight brothers
AS strong. horny. handed men, who had
perhaps laughing and wondering at the
freak which had sent them sister young
er than their own babies. aud questioning
the righteousness OF further fruiliulucss
a, an age when the p1rensS should be
oui, miaitu ul their dawnlu5 latter end
taking little note oi her. But her last.
her own brother. who had nestled with
her close up under their molher5 heart
ere they had been born; who had been
her playmate in the stolen hours when
they could play for Puritan mothers
stiGed the pratlle OF their children and
checked their pas:ime ere their feet could
roam (lor were they not beings, those
babies, with souls 10 work out their own
salvation with fear and trembling, and.u
the righteous scarcely we're saved. could
they be about lLeir task too soon y she
rememLsre as .hs only chance lover OF
her youth. aud now. as the breakers
rolred, she thought OF him.
Suddenly there came shock OF the
tempest il shivered every easement in the
house at once The freight for an ia
slant seemed 10 turn OF pa'e BLUSH hue.
Her eyes seemed raised, by no will OF her
own. to the shaking windows with the
ocean outlook. She saw face looking
into hers.
Prudence had heard, until she knew by
heart, the stories OF the "Magnalia."
1t was one oil the seeming anomalies
and paradoxes of the religionism in which
she had heen educated that. with all their
iron practicalities and stern, dogmatic
materalisms, the supernatural seemed
always very near and very familiar.
So Prudence had always expected some
day 10 see ghost, aud so she was not
greatly startled. OF course IN The Puritan
education there was no precedent for
swoon But she shyered. She did not
stop 10 reason. Her husband and her
boys were asleep. but the face was In
tently watching her.
It was the face OF her brother. She
knew its features well enough, haggard.
and worn. and intensive rs they were.
The frank, mauly look OF her sailor boy
was gone. The clear blue eye still clear
blue. but 1t was startling, ghastly blue.
1t was no gIrosl lit was indeed her brother.
She rose with tottering step aud ap-
preached the window.
Somehow the face, without growing
less distinct. seemed TO recede in the
direction OF the ocean. She threw up the
window. the face was still regarding
her with sad and wis,fu look, but ii
now seemed out among the white
breakers.
In The ghostly lirelight-lor their frugal
household used no illumination other than
from the source which gave them heat rs
well-with the tempest beating and rag
ing wilhout-she was thinking ol her
twin brother.
Philosophers have conjectured that
twin lives are nearer together than other
lives; that from the same throe of mater
Mtg, even to their graves. they bear the
same soul; and that their mysterious
sympathies not even death itself can
break. Prndence knew nothing oil phil.
osophy. She only knew her duty, which
was \ simple routine enough She knew