Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1875-04-28

ClOll anu peCullarilies peIIer Illan L,
who "worshipped the ground upon
which she trod,' etc. But, honestly.
I could never say her advice was not
good, and Susy was quite willing to
admit I understood her perfectly.
So nearly ayear glided by, and my
blue-eyed mother-in-law was just as
loveable and gentle as before my mar
riage. My heart smote me sometimes
when she spoke Of, the loneliness of
her home withoat Susy, but I thought
of Uncle Israel, and was firm. 1t
was in the fall of 1867, when appall-
ing news reached the company Of C ot-
ton spectators, and we looked each
other blankly in the face. Instead of
the bales Of cotton we had expected
coming to be coined into gold, we re-
ceived news that our agents had en-
ployed inexperienced hands, had irri-
tated the freedmen, who would have
been glad to get the work, and had so
mismanaged the whole affair that our
cotton was worthless. There was no
one to 60 but myself, and my home af.
fairs held me. Susy was not well, and
I did not wish to leave her, yet there
might yet something saved, if a COM
petent agent went at once to Louis
lana.
While | hesitated and lamented
Mrs. Gardiner came to the rescue.
"You must go" she said, "and leave
Susy in my care. l will stay here
with her, and you can return as quick
ly as possible. Hannah will come
too"
Hannah was family servant who
had been Susy's nurse. engaged
nurse recommended by Mrs. Gardin-
er, and with a heavy heart, set my
face southwark. 1t is not necessary
to enter into the(letails of my busi-
ness worries. For a month I was de-
tained, trying to get some return OF
the money we had invested, and fail
ed utterly. Then, heart sick, I start
ed for home. In the great cities the
yellow fever ragged, and l avoided
them in my route; but on my way
from New Orleans to Memphis, at a
little place called Vaughan Station, /
was taken i'll.
Put off the train bag and baggage,
I was driven to a wretched little tav-
ern, and left to die or recover as |
saw fit / have an indistinct memory
Of doctor feeling my pulse, of drea-
ry certainty of filth and discomfort all
about me- and of burning thirst. Then
following agonizing dreams Of delir-
ium, with pain in every limb, racking
headache, loneliness, madness. | was
fever-racked with horrible fancies,
now being sawed apart by medical
students, now beset by wild beasts
rending me limb from limb, now in a
sea of fire, now in q desert, craving
water I could hear tinkling from q
near fountain and could not reach.
Then in my delirium came some an
gel who cooled my lips, put water to
my head, let the air in upon my sti-
fled agonies. 1 could not make my
tongue utter the words in my mind
it would babble of everything else, but
chiefly Of Susy, and the fear that
Susy would come to take the horrible
fever
And in my home there was enact
ing scene have heard described so
often I can put it here as ifI had seen
and heard all. -SusX lay white and
weak in her own room, with our first
born in her arms, not two days old,
when a telegram came to her. The
doctor at Vaughan Station had found
my address in my note book and te.e-
graphed my condition.
"Oh," sobbed Susy, che will die,
there all alone, and will never know,
mother, what you have done for him.
"He shall not die all alone," Mrs.
Gardiner said, resolutely. "He shall
have good nurse, and a loving one,
as fast as steam can carry her. Eh
Hannah ?"
"Yes'm," said Hannah, 'you make
you mind easy, ma'am. III do my
duty"
"There is no train till night. Can
we pack trunk of invalid comforts,
Hannah--wines, jellies, clean linen,
bed-cloths and fruits ?"
"Yes'm," said Hannah again.
So while l tossed and burned, these
two raced about the city gathering up
comforts for me, till the trunk stood
hacked and ready, when the carriage