The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-08-12

and so of course, you must do as mer
f do-and keep the pleasures and excite
: meats to yourself And you-are crack
oar, too," calculated Mariana; land there's
. nothing-gives person such an idea Of
, himself"
, Take Mariana under your wig and
hurry home, Pauline. See she is fright
ened half out of her witsn
At any rate, Gilbert" said Pauline
turning back, "if people are rescued, you
will bring them up to u.s."
81 will promise that" he cried, with a
, lighter heart than he had borne for many
a weary month, /" if the inns will not hold
them-which God grantr' And he was
running to join the group that hurried to
the lighthouse ledge and whose loud vel.
come came back on the gust to Pauline
for Gilbert, the gymnast and waterman OF
his college, was no mean accession to the
volunteers Of an instant:
al hate shipwrecksr' cried Mariana,
with her ustial disregard Of anybody Is
feelings but her own, as the two were more
than half blown up the hill on their re-
turn. 1t is a very singular thing that
there always is a shipwreck whenever l
come here. And now that I've come for
good, or what is the same thing, the very
first thing you do is to have one out of
hand"
"Ohl Marianal" cried Pauline, in spite
of herself. &C AS if such things are gotten
up to order!"
II don't know how it happens" per
sisted Mariana. Il only know it does
happen. Now I SUPPOSE you'll be having
a lot of drowned people stretched out in
the parlorsh
THAT would be dreadful, indeed, ," said
Pauline, by way of reply, and a long
shudder shook her from head to foot, as
she turned to face the scene of disaster on
the shore below, talking pleasantly in Or
der to keep Mariana silent, and moved
backward as she talked. Don't you
think it is lighter than it was am sure
of 1t. The moon must have come up.
Even shipwrecks have some blessing The
storm is certainly lifting; there is no more
|
them bent her head and half drowned
her. Just turn round, Mariana, and
look at the sea in the moon that has bro
ken out of the cloud OH such a white
and black splendor! And there is the
wreck. | can see itquite distinctly With
the glass on the piazza we can see it all
perfectly"
ut looks like gallows by Dote Don't
stay to see it. want some tea sol"
" So do they, l suppose-the poor Great
urcs aboard all day-three days-in such
distress. We will make haste and have
! everything comfortable for them, if any
come up. | am so glad the moon came
out. 1t makes it more possible to save
them, and with the darkness it is robbed
of half the horror"
I" 1t will go in again. There, it has
gone. Why will you talk about such
things, Pauline? Here l am trembling in
every nerve"
Dear child" said Pauline, wrapping
the cloak more closely about the pretty
little incarnation of selfishness, whom
they all regarded as delightful object, in
the infatuation of families, "you have
such tender little heart And it is
shocking for us to be talking and running
up the hill here, instead of helping them
or being down on our knees praying for
them-they not mile away-holding
their lives by thread uncertain of life or
death. Oh! how awful it is to think that
all those people have to die perhaps be-
fore we close our eyes y
Il wish there was no such thing as
death l don't see why it was ever
made ~ cried Mariana, with frank pro-
family. Il hate it You are always talk
ing about it. We have no business to
know of it while we are young and happy.
1t is like thinking every time you see
rose that it is going to be trampled into
the disgusting clay directly. hate H'
$50 did use to hate it," said Pauline
"I used to think should like to live for
ever on this earth, it was so delightful.
But now"-and she sighed, perhaps to re-
member that contrasting season of the
pure enjoyment of existence at the period
when the chemic composition of the phys
ical force knew no fault, and just to live
was to be happy.
At the door she paused again, to look
back, while the moon, scattering the
clouds once more, ran out on their long
riffs and lighted the terrible beauty of the
tossing sea and gave her brilliance to the
dying storm.
"There is nothing in the world so
beautiful as ship" exclaimed Pauline,
that airy architecture, with its peaks chal-
lenging the stars, as full of life as we are.
And look at the wreck now, with all her
ropes and ratlines. Obi how majestic and
dark it is in the midst of the white froth-
ing and fury! And when you know it
is so crowded with eagerness and with
fear" ~
"There goes the rocket, Pauline!" cried
Mariana. "See, it fell short And another,
a great green shooting star. What is the
matter? They are losing them all. Let
me look through the glass. Oh! Pauline!
Who Is that III the WaterE'
"Some one swimming out with the life
line. will look. Yes, some one swim
ming out. He is almost there. He is be-
ing taken on board. There is some hitch.
Now he is there. Yes, they are pulling
the cable across; they are securing it.
Oh! Mariana! the people will be passing
over it presently. Oh! mamman' And
then for just one instant she wrung her
hands to think there was no bold swimmer,
no life line, no cable when the Sea Eagle
foundered, far from sight of land. But
Mariana had run in, and was already be-
ginning to sip her tea and to make up her
mind to weeks indulgence in her own
room, mild diphtheria, and the castle in
the Pyrenees" And Mrs Lascelles, who
had joined Pauline, now drew her gently
in herself; but could not quiet that ire
pressible sympathy of hers till fires were
warm on every hearth and the whole
house was blaze Of hospitable light and
warmth to welcome the castawaYs whom
Gilbert might bring to its shelter. .5
Pauline was still restlessly fitting from
room to room, darkening first this window
and then that, in her impatience, as if she
were in some unconscious way aware that
fate was busy with her in that hour.
Aware or not, it was not given her to see
the brief but awful drama passing in those
moments when to the man-the mere waif
of shipwreck-leaning over the broken
side of the ship that shivered in every