Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-03-17

| SsAhADSo AakOsAhV OtN~AocutOuCu Rttatcpus
The harness being adjusted to his salts.
faction, If not to mine, he seated himself be.
side me, and nodding a last goodbye to The
little faces present against tho window pant
we drove of.
Our cottage was situated in the little
valley lying to the southwest Of what was
at that time tie village Of Lanoy, Canada
A hill Of considerable height stood between
US and tho village; on one side vcrdure.
crowned, gently rising slope, on the other a
more abrupt decent With circutious road
winding past cottages and farmhouses Of
more or less pretension. 81 s.s gar
Our present. errand was to the shop, Il
which we carried our produce a. Il accumu.
lated from time to time, aud received in ex-
change groceries, clothes, etc. Our load
consisted in part ola basket OF eggs, cOnse-
qnent,y we were obliged to drive rather
more slowly than Usual.
Il left, a. l had often done tefore, the
younger children in the care Of Grace, who,
though but eight years Of age, was never
more pleased than when entrusted with son.e
similar duty or responsibility. I charged
her not to take the baby from the cradle,
but to rock him gently back to sleep If be
awakened, or il he would not sleep to amuse
him with playthings until our return.
1t was lovely Jay in the latter part oi
September -copious showers Of rain had al.
ternated with midsummer suns, and the
freshness Of the verdnre was undimmed. II
was scarcely yet time for the "sere and vel.
low ieaf, . though the naples had hung out
their contrast with the living green Of the
other forest trees. The birds sang cheefily
as they auttered to and fro in the hedgerows
and numerous ground squirrels skimmed
along the fence-rails and dropped aud dis.
appeared mysteriously.
Old Whitley amblcd along in his usual
monotonous fashion, and We soon reached
our destination. / had number Of arti.
cles to purchase and examine, as we'll a. the
merits Of new churn to discuss, aud just
as VIC had settled all to our satisfaction, q
neighbor whom wellad not aeen for some
time came in, which detained us longer, go
that when we turned our horses head
homeward, l sawiwith some surprise, and
a slight feeling Of alarm, that the sun had
already set, and the soft gray twilight was
stealing up the valley. II
Our load was q heavy one, nv hus-
band having purchased several agricultural
implements Of no great weight individually
but collectively making no small weiaht foi
'one horses 20 .thAt, theugh we we've necessa.
rily anxious to get home, we were obliged
to drive moderately, particularly as the
road was not only billy, but rough.
Chatting upon the various little items OF
gossip which we had heard, we drove en-
until We had nearly reached the top Of the
hill, he turning to make some remark to NY
husband. saw a change come over his. face,
which struck me with sudden terror. He
as as pale as a corpse.
"Look u he said. in voice hoarss with
emotion, pointing in the direction Of o,,r
home. 9
nv heart gave . sudden bound, then fel.
Of tbick dens. ns % smoIs Isssyn 1;s,;nnc,,aA 4 loud
against the clear sky hey ond, ross above the
tree tops. | tried to speak, but could not
utter word.
At last I said steadying my voice: ~
think it must be Morrisons.' Isn't it to the
left Of our house Z"
"No," he said quickly, as he seized the
whip and urged old Whitley to hts utmost
speed. "Don't you remember that when
we are at the top of the hill the smoke
from our chimney rises lust over the cen.
ter Of that little group OF cedars p,
Alas, i did remember; ; and as be spoke
we reached the summit aud saw enough TO
change our fears to certainty. Neither
spoke, bnt each turned and looked AZ the
other With qnivering lips aud dilating eyes.
MY heaven! and have locked them
in T. -,
I was fairly beside myself with terror. i
felt as though l must lean from The vehicle
and fly to their rescue, Old .Whitey
seemed to understand that life or death AZ.
pended on his efforts, and he exerted him.
sef nobly.
On we dew, down the hill. dashine thro,
the little stony brook that crossed the road
over the tumble down bridge. whose rot.
ten boards ratified and started up from their
places, past the hedeerows. that looked like
one continuous mass Of Tying green past
cottages with children staring from the
doors; thinking of nothing and
caring for nothing but to rescue our dar-
lipgs. |. buried my face in my hands, and.
rocked to and fro IN my seat, almost bereft
Of reason, as I thought of tho scene that
might be awaiting as. Imagination con.
jurcd up ali the terrible tales had heard or
read to. add 10 my horror. Once onlyl i
raised my head and saw, or fanojed saw.
slender tongues Of fame cleavinc the mass
Of smoke, which had by this time increased
iearfnlly.in volume and density,
At last, after what seemed an AGE. but
was in reality only few moments. we
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