Middletown transcript., 1876-12-09

BY name, invited him to sit down, AM
then inquired into his symptoms will
such tact and sympathy that be felt q
if be we're talking with friend. A
last the doctor asked him to take sea
by the window and have his eyes ex
amined. His heart beat chokiDgly, anc
be whispered under his breath:
"Thy will, oh, God, be done; only
give me strength"
Dr. Gordon was silent for moment
or two-it seemed ages to Mr.. Spencer
Then he said, with the tenderest and
saddest voice, as if be felt to the utter.
most the pain he was inficting:
Il cannot give you any hope The
malady is incurable. You will not lose
your sight entirely, just yet; but it
must come
The minister tried to ask how long it
| would be before be should be blind ;
but his tongue seemed to cleave to the
roof of his mouth, and be could only
gasp
| DR.. Gordon understood; /; and answer
ed very kindly that it might be a month.
possibly two.
He stood up, then, to 60. He knew
all hope was over. He paid his fee and
went out Of the room, and out of the
house. It seemed to him things had
grown darker since be went in He
hardly knew how he found his way to
the cars. 1t was two hours past his
| dinner time, and he was faint for lack
of food, but he did not know it. He
got to the station somehow. and waited
for the train to start for Montclair.-
All the way home he kept whispering
to himself: lone month, possibly two"
as if it were lesson on the getting
by heart of which his life depended
He heard the conductor call out Mont
clair, at last, and got out Of the cars
mechanically. His wife stood there
waiting for him She had been anxious
about him all day.
"Ob. William" she cried, and then
she saw his face and stopped. There
was look on it of one over whom some
awful doom is pending; white fixed
look that chilled. She took bis arm
and they walked on silently, through
the summer afternoon When they
reached home, and she had taken off
her bonnet, he spoke at last:
'Mary. come here and let me look
at you. 1 want to learn your face by
heart"
She came and knelt by him, while he
took her cheeks between his hands and
studied every lineament
"ATe you going away ?" she asked.
after awhile, for his fixed, silent, mys-
terious gaze begun to torture her.
Eyes. dear, am going; going into
the dark"
ITO die?" she gasped.
Eyes. to die to everything that
makes up mans life in this world"
be answered. bitterly.
"Mary, am going blind. Think
what that means. After few more
weeks l shall never see you again. or
our children. or this dear beautiful
world where we have lived and loved
each other The whole creation is only
an empty sound forevermore Oh, God
how can | bear it ?"
"Is there no hope ?" she asked, with
a curious calmness, at which she her.
self was amazed.
"None 1t was my errand to town
to-day to 6ud out 1 have felt it com
ing on for months, but hoped against
hope, and now | know. Oh, Mary, to
sit in the darkness until my death day,
striving for sight Of your dear face
1t is too bitter; and yet what am I say
ing? Shall my Father not choose His
own way to bring me to the light Of
heaven? | must say, will say, His
will be done"
Just then the children came running
in boyish. romping Will; shy, yet
merry little May
flush, dears," the mother said,
''papa's tired. You had better run out
again"
"No, Mary, let them stay" inter-
posed he; and then be said so low that
his wife's ears just caught the whisper:
Il cannot see them too much in this
little while
Oh, how the days went on after that!
Every day the world looked DINNER 10
he minister's darkened eyes. He spent
almost all Of his time trying to fix the
;hings he SO loved in his memory.
1t was pitiful to see him going round
,ver each we'll known, well loved scene.
noting anxiously just how those tree
ooughs stood out against the sky, or
low that hill elm bed toward the sunset.
He studied every little flower, every
ern the children gathered; for all crea-
ion seemed to take for him a new
beauty and worth. Most Of all he stud
ol xbo:. H.. La-. IT..