The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-03-02
NUMBER 10.

is the witching hour of night, when the
sweetest sound the ear can hear is the
slamming of the big house door" And
with that they all departed.
As eight O'Clock in the morning came,
Miss Alice, with her shears hanging at
her side and her hat tied on, was looking
up and down the road impatiently. She
quite forgot her freak with the old clock
the night before. @ 1t is very indeco-
rous way to serve me-" she cried. "Tcn
minutes past eight! And shall not wait
another moment. will have my bull
rushes, Mallory or no Mallory. And if
am little late, don't care; it will seem
as though body were not so very anxious;
and don't know-I'm afraid-I'm really
afraid l was gushing, last night, and do
so despise gusher! And he may only
wantmay only want to engage me TO
watch with old Miss Stecres, the night
she takes ether for that operation" And
thereat the little body was off for Lenders
Lake, with precious small idea of the
exact whereabouts of that pretty sheet.
i've tongue in my head, suppose"
said she.
As Miss Alice continued, her ideas grew
still less. She feared she would lose her
way, and not be back at all she wished
she had waited for Mallory; but she plod-
ded on after her best sense of locality,
tore her gown with briers, lost her veil,
broke her parasol, came near breaking
her ankle, and at eleven O'Clock by her
watch sat down and cried-hot, bitten by
flies, tired out, and lost.
When she had finished crying, she
looked up and there, glistening double
through her tears, lay Lenders lake, blue
as sapphire, in the hollow of the hills.
Her courage came back at once. If she
could not keep her appointment, she
could show by the bulrushes that she had
intended to. She forgot fatigue, and was
off for the edge Of the lake, not so easily
reached after all, and, with triumphant
handful of the brown velvet wands and OF
great, blue flags, was presently homeward
bound, having found the highway, and
staying only to ask at the door Of little
hut for cup of water.
Nobody answered her rap; the door
was open-she pushed it wider and
peeped in, but started back at the sound
of grOan, and a quick, sharp sob, per-
feet storm of sobs. A moment Miss Alice
pain was concerned; she took heart of
grace and walked in, and found the
brown, old berry woman with her little
boy, her grandchad, bleeding to death in
her arms. "Oh," she exclaimed, 81 never
knew you lived here. What is the matter !?
How did he do 20
"With the ak! with the ak! just now!"
cried the woman. "And | can't stop it,
and Pm all alone, and can't leave him,
and he'll die-eh, he'll diep'
ooh, no, nor' said Alice. "What
have you done? Only cold water? Let
me see. Lay him down. Get towel; :"
for she remembered still her school les
sons in physiology. And, before the
woman knew what had happened, Alice
had rigged tourniquet with the handle
of hair-brush, and was checking in
some degree the flow of blood with which
the boys vitality was ebbing. "Now
don't let it slip, and III run and find the
doctor, if l drop. Perhaps some team
will ovcrtake me. Don't despair-the
child sha'nt die" and she kissed the
brown old woman, and plunged out,
eager as though it were her own little
brother. 81 know just where the doctor
is" she called back.
She knew nothing of the kind; she only
knew where he had been. "Shc' gone to
Lenders lake with Mr.. Mallory" Aunt
Huldah had said, looking up and down
the road, with Il vague idea that her look
ing would excuse the culprit-" for bull
rushes, heard them say"
The doctors ejaculation would have
Mortified Aunt Huldah if she had heard
it; but, bidding her good morning he
had turned about, determined to have
nothing more to do with Miss Alice Trucs-
dell. And then sort of rage had flashed
up and swept over him, and he vowed TO
himself that he would reduce the little
rebel, and sprang into his chaise and
urged his horse to a run. And that was
the way it CHANGED that, less than ten min
utcs after Alice left the hut, she saw
something rolling up the highway envel-
oped in as thick cloud as ever an ancient
god travelled in; and he saw little object
flying down TO meet him, curls and rib
bons streaming behind, dishevelcd to the
last degree, and with only breath enough
left to say, as he leaped from the chaise
"Don't stopl He's dying! Back there
the hutn
DR.. Fowler did stop, long enough to
| take the little body and lift her into the
chase, and spring up beside her. "Whos
dyings" said he, stcrnly-" Mallory?n
"Mallorym gasped Miss Alice, in
amazement. "And if it was," she said
the old spirit uppcrmost, as soon as she
could speak again for her scalded lungs
and throat, "what would you dog"
LET him die" exclaimed the doctor.
at would be nothing to me if you
did," she said, touching the horse with
the whip herself.
but you would be indictable at com
mon law
"Nothing to youl What did you mean,
thcn9 Who's dyingm
"Not Mr.. Mallory-to my knowledge,
that is. | haven't seen him to-day. A
child here in the woods"
The doctor urged the horse himself
bending forward, his gaze fixed before
him, and not uttering another syllable.
] "Aren't you ever going to speak to mt
againg" said Alice at last. Il meant tt
be back at eleven.
He turned and saw the tears just ready
to gush, and as he gazed perhaps they ex
tinguished the flame of his wrath. Some
how-he never knew how any more thar
Alice did-the next moment the reins were
under his feet, his arms were about her
and the tears were being crowded back by
kisses.
"Aren't you glad I put the clock for
wardg Aren't you glad l came out herr
for bulrushes?" whispered Alice, as theJ
suddenly drew up at the little hut.
"Oh, God bless you, doctor, and Coz
bless her!" cried the voice of the oil
woman from within. "He's alive yet
and you've come in the very nick 0
timew-Harper's Bazar.
Tho wife of negro confined in In
Jail at Pittsburgh, Pa, sent to her hus