The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-07-04
Two Dollars a Year.

her arms bound behind her. and the Tn
multous crowd that ACCOMPANIED her Sow
progress, Jeerlng and shouting when She
swayed to and fro and but lost her bal
ance at the rough jolts over the pave.
inehtS-the men gazing with hard. cold
eyes, the women pointing. the children
shrleklng with exultation, ''the witch i
hit ! the which is hit :" when the stone
from little hand fell with truer aim
than all the rest. Tie had seen such
things before. He could picture il 10
himself so distinctly that the great drops
rolled over his forehead rs he felt his
powerleSsnesS to make an end of thecru
scene. Then out Of the precincts OF the
town, along that sunny road. the cart
went on and on until it stopped beside
the gallows. Only a little further. only
a turn in the way, and he could see
the spot-should see if the crowd were
there-should see-should see. The aw-
full presentment that oppressed him be.
came paralyzing weight. There was
only that one hope left to which many
soul has chung in its anguish, a hope in
the very horror of the thing it fears.
1t would be so cruel, it would be dread
full, that it could not be :
! lie had reached the turning. Should
/ he look up? Was it the pulsing blood
that murmured IN his ears or wore they
there? lie urged his horse forward to
one last desperate effort before he dared
/ to raise his head. And then-merciul
heaven the accursed thing stood in the
talr spring morning, with its outstretch-
ed arm, and something swayed there
from.
Shortly after troop of boys, dashiug
down the hill, caught sight Of a solitary
rider, whose spent horse plodded its
weary way upward with signs of great
exhaustion but taking its own course
and its own time to the task, for the
man had dropped the reins, and was so
bowed oyer his horses neck that they
only recognized him with difficulty.
Hey, Master Dalton" they called
III boisterous merriment as they came
near, We are too late for the hanging"
The man reused himself and looked mt
them with glazed eyes and ashen face.
They were children from the fisher huts
in Marblehead, and knew their Weather
neighbor well; but the countenauce he
turned to them to-day was so strange
that they stopped to stare as he rode by
and then, putting their heads together
for a consultation, turned and followed.
Enoch knew as little as they why he
went on. "Too late too late, "he had been
repeating to himself, with a strange, con.
fused sickening feeling, before they
: shouted the words in his ears. Still he
went on, perhaps it was more from the
lmpossibllIty ofgoing back than from any
aim or object that he had in view "Hel
blood shall be between me and thee he
had said, and how could he meet his wife
again?
1t was still and deserted on the hilltop
) but EnOch had no consciousness Of being
alone. The crowd might have beer
surging about him for aught he knew
| He was only aware of long, Ions
shadow on the grass he heard the clank
ing of a chain, and taking his hat from
his head, as if he had stood by Mis-
tress Wilson's open grave, he glanced up
? ward.
A shrek of shriH childish laughte
e burst upon his ear, as his eyes fxeC
] themselves in stupeded amaze on the pol,
, tied round with fluttering rags that dan
. gled from the gallows.
"Know we not, master" said the chill
dren, swarming around him, ''the gov.
p ernor hath sent command there shall b.
J no more hanging until he himself hath
: fuller knowledge OF the matter Of witch
: craft? The messenger rode post haste in
r to Salem just after day break. One tolC
US that we met on the highway, but a
, we were out out for a frolic, we wer
fain to pluck up a scarcrow from the feel,
, yonder, and hang that instead Of tn,
witch, an it may not displease ye."
The children's wild mirth grew still
t when they saw how he bent MS head am
hid his face with his hands. They drew
) back wondering and awe struck at hi
silence and left him alone. As he turn
ed bride at last, and rode away home
once more two words repeated themselve
over and over within him, but this time
, they came from joyful and grateful
= heart, that he could only think and say
"Thank God thank God !"