The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1877-11-01

\ young couple dashed hand i'll hand into
| the surf. The love of one was vet un-
| spoken, and that Of the other uncontessed.
but their confidence and happiness were
mutual Both We're good swimmers
Grace especially being light and swift in
the water, from long practice and fondness
Tor the sport No shivering dips or timid
paddlings for her but with movement
worthy Of her name, she would disport
| herself in the waves like a veritable mer-
maid
1heN We're swimming fifty yards race,
out beyond the surf, and Grace was sew
eral lengths ahead when she heard CRY:
''Ihe cramp, Grace" and turned to
see John clutching gconvulsively at the air
Before she could reach the spot he had
gone down.
There was no boat that could be made
available in time to help her There was
not a person within call She must save
him, or he would die John die The
thought revealed her heart as she had
never seen it IN her passive happiness
In moment the head of the drowning
man appeared at the surface
Put your hands on my shoulders,' she
said, quickly but firmly; II can take YOU
ashore
What should have been touch-a light
pressure for support became Il trcnZIed
grasp under the peril and desperation of
the moment, and john bore her down with
him in ten feet of water. As she had been
superior to Mysteries above, she was
stronger than despair below. His hold
relaxed as he touched bottom, and, tear
ing herself fromhis loosened grasp, Grace
seized him by the hair and bore him out
Of the grave for another chance at life.
Seeing at a glance that while John was
unable to avail himself Of her help, he
was still dangerous to face. she diled
quickly, caught him by the heel with one
| hand and with swift strokes dragged him
through the water to the beach.
How she did it she never knew, but she
took the dead weight Of his limp body in
her arms and ram with it to the dry sand
as a mother might run from peril with
her babe
As she turned his face to the moonlight
il was still, and white, and dead A great
fear smott her heart, but there was no
time tor delay, and love was stronger than
despair A flash OF recollection from her
reading came to her help. Putting her
lul1tIS tttltiN Illl) HIS llJuuli. Sllt DlllIttl
down his tongue Swiftly turning hi
head down the sloping beach. she rolled
him ON to his side and rocked him back
and forth, pressing his sides and chest
Almost Instantly the salt water ran gir-
Cling from his mouth. and a gaSping
breath showed that John was saved.
A man needs to hc very thoroughly in
love to sense things thus, under the cir
cumstanceS: but as John felt the pressure
Of the soft white hands upon him. and saw
the sweet anxious face 50 near his own
and heard the inartiruate murmur of
mingled endearment, fear and gladness,
he did remember of reading how delight
full drowning is, after the struggle is over,
II would bc pleasant, and quite the
usual thing, to say that John caught his
fair reScucr to his bosom, and then and
there asked her to take the life she had
saved, While Grace completed the t0blcau
by1aintin9. But nothing of the sort hap
pencd. IN the first place. John hadn't
life enough in him for such an exercise
and Grace wasn't that kind Of q girl
What she did was to run to The hotel and
send men and Il doctor to bring him up
in Il chair, and then walk home by her
STILL lTtht tt lRb vi ltlh anu 3N' " lit'l
where she woke up with d start and a cry
every hour through the night, to sink to
troubled sleep again after thanking God
that dear John was saved.
When they met again, three days after
wards, Johns bearing was changed. His
eyes, and his voice, too, were full OF tears
bat his manner seemed constrained. He
had the reserved deterental air which
poor Young artist might assume toward
kind patron. He took the hand that
had saved him and kissed it many times,
saying brokenly:
II cannot thank YOU otherwise"
Grace was sobered, likewise, and could
not speak the light reply she had framed
III advance. They had both been face to
face with death, and such an experience
Widcns the horizon of thoughtful souls
immcasurably almost as much as look
Ing out, over the open grave of one we
love, into the infinite spaces. When they
We're together. his look followed her every
whore, with an intensity and abstraction
new t. him with a longing that was pa
thetc in its apparent dumb helplessness
Grace knew that she loved him she
felt that his heart was hers utterly ; and
NIl IC NtlS va ~ away lIblIl llN3' W tto
it His pride that kept him from asking
the supremest Gift from one to whom he
already owed 50 much Or was it a kin
dred feeling mistaken mannish sensi-
tivcness that its victim thinks to be chv-
airy Grace did not know, but she set
to work upon the problem that wonderful
combination Of Will and auIomatiSm which
men call brain, and write learnedly about
but understand so little. In the deepest
night, in the busiest day. while we sound
" sleep or are absorbed in other things,
the mental machinery is at work uncon-
sciously to US on the puzzle that had baf-
fed thought.
The friends We're together again, for
the last time, on the dear Old rocks by
the sea. The season was over, and John
was going back t. his clients, and Grace
to her desk. They We're so truly friends
that they could not be content in long
silence, when in each others presence in
the woods or by the shore. one can make
a shift to talk with almost anybody but
it is a kindred soul with whom one enjoys
and shares the charm Of blessed silences.
For an hour they sat, scarcely speaking,
their memories touching fondly and re
gretfully upon the scenes so soon to he
left behind.
"'I'he poet chose we'll, it is the cruel
crawling sea- caI but think, after all,
that the mountains, lakes and woods are
better. 1t seems more than ever like pri-
NAL work so crude and desolate, so
treacherOus and destructive, it is easy to
imagine the pleasure with which a beauty
loving Creator turned from this to clothe
the earth and adorn it,
'Ah yes" mused Grace in her turn,
but the sea is more kind than fate. 1t is
changetul, yet ever the same, like woman.
1t casts up treasures us truly as ii enguts
them It kisses the shore, you know,
though it smites it. 1t reflects the color
Of the skies would that man could do it
as faithfully, 1t seems to me often an
imperfect but yet striking symbol OF hui
man life, | have even known cases Of
resurrection out of its death" she added