The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-04-18


of the bible and her fathers turn tn,
hearts of their grand parents TO this, be
offs rim of the wilderness.
the rizi policy of the colony dem and
ed that The infected youth should b,
driven forth. Il was his grandfathe
who shielded him in the close seclusioI
until it became evident that the pasti
lence had passed him by, AMI was receiv
ed rs 4 brand from the burning, as one
especially reserved BY Providence for
great things
ii re the details of tradition cease
History steps in to tell US how the half
breel grandson If Captain Wilson con
tinued the family that must otherwise
have become extinct, and how his descen
dants held high place in all the colony
1t there be recurrent periods in heredi
tary characteristics. il might be said that
the wild, restless, improvident Indian ma
ture has reappelred in the latter genera
tons Of the Wilson's. The name which
held prominent place on every tax.list
from the days when the yearly dues were
paid in corn, had finally disappeared with
the death OF Mary's father. The prop
cry had long since been absorbed by
new corners Old heads alone now re-
tanned memory of what the Wilson's
had been. Mary, the last of the line,
was as solitary, estr .nged in the midst of
the multitude, as her ancestress in the
! wilderness.
Rising from the darkness of aborigi-
nal plgauism, the race seemed about to
/ sink now in the night of civilized bar
barism. Many Of the characteristics as
well as the misfortune of the doomed In
dian reproduced themselves in this girl.
! Uneducated, impetuous, fierce in her
prejuices, and headstrong in her conf
dences, she was by nature set apart from
! the crowd Of New England factory girls
among whom she lived and struggled
| Her one Will passion had for its object
the young night watchm at the mill.
Her aft -ctI,n, equally rash, and equally
strong, was lavished on the common
place girl by whose side she walked
through the gloom of the dingy boarding
house. For either of these she would
yield, do, or endure anything.
"You shan't lose your place, Aggie, "
were her good night words mt parting.
There WAS but one way in which she
could make her assurance good. The
discharge had been long impending. The
times were hard, the market overst0cked
the mills losing money P"~'"n solic-
itations, had the poor ora nil ne to
urge them, would be an al ~ il Ag-
gle remained, another al t-t - . her
place. She would ace. p. IA 9it.rna-
tive. She knew what it meant. 1t
would be cold and hunger, and if sickness
came, possible restitution. But with a
recklessness foreign certainly to her New
England blood, she took the chances
that she might save her friend. She
was alone in the world, while Aggie had
a family to whom half her wages went;
but it was not SO much feeling Of duty
as the blind fatalsm of affection that led
to this sacrifice.
Ga Saturday the announcement of the
reduction was made, aud Mary carried
out her plan. Then came weary days,
weary to heart and to mind. For does
light fancy to the strange, impulsive
girl gave signs of fading. What was in
the mans case an effect of the lax NOR
ais of Il factory village, was in hers q
true affair of an unframed heart. With
him it was a vagary; with her it was life.
The Sunday conference brought no salts
faction, AMI sleep found her poor pillows
always wet bat like Mary Wilson of the
colonial daYs, sho oIun5 TO tho who
had done her heart the greatest of all
wrong.
Night now fell earlier, 1t was night
when she took her place to intercept Joe
on his Wy t. 1.-THE mill 80 dark that her
tall figure was not distinguishable from
the gateway against which she leaned
waiting. For days she had not net her
lover, aud The thought had forced itself
strongly upon her that she was stunned.
Asshe Stood straining her eyes into
the blackness that hid everything, foot
steps approached. The new corners
we're two, an they stopped as if for fare
well 50 near to Mary that she held her
breath to avoid discovery.
"Good-by! !" spoke Joe's voice from
out the deep shadow that concealed all
surrounding objects. "Meet me at the
same place tomorrow"
Mary clunS 10 the railing, listening
fer the.answer. 1t came in tones only too
familiar,
"Goad-hy Joe Don't forget anything
you have promised me. You're for
getful fellow, and | don't believe you
care half as much for me as you pre-
ten! tiere there was a round of ply
steal protest on Joe's Gagt, with sup
pressed laughter from the girl. ''Do 60
along That's enough for tonight"
Mary sank to the ground with moan
as her lover walked through the gate and
Aggie tripped off toward the town. She
lay there, dazed by the sudden revela-
ton, until the cold winds that blew
away the clouds from the face Of the
stars had chilled her poorly clad form.
Her heart was frozen, too, and she arose
hating and yearning for revenge against
her lover who had cast her off, and the
friend who had robbed her of her lover,
even while accepting her sacrifice of
comfort. She would have no more of
it.
The Indian spirit that had slumbered
for generations now asserted its immor-
tally and claimed full possession. Her
ancestral brave planned the massacre of
the Ashton colonists with no more bitter
cruelty than this metamorphosed factory
girl plotted with herself against two per
sons for whom an hour ago she would
have given up her life itself.
She arose from the frozen ground
transformed as if by the evil influence
latent in the blood of her race. fit had
waited long and quietly for this oppcrtu-
nifty, it now boldly asserted its dominion.
1t might have been an implacable Indian
that strobe off under Mary Wilson's ia
ded shawl to her lodgings. Her thoughts
were too wild for civilized brain, for
the days of looms and railways.
She pondered through the long night.
'fAt the same place. he had said. That
place was the other side the deep and
slow moving canal which supplied power
e. IL iii Tx, m mn 81.