Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1877-07-04

10 but widow Yarrows, and that's miles
away.
So spoke sad, worn looking woman
standing on the threshold of well to-do
farmers house, just us the last rays OF
light were fading from the evening sky.
The person she spoke to, II large wumun
in bright lowered dress and white apron
the mistress Of the housG-turned away
pettishly.
" You came at night. Maggie it seems
TO me, and you can go ut night. You don
suit never saw such shiftlcss ways il
my life. And Jane Smith is here, and Eve
only one bed for the servants, and can L
expect tidy girl like Jane to sleep with
well, with strangers. I've paid you for
Your three days. and goodness knows,
you've worried me out OF my senses since
you We been here, and can't keep you
another night, and the earlier YOU 90, the
sooner you'll get there, wherever il is"
' Well, that's true, anyway. Then
ma'am," replied the woman, and YOU
are mistress in your own house; but God
knows it's not II dog I'd be divn out at
night Then she tied her little pittancc
in the corner of her pocket handkerchief
and walked away out of the gate and up
the road, not looking back once. Her heart
was heavy as lead, and she was angry at
world that had been very hard one TO
her.
" Three years since Pat wnt away" she
said to herself, and niver word from
him. He dead, no doubt; and it's the
last kind word I've heard wasn't shift
less and good for nothing to him. Mag
gie.' he'd often say, I'd change you for
nobodyS wile.' Och, he was the man and
so good to me when was faded and worn
out with the hard livin' and losin' the chill
der, as he was when | was purity girl,
with checks like roses, an he was boy
coortin' me. Och, Pat, WHARF, did you 90,
at all? You died in II ditch like dog,
maybe; for all these hard hearted gentle
folks care, we all might"
She turned and shook her fist back at the
house she had just left, only a bit of the
roof visible over the rising ground now.
My heart was Il hing for the chiIder
and for Pat" she said, " but you could
have no patience if Il pertatie was burnt
or IL towel not that smooth. Ye sent me
out with the night falling. Bad luck TO ye
and all yer like"
Then she plodded on again but the wo-
man she had left was not as she had fam
cied her In her thrift and tidiness she
could not understand this untidy, careless
being. She knew nothing of the misery
mt her heart, or the sorrow that made her
forget the pots and pals. She was actual
ly half afraid of her and anxious to get her
| ,Nf bou borca h., h,,l 10
mistake to hire tramp from the road, as
it were, and she had paid her and felt con
scious of no cruelty.
The daylight fled apace; the moon, risen
long ago, became visible-a faint streak
# new moon that set in II little while
only the stars were left and Maggie,
wandering on the road with her bundle
under her arm-a bundle Of rags and odds
and ends tumbIed together in an old fan
mel petticoat-began TO lose her knowledge
of it. Here and there she saw lights in Il
window, but they were no promise of hos
pilalily, to her. If she could get TO widow
Yarrow's, that parsonage, who took the la
borers 10 board, would let hel lodge while
she could pay; but where was the widows
cottage-to the right or to the left? She
could not tell in the darkness whether she
had taken the proper turning. Hard by
was n rushing sound as Of water Danger
there, perhaps The railroad was some
here at hand, and though Maggie felt that
the world was Il poor place, she did not
feel ready to meet death yet
"rll just drop down in the grass some
where said the poor woman. md God
| i,o, II / ,,,1l TnJ ,
bit of hay now, 'twould be comfort"
She stretched forward, peering through
the darkness, and her foot struck some
loose branches that lay upon the ground,
with cracking sound.
What's thaL?" said n voice very near
her, in sharp whisper.
Its an imp of IL squirrel" -" said another
voice. Go on with your work, Jim. The
train will be along in fifteen minutes. Up
with that rail. II we'll have them this
time"
Hold your tongue, fool" said the first
voice. " You're half drunk. | tell you |
thought it was Il step"
And now Maggie, who had sunk fiat
upon the ground, knew all. Those who
whispered near her were train wreckers.
"I'll make no noise" said she. It's
none of my business"
But lying in the grass, the sharp strokes
of steel on steel smote her ear; she could
not forget them. And suddenly it came
upon her that it was neither more nor less
than murder that she was waiting there to
see-lhat in lying quiet while it was done
she helped to do it.
| Ia for,v;ua ~ c,,i1 Mnpmia
"I'll not do it; but what am to do? How
will stop them? It's my own death; Ill
bring about nothing else -
And just then the sound of II steam whs-
tie far away caught the ear. The train was
coming.
We're ready for them" said the voice
she had heard before. Come into the
bushes"
She heard them tramp away, and arose
to her feet and looked about her. There
was no house in sight and no help near.
Suddenly thought struck her. She had
matches in her pocket, and her dress was
a thin calico-it would burn like tinder.
In moment more she rad torn it off and
had the matches in her hand. As she
struck light she heard Il pistol click
They see me-" she said, and held the
match against the old calico, and as it
caught fourished it over her head. She
felt bullet whiz by her shoulder, another
struck her, but now the glare was bright,
and the train was close at hand-she rush
ed toward it, waving her burning dress.
Thank God they saw her. The train slack
ened its pace-it stopped. Men with lam
terms in their hands sprang from it and
hurried toward her. And the old dress,
burnt to tinder, dropped to the ground,
and she sank beside it, the blood flowing
from wound in her arm.
They've killed me, l belave," she said
family, us a man bent over her. :" | can't
show you the place, but it's-beyant there
the rails they've ripped them up, the
villansm Then she tainted.
When she came to herself she was by the
roadside, and the lights fell over her, and
she heard people talking of the hairbreadth
escape they had had and of her bravery,
You risked death to save us, said one
woman. You shall be rewarded. My
children were with me-"
And | am going TO meet my wife,"
said gentleman. She will not let me
forget you if have so ungratoful heart.
You shall be we'll cared for now, and
when you are well you shall never know
want"
Indeed, then, !" said another vOice-one
tbot Souudad familiar to hnr-U indnnd I