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

and working itself out by slow, laborious.
and cruel methods
The change was hardly that which
takes place when an insane mania seize,
the mind. Mary Wilson was not mad
as science knows madness. In her short
season of Inconsistencies new ana
strange soul and fearful will seemed III
have entered the vacant brain and heart.
leaving the former occupants to wander
through intinity with 10 power over or
claim upon the bodily tenement that had
been stolen from them. Even more des
potlc than the possession of scrplural
narrative, the demon that had entered
into the poor girl left no sense OF a
present Deity 10 be worshipped or to be-
sought IN prayer. All WAS dark and
blank but the one dreadful purpose %
while h she was moved with the persis.
tency ofsan implacabie savage impulse.
What was the impulse that drove her
away from her lodgings, away from the
sound of the rafting mill, ana away
from the yillage streets crowded thrice a
day with a hastily passing throug2 Gould
she have told? Could she have account
ed for those wanderings through the fro
zen woods those hours spent crouchine
under the bank of the ravine, where the
rush of the Black river over It's buulders
drowned all the sound ofcivilizatiln. and
the signing spruces shut out every sight :?
She knew only that she hated the faces
of her fellow. beings, their voices and
their society. They were nothing to her
until she had done what she must do.
and then what would they be?
Thought reached no farther, if she
might be said to think.
The same power that had impelled her
as in a dream all day, brought her
dragged, furnishing, and burning with n
! heat that had no wholesome warmth for
her pinched body, to the rendezvous by
the canal. There was pitoLy darkness
over all. The swirIing water in the un-
frozen canal alone told what lay beneath
the narrow path which could now be
traversed only by familiar feet after
/ passing the guide posts that were felt.
not seen, on the bank. Even the thin
snow found no CLEAN which it might
reflect to the clouds that lowered above.
The lights that shone dim through the
| paper curtains Of the boarding houses
where'operatives were at supper seemed
to stop short in the distance and lose
themselves. The mill lowered grim and
silent on the other side.
Painting, and with Il strength that was
scarcely her own, the girl wrenche the
! plank aside from its secure fastening.
Deliberately she balanced /. upon the
edge, testing lis equilibrium with her foot
1t wavered under her weight.
| With an inarticulate sound EXERCISING
satisfaction, she turned ana walked in
the direction trGm which one must come
to cross 70 the mill. She crouched in
the darkness beside the path. .i!onl az
the Indian in ambush. One idea alone
| possessed her sullen mind it was that of
two foot steps, and the fate of two per
sons. This accomplished, there was
nothing in the future. Present revenge
was all.
The .ime was well chosen. Down the
path came the sound Of feet and OF sub
dued voices. Not even a dark shade was
visible upon the universal shadow to make
the advancing figures. They existed 10
the senses only as the noise Of crunching
snow and the murmur Of sofly-spoken
words. Thus they came nearer, and
Mary's heart grew harder as the ripple
OF laughter and the low response fell on
her cars.
Thor wero opposite to hor when ono
heard, as If continuing q subject already
spoken OF, the mans voice saying:
NO; she's too hightv. / wouldn't
bother myself about her any more. #
was you.
"But she isn't Eighty to me, Joe. If
YOU knew her you'd say so, too. And |
don't know what's beeh the matter with
her"
'W hat difference does it make, Aggie?
She's y shittiess, crazy thing, or she
would not have left the mill where she
was earning good wages, for nothing but
her laziness."
ooh, Joe /! you don't know, or you
wouldn't talk that way. ooh ~ aud
sobs came from the darkness. Eve been
wicked to let you think such things of
Mary. Shs needn't have left ~ unioss
she'd wanted to"
81 hope know that" said the man,
half sneeringly."
But she gave up her place to me- Oh,
so generous as she is. i didn't know Of it
until she had fixed it all with the fore
man, and then she only kissed Ae, and
said, Aggie, tod you you wouldn't
have 10 leave"
"Its just as shiftless anyway"
''Joe, do you care anything for the"
said the girls voice, angrily.
'Qf course do" was the reply.
"Then quit talking that way about my
best friend, who's as much better than 1
am as you can think. She's just the best
girl in Ashton, and ] won't % Il step
further with you to night if you don't say
So"
For the FIRST time on that cold and
dreary day a shiYer shook Mary Wilson's
limbs. Aggie's dress had brushed her
in passing, and she had followed close,
hearing every word that was spoken.
Blinded as her heart was to reason, the
evil spirit that there found occupancy
shrunk before the voice Of warm and sin
cere kindness. Her soul struggled fecbly
as if awaking. She began to know, in
dim and confused way, that Aggie was
uncon ,cious Of guilt in stealing her lover
that her sacrifice was appreciated,
and that the one friend left
her in the world was imperilled by her
hand. She again felt the weakness Of
the evening before overcoming her.
A moan arose to her lips, but was
crushed down. What, after all, was
Aggies affection with the loas of Joe
Could it atone for the shame and misery
advancing upon her with the certainty Of
invincible fate as the result Of her wild
passion? Could it make the dreadful
future as tolerable for her as even the
miserable PRESENT. Better to make one
final sacrifice and gain oblivion for herself,
while leaving Aggie to her own happiness.
She was now trembling in every limb.
The demon tore her as he was driven
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