Litchfield enquirer., 1877-02-15

anu LII Y IeiI Dack rom her, pOlntlnE
 with tllelr fingers and jeering. And agair
 she was sitting by the hearth with Dame
 Walford at the other side, and suddenly
 it was not the dame, but Mistress Wilson who sat there, with rope around hel heck. Her face was deathly pale, and
 her blue eyes, fixed upon Miriam, seem
 e1 to cast spell over her so she could
 neither speak or cry out as she would
 fain have done. Then the babe in hel
 arms began to struggle, and getting down
 went to Mistress Wilson and clambered
 on her knees. It reached up and took the rope with it's little hands and threw it ir
 the fire, and immediately there was 8 dazzling light, and Mistress Wilson stood
 clothed in white robe, with wings or
 her shoulders, and Miriam knew it wal her spirit. Upon that she was seized
 with great dread. for the child stood
 holding by her, and would not return to Miriam, though she recognized it for bel own in that brightness, and tried in vain to call it back. It was very fair. No trace of the witches mark upon it's brow, and its hair shone golden in the light that streamed around. Then it appeared that the spirit turned to go, the child ever following, and with great effort Miriam broke the spell, and stretched out her arms and cried:
 ''Nay, take it not It is mine I know 1t now. It is mine, indeed p
 As she spoke, she felt sharp pain, and her eyes opened.
 The sun was shining in her face, and she had struck her hand on the child s bed that stood beside her. Half bewild- cred yet from her dream, she raised her. self and saw the baby lying in peaceful slumber. Its little face was very sweet and fair; it's brow was smooth, and the sunbeams slanting past seemed to make halo around its golden hair. Even as she looked at it the black thoughts and fam cies of days and weeks gone by, melted like the dark visions of that night, and, as in her dreams, she recognized the child. But pameless anxiety fell upon her, a horrible dread, and her voice was shrill and strange as she called;
 "Oh, Enoch, Enoch, rise and ride to town-for the child is we'll again The child is we'll again and Mistress Wilson must not die."
 He started up from the chair where he The spell was broken-the scales had fall. en from his wife's eyes-the child was we'll But Mistress Wilson-was there yet time to save her?
 He spoke not word but saddled the old plow-horse, with shaking hands, swung himself on her, and rode away. Never since he could remember had he slept so late as that morning. Far over the sea the fishing boats that had put out at dawn showed now but speck of shining sail. And hark! Were those the Salem bells that the wind brought so far No, for the hour appoint ed for the witch to die had sounded long ago. There was no hope that he could reach the jail. He must make for Gallowe Hill by the shortest way to meet the fatal train beyond the town. He urged his horse to furious pace that was still too slow for his feVerish spirit. As the road stretched on between fields and fences, he had no eyes for the springing green in white ts1st with Qohh ohhQpRghts t9 count saw only dismal procession issuing from the dark portals of the jail-Mis- tress Wilson standing ill the cart with her arms bound behind her, and the. tumul- tuous crowd that accompanied her slow jeering and shouting when she ywayed to and fro and all but lost her balance at the rough iolts over the pave ment-the men gazing with hard, cold eyes, the women pointing, the children hit ! the witch is hit p when some stone than all the rest He had seen such things before. He could picture it to himself so distinctly that the great drops rolled over his forehead as he felt his power lesness to make an end to the cruel scene. Then. out of the precincts of the town, along the sunny road, the cart went on and on stopped beside the gaIlows. Only Q little further, only to @ turn in the way, and he should see if the spot--should see that the crowd were there-should see should see- The awful presentiment that oppressed hlm became a paralyzing weight. There was only that one hope left to which many soul has clnng in it's anguish, hope in the very horror of the thing it fears. It would be so cruel, it would be dreadful, that it could not be.
 He had reached the turning. Should he look up. Was it the pulsing blood that murmurs in his ears, or were they already there? He urged his horse forward to one last desperate effort, before he dar- ed to raise hls head. And then-merci- ful heaven! there the accursed thing stood, in the fair spring morning, with its outstretched arm, and. something swayed therefrom.
 Shortly after troop of boys. dashing down the hill. canght side of solitary rider, whose spent horse plodded it's weary way upward with signs of great exhaustion but taking tits own course and it's own time to the task, for the man had dropped the reigus, and was so bowed over his horses neck that they only rec ognized him with difficulty.
 "Hey, Master Dalton," they called in boisterous merriment as they came near; Eye are to late for the hanging"
 The man reused himself and looked at them with glazed eyes and .an ashen face. They were children from the fisher huts in Marblehead, and knew their wealthier neighbor we'll; but the countenance he turned to them was so strange they stop ped to stare as he rode by, and then put ting thelr heads together for consulta- tion, turned and followed.
 Enoch knew as little as they why he went on. ''Too late, too late." he had been repeating to himself. with strange confused, sickening feeling, before they shouted the words in his ears. Still he went or, perhaps it was more from the impossibiiity of going back than from any object that he had in view. Her blood shall be between me and thee,," he had said, and could he meet his wife again?
 It was still and deserted on the hilltop, but Enoch had no consciousness of being alone The crowd might have surged about him for aught he knew He was only aware of long shadow on the grass; he heard the clanking of chain, and ta- king his hat from his head, as if he had stood by Mistress Wilson's open grave, he glanced upward
 A shriek of childish laughter burst up- on his ear, as his eyes fixed themselves Tn stupefed amaze on pole tied round with futtering rags that dangled from the gal lows.
 "Know ye not, master, said the chil- dren, swarming around Him, the governor hath sent command there shall be nc more hanging until he himself hath full. CT knowledge of the matter of witchcraft: The messenger rode posthaste into Salem just after daybreak., One told us that we