Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1877-02-23

"Wnen you geC CnlS SCTdWl, Tall Tilt
third and last letter of Jack Livingston to
his friend the Rev. Dan Delaney, Il shall
be. well beyond the reach of all storms,
bowls, and x crations save those of the
is beautiful yet; even in its grim severity
there's a wonderful charm. But the air is
keen, the winds are bi; tier, the days are
short, the nights long and uncompromis-
ing, and 1 have it in my heart to seek a
more merciful climate, and take shelter
under softer skies. There's a torn soul
and a broken body to be mended, Dan, and
| mean to take them over to a shop we
know ofAyou and beyond the seas. Un-
fortunately, in patching up n existence
I must make a drain on another, and in
your hands, my old comrade, l leave it to
smooth out this tangled skein of destiny
as best you may to my poor. proud, blue
blooded mother, who will, perhaps, I'M
ravel 1t to my excellently imperious sisters;
they, in their turn, will shape it to suit tie
big bombastic world to which they belong.
IA month or so after that last letter of
mine, the good doctor burst into the sit
ting-room, where we were listening, Martha
and I, to the conclusion of that soothing
old volume, rendered to us by the musical
monotone of Miss Mary. The fire in the
CRATE cracked cheerily; the south window
was a mass of sheltered bloom; peace. Sc
renity. the joy of calm, was apparently
there; but 1 vaguely felt some indeinable
horror, and for an hour back a tumult of
confusion had racked my brain-when the
doctor broke in upon us and told us that
Hetty Bilsby had not long to live; and the
two women, stirred by a quick sympathy, be-
gan to question in her behalf. I went out the
door and down the south side Of the gar
den-a by>path my hating steps would
fain lave trod before; but a stubborn will
withheld, so strong are the shackles with
which this shallow worlds conventionali-
ties and creeds bind a weak and unmanly
soul; but they were broken n wv, only L
couldn't master a tremor of the nerves
and a faint chill that touched the whole
length of my vertebra, so that my body
was freezing, while my heart was burning.
ga big bind Of leaden mist brooded on
the horizon dowry particles began to fill
the air; a vag lie sense of storm and whirl-
wind pervaded every thing about me and
looking up at the threatening sky, l was
arrested midway by a face closely pressed
to the window pane of a little dormltory
beneath the eaves-a pale. eager, devour-
ing face, so eager and so devouring that it
hungrily ate up the space between US, and
1 found myself unwittingly but rapidly
climbing up to it, and in less time than l
have taken to write it l had the little
trembling, shrinking body in my arms
They found her there when they came,
Mary and Martha and the good doctor,
the wet curls of her close-cut hair tight
against my cheek. the wild yearning kissed
out of her eyes. And, Dan, you read to
me long ago that story OF the daughter OF
Jai,us, she that Was raised by a miracle.
Pray for me, will you, dear old friend; all
| ask is her life. For the rest
The warld's wrack we'll share OF,
The warstle and the care OF:
Wi her I'll blithely bear it,
And think my lot divine
'JACK LIVINGSTON"