The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1877-12-20

PePlta IN my arms. listening to the waves I
crashing against the ship as if every mo
ment must be our last. The sailors
would come down now and then for a I
drop OF hot coffee and to warm their {
frozen fingers, for everything on deck ]
was covered with ice. They hadn't the
heart, poor fellows, to speak TO the
children, and I saw more than one tear
on their rough cheeks when they locked
at them, and Pepita would smile and
stretch out her little hands in her un-
conscious baby way.
Bat God saved US after all. In the
evening of the eighth day the wind
changed, and we dTifted into calmer
waters. IF it hadn't been for the east
wind blowing, we might just as we'll
have drifJed the other way, for tie ship
was almost helpless. 1t was about two
in the morning when Charlie rushed in
to the cabin and almost carried me in his
arms to the door. There / saw, CLEAN /
ing through the fog, two great shining |
lights. Tney were ike angels eyes lock- |
ing from heaven to me. I've passed |
those Highland lights many time since, |
ma'am. I've seen them in soft summer |
evenings and clear spring mornings, but
l never see them without my whole
| heart going out In Thanksgiving and |
praise. No one to whom they have not
shone as they did to me that night can
| know what they really mean, standing
| there on the headlaud and pointing to
| heaven.
"Well we saw the lights from other
vessels all around US, and at daybreak
| tug was alongside taking our forlOrn,
nearly wrecked ship up the harbOr, and
before night 1 laid Pepita in my moth
er's arms.
6 After that, Charlie wouldn't hear to
my going to sea again. de said he could
bear anything it the children were net
suffering too so, for the sake OF my little
ones, 1 consented to stay behind. Char
lie bought a little cottage on the Jersey
coast, where could overlook the sea, and
/ settled down quietly to take care OF the
children while ne went his voyages.
Gle kept on going to Brazil and back
for a a long time. Twice / left the chill
dren with mOther-for she had come to
live with us in the cOttage-and went
with him, for it hurt me TO pass all my
life away from Charles side. So every
thing went well with US. We owned our
cottage and a bit of a garden, where
mother and Minnie used to pass long
summer days wedding and watering and
tending the beds of pOppies and mari
Colds and asters-Old fashioned flowers
such as mother loved. Pepita was her
fathers own girl. She loved the sea,
snd would leave Minnie to take care OF
, the garden, and 60 and sit for hours on
the beach Watching the waves tumble in
among the stones and beat against the
? foot of the cliff. When Charlie came
: home she was always the first to see him
far down the road, and I'll never forget
o how her pretty face used to look as she
i would come dancing up the garden path
pulling him with both hands, and he
J, laughing and calling her all manner Of
tender names.
"Those were sunny days, ma'am, ane
: Pm sure there never was happier fam
J lily than the one gathered round eul
{ little table while Charlie was at home.
! owe had saved good bit of money
4 too, for Charlie wasn't like some sailors
I who throw everything about when they
! are on shore. Every penny we coulC
spare he laid by for the little girls; fol
! they were always little girls to him, anc
always will be.
But the day of anxiety was to come
= An opportunity was offered Charlie t.
r 90 on long voyage to the East Indies
!. The chance, as we looked at it, was to,
a good TO be thrown away; SO he sold thu
:. Pepita, which was getting to be an Ole
II D.
u other bark, the Arago. 1t was hard t.
10 let him 20 for so long a time. SOntl
Il America seemed like home, but tie Eas
q Indies was an unknown world. He wa
50 full of hope that he tried to go off il
10 his usual Jolly way, kissing Minnie an
e telling he she would be little woman
at when he came back-she was fourtee
= then-and promising Pepita no end {
curious things from the foreign lands
he but there was a great heaviness in IN
heart, and when he came and put b
7 arm around me and said; Keep u
nv your courage, Maggie I'll soon be back
re | couldn't look at him. hid my tsC
or in nv hands and sobbed like a baby.
After he was gone we settled BAG
Iv into the old ways; the children went
in school, and mother and | kept the hoHs
tidy. But / was uneasy l didn't dal
:. TO say anything to trouble the girls, bi
/ never lay down at night without dream
~ ing of shIpWrecks, and when the tin
- came round when we could expect new
.vi from Charlie, it seemed as if my hea
% would burst with anxiety. The new
,S never came. Day after day we waite
as and little by little 8 sad silence settle
u down on our cottage. When word wou
9 come of the arrival of ships which sale
IL long after Charles did, we would loo
{
word, but each knew what sorrow w
. in the others heart. Only little Pepi
ny never gave up My father will con
~ back; my father will come back 81
v I'9 used to say, until ] couldn't bear to he
1Gn her, because / couldn't believe it; al
ne when she used to stand for hours, sha,
5lh ing her eyes with her hand and gazing
So over the wste5 it drove me almost vii
because | knew what she was watchiI
-, for.
II "A summer and winter and anOth
cd summer had passed since Charlie We
er. away, and when Christmas came roul
the again | laid my poor mother in &
.he ChurchyaTd, and came back alone WI
in my children 60 the cottage.
d How l got through the next yes
I'M ma am, l can never tell. AS / look ba,
it appears like an awfnl dream, but Z
she remember the Christmas eve, the thi
ich without Charlie. Minnie, Pepita and
sat huddled round the fire talking in L
est, tOnessabOut our lost; tor we could be
led now to speak of him sometimes, and
hit soothed me to hear the children talk al
to see how much they loved him. Pepi
the tried that night to sing one of the sail
CHI songs he had taught her, but she couldI
the do that. Her voice broke down. and
at couldn't one of us speak another word.
the " It was a sad Christmas eve, ma'sm
OF the first one when all hope had resi-
re- gone out, and when l lay down to sic
80, that night l felt that, except / must Ii
TN for the children's sake, 1t would be SUI
mt blessing to die
OF " Christmas morning was very Giles