The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-01-31

getIer; and yet the May flowers bloomed
only once since then. [ wandered out
to find them, one April day, in the old
place where he and I had walked; and,
as swept away the heaped brown
leaves, I cried aloud to the merciless
powers above me-to God or Satan, to
whom I would have sold my soul that
hour, only to have Roger back again be-
side me. And there was one in the
wood that day who heard me.
"The land was all astir with cries OF
witchcraft, and Parson Mather was at his
bloody work, in the name Of God. On
the long low hill beyond Salem village
stood the gibbets, where old Mistress
Nurse had suffered, and Goodwife Corey,
and the old and frail, and the strong,
young limbs had swung against the sky
for pitiless mobs to gibe at. There were
cruel tongues in Salem that whispered
against me, and brought me before the
judges-me, Esther Chillingworth, nine
teen years old in that wretched April
whom Roger Vane had loved There
were those who swore to bitter threats
that made, and to strange mutterings
and wailings heard when ! was alone,
and prayers and cries that had another
name in them than Gods; and it was
said that I stole out in the forest to meet
my foul master, and worthy Goodman
Giles had heard me call him to my side,
as he strayed through the trees near me.
And child whom l had pushed from my
way, as I walked down Salem street, had
fallen i'll, and cried, in its strange fits,
that Esther Chillingworth tormented
him; and my old fathers honor and his
gray hairs could not save me, nor my
youth and my poor, fading beauty. They
dragged me from his house and cast me
into Salem Jail; they locked the heavy
door, and drew the creaking bolts fast,
and left me crouched under the grated
window - stare up, in my blind anguish,
at the glimpse of tender sky, that had no
pity for me-none. God, like Roger,
had forgotten me.
"Then came the crowded courtroom,
day after day; the solemn, unhinching
face of the gray, old judge; the hot,
sitting air, and the sunshine through the
glaring row OF windows, and the ieering,
cruel women and merciless men; the
writhing children, who, in their lying
fits, played like devils babies with my
life, and flung it away; the screams and
curses lifted up against me; the slow.
cold voices of the wise old men who were
giving me to death for an old wife's tale;
and then the dark walls of the jail-the
damp, the icy chill, the silence, and the
death in life. So, day after day, I came
and went, and asked no mercy at their
hands.
"There was one face in the crowd
that had pitying look for me, though it
was only a young lad's-young Martin
Browns, whom l had counted child
only year ago, but who had grown of
late to look with mans eyes at me. I
saw the hot rage and bitter tears on his
face as he stood with the crowd in the
courtroom, and listened and could not
speak to me; and one night-a wild,
rainy night-he stole under the window
of the Jail, where I was pressing against
the grated bars, and whispered my
name.
"sEsther Esther, do YOU hear Inc .
he said, softly. Esther, will You answer
me-?
"And I spoke, and the poor lad pour
ell out passion of grief, and pity, and
anger, with the muttering of the wind
and rain.
"'They say there is no hope, Esther
he sobbed up to me in the dark. 'Oh,
if I could but save you-you, so inno-
cent Oh, God what can do against
all this cruel persecution You are no
witch, Esther! You are purer than any
soul of them all, and must stand by 80
helpless and see you die for their wicked
sport :
Martin, I whispered to him, cling
ing to the bars, if you cannot save me,
will you do for me what you can {?
"Die for you, if I may, Esther he
cried, with boys own eagerness. And
I reached up and put my hand through
the window bars, out to meet him.
"Will you carry message for me to
one in Boston, Martin have none but
you that I may trust to bear it, and my
father knows not. Martin, will you find
Roger Vane for me?'
"I listened and held my breath till
he answered. Then I heard him say,
softly:
"I will, Esther
">..Carry this to him., said; and, rs I
felt his warm young hand, wet with rain,
touch mine, I slipped the love gift into
his palm. Take it to Roger Vane, and
tell him that Esther Chillmgworth lies
in the jail in Salem village, charged with
witchcraft, and that she sends him back
his token-no more than that, Martin.
Go, for the pity Of God Hurry, and
take no rest till you find him, OF it will
be too late-too late for me !
"I felt the boys lips kiss my hand,
and his young, clear voice came up
again, with tremble in it:
AYE, Esther, that I will. Ny faith
er's mare is in the stable, and, this very
hour, I will start, and take no rest till [
find Roger Vane, and put your ring in
his hand, God helping me-.
"God bless you, Martini" I whispered
to him, as he went; and, having blessed
a human creature for the first time in this
bitter year, it seemed as if peace stole
into my heart, and tender tears into my
eyes, aud half the weight rolled away
from my wretched bosom rs [ knelt on
the cold, bare floor. counted two days
by, and went for the last time from the
jail to the crowded courtroom. On the
LAY when l looked for Martin back again,
they told me that [ was to die. And,
while the voices clamored all around me
for my innocent blood, and from beyond
the windows the shrill cries rllng i'll, 1
cursed them as stood there-all, gray
old Judges and young children-and cast
my murder upon their heads forevermore
l. lay by the grated window al the rest
of the long, slow afternoon, all through
the open twilight, and waited for Martin.
My blood was hot with fever, and there
was madness in my brain. [ almost be-
lieved, as 1 crouched there, that all these
tales were true, and that devils had crept
into every pulse that beat in my hot
head, and whispered in my ear as |
clenched my hands over it. At last I
heard my name called in n voice that was
human, and yet was kinda pitiful voice
sounding under my grating: Esther
- hin,