The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1878-10-11
Select Story.
THE STONE-CUTEER'S STORY.

he was WulslslDS over Ills WOIh q
careless, from long custom, of the sci
emn significance of the letters he we
cutting in the white marble. TIL,
June sun was nearly at the end of tn
days journey, sinking slowly to res
upon the bosom of the broad Atlantic
whose waves washed the shores of the
little seaport town of Monkton. 4
stranger, handsomely dressed in gray
with large. lustrous brown eyes, cam,
to the fence that was around ihr yarl
where the stone-cutter worked, anG
read the lettering, almost completed
upon the tomts'o one:
HIRAM GOLDBY.
AGED 35
LOST AT SEA. JANUARY, 1866.
The last six was rearly completed.
A strange pallor gathered for a mo
ment uI Oh the strangers face. and then
he drew a long, deep bre ath, and said
lie not ten years long time to be
cutting letters on a tombstone, friend?
"Eh, sir2'
The stone cutter looked, shaded his
eyes with his brown hand, as he tur; .
ed his face TO the setting sun.
"This is 1876" was the grave reply.
land Hiram Galdby has been ten years
under the waves"
"Well, sir, that's the questions lie
there2"
sis he there2 Your stone tells us he
is and has been for ten years."
-'fYes sir, so it does-so it. .doee. And
yet she has ordered it. She came over
a week or SO back with worried look
upon her sweet face that have never
seen any thing but patience in the ten
long years, and she said to me: You
may cut stone, Davy,' she says, 'and
put it up in the churchyard land don't
want to see it. Ill pay you whatever
you choose to ask, Davy,' she says,
but he's not dead, and don't want a
'Lor, mum, saysI, he'd
D. turned up all these years if he was
not dead But she shook her pretty
head, the prettiest l ever seen, sir, and
said she; My heart never told me
that he was dead, Davy, and I'llnever
believe it till my heart tells me So"
"His sweetbearta' questioned the
stranger.
"His wife, sir-his loving, faithful
wife, that's bad property, aud loneli-
ness and ,nisers, her full sharey and
might ba' bettered herself"
"How was that?''
-s'Mr. Miles, sir. the richest shop
owner hereabouts, he waited patiently
for seven long years, trying to win her.
Then he said that she was free even If
Hiram came back"
"Enoch Arden" muttered the stran-
ger.
"What did you say, sirg"
Nothing, nothing. What answer
did the widow make, Mr.. Milesr
s.If Hiram's dead said she, Pm his
faithful wife, Maybe you are from
the city, sir, and have heard the story
of our Pearl2"
what story is thatF'
"Well, sir, it's been told many times
more particularly in the last year, but
you're welcome to what I know of it.
There, that six is done, and I'll leave
the Scripture text till morning. If
you'll come to the gateway and take a
seat on some of the stones, I'll tell you,
that is, if you care to hear it."
Il do care" was the grave reply; II
want very much to hear the story"
maybe you're some kin to the Pearl
of Monkfon-that's what they call
Mrs. Goldby hereabouts. It's a matter
of thirty-three years back, sir, thae
there was a wreck off Monkton rocks,
that you can see from here, sir, now
tides low. Cruel rocks they are, and
mapy a wreck they've seen. the more
the pity. You see them. sirf'
81 see Them"
"Well, sir, with this one wreck,
thirty three years ago, there was moth
ing washed ashore but bit of girl
baby three or four years old, with a
skin like a lily leaf, and great black
eyes. Hiram Goldby found her on tht
rocks. He was boy of twelve years,
strong and tall, and be carried the
child in his arms to his mother. You
may see the cottage, sir, the second
white one on the side of the hill"
81 see it"
"weIl, Hiram took the baby there.
and Mrs. Goldby was the same as a
mother to it-e good woman, God bless
her soul-the widow Goldby.'
''Is she dead, thenr
"Aye, sir, six years agone, The baby
was telling you of, sir, talked a for
eign lingo, and was dressed beautiful
in rich clothes, that must have cost a
power of money. But never would
Hiram or the widow sell them, putting
them up carefully in case the child was
ever looked for. She was then pretty,
sir, and that dainty, that everybody
called her Pearl, though she was not
like our girls, but afraid, always deadly
afraid of the sea. 1 have seen her
clench her mite of hand and strike at