The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1878-10-05
OUR STORY TELLER.
THE STONE.CUTTER'S STORY.

significance of the letters he was cutting
in the white marble. The June sun W as
nearly at the end of the days journey,
sinking slowly to rest upon the bosom
of the broad Atlantic, whose waves
washed the shores of the little seaport
town of Monkton. A stranger, hand
somely dressed in gray, with large, lus-
trous brown eyes, came to the fence that
was around the yard where the stone
cutter worked, and read the lettering,
almost completed ,supon the tombstone
HIRAM GOLDBY,
Aged 80.
LOST AT SEA, JANUARY, 1866
The last six was nearly completed. A
strange pallor gathered for moment
upon the strangers face, and then he
drew long, deep breath, and said:
Is not ten years q long time to be
cutting letters on tombstone, friend ?''
Eli, sir"
The stone-cutter looked, shaded his
eyes with his brown hand, as he turned
his face to the setting sun.
"This is 1876" was the grave reply,
"and Hiram Goldby has been ten years
under the waves"
Well, sir, that's the questions he
there2"
"Is he there? Your stone tells us he
is and has been for ten years..
Yes sir, 80 it does-so it does. And
yet she has ordered it. She came over
week or SO back with a 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, Davv,' she says, and
put it up in the churchyard, and l don't
want to see it. I'll pay you whatever
you choose to ask, Davy,' she says, but
he's not dead, and don't want tomb
Stone Lor, num- says I, he'd a.
turned up up all these years if he was
not dead But she shook her pretty
head, the prettiest ] ever seen, sir, and
said she: My heart never told me that
he was dead, Davy, and Pll never be-
lieve it till my heart tells me so.'"
His sweetheartT' questioned the
stranger.
" His wife, sir-his loving, faithful
wife, that's had property, and loneliness
and misery, her full share, and might
ha' bettered herself"
How was that?"
/" Mr.. Miles, sir, the richest shopowner
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, STRIP
Nothing, nothing. What answer
did the widow make, Mr.. Miles ?'
" If Hiram's dead said she, Pm his
faithful wife, Maybe you are from
the city, sir, and have heard the story of
our Pearl?"
What story is that?'
Well, sir, it's been told many times
more particularly in the last year, but
you're welcome to what / 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, Pll tell you,
that is, if you care to hear it."
ra" do care" was the grave reply; i" l
want very much to hear the story"
Maybe you're some kin to the
Pearl of Monkton-that's what they call
Mrs. Goldby hereabouts. It's matter
OF thIrty-three years back, sir. that
there was wreck off Monkton rocks,
" that you can see from here, sir, now
tides low. Cruel rocks they are, and
many wreck they've seen, the more
the pity. You see them, sir? '
&C / see them"
Well, sir, with thisone wreck, thirty
three years ago, there was nothing
washed ashore but a bit of girl-baby
three or four years old, with a skin like
lilly leaf, and great black eyes. Hiram
Goldby found her on the rocks. He was
a boy of twelve years, strong and tall,
and he carried the child in bis arms to
his mother. You may see the cottage,
sir, the second white one on the side Of
the hill"
see it,
Well, Hiram took the baby there,
and Mrs. Colby was the same as a
mother to ia good woman, God bless
her soul-the Widow Goldby."
Is she dead, then p
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