Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1878-12-18
Mistellauu.
The Light in the Window.

husband. It's all the light you II hav
think, for there's storm COMING n,
and the moons gone already. You'd beI
ter stay at home, Will.n
And she looked anxiously into her I'm,
bands face, for she knew that there wa
one temptation at the inn that he found
hard to resist, and it was hard TO tell wh,
might happen in some of those wild mr.
ments which followed his drinkino bout,
but now, sober and steady. he turne
ana looked into her eyes with the nj
smile that had won her heart.
III be back soon, KATIE he said
IL remember you and the light"
And then he kissed her, and She listeno
to his firm step going down the road uni
1t died away in the distance.
Then with the hope that always hide
somewhere in loving woman's benrt sb
sat at her sewing, building pretty castle
in the air.
William was to leave of drink entirel
ana they We're to prosper as they ha
never done befsFe; the farm would flour
iSh; the home grow pretty under he
cheerful hands.
They would put by penny for Il rain,
day, and when they were old. Will an,
she would be II nice, cozy, church coin,
old couple, with their children and grand
children about them.
Other children would come, thoucl
their only little one lay in the church
yard, and then a tear fell upon the worl
the mother held in her hands.
1t was once when Will had taken toe
much that he would dandle the child, anC
let it fall and hurt it.
She knew he had killed it, though he
loved 1t as much as she did; he neve
guessed it, and he never should know.
Ioor William! he had only one fault
ana that-oh, yes, he would rid himself O.
that, and all would be we'll
SO she stitched and thought and thought
and stitched, until the candle, sinking il
Its socket, warned her how time had flown
and, turning 10 tho clock, she saw that i
was three hours since William had left her
oauaehed' but not terrified rs yet, Tho
VIE set new candle in the socket and
pound back the curtain, that none of the
light might be lost from the road.
linen she folded her work and sat wait
ing and watching,
Alas! she watched the night away
William never came at all.
lie had been in good company at tho
Inn, and he had been urged to drink until
his senses left him, and when dawn broke
was staggering arm in arm with another
US senseless as himself amongst the docks
and wharves of the seaside town which
was the nearest to his home.
How it happened he never knew any
more than how it was that he let his baby
fall but he had shipped himself for sail
or for years voyage, and when he came
Su1llclently to himself TO remember home
and Katie, I've was out at sea, and to those
about him the tale was nothing but Joke
lie wrote to Katie pentent letter, end
ing with Il VOW TO return to her sober
man; but she never got it,
Perhaps it was lost, as letter is now
and then. However it was, it never clad
dened the poor wifc's aching heart.
All she knew was that her husband had
disappeared-where, no one knew; why,
no one guessed.
The other men ut the inn were not more
sober than he, and the man who served
them had his hands full.
That he was drowned seemed to be the
popular belief, for the water was very
near, and drunken men had walked into ii
before. But at last word fell on Katie's
ear that gave her one straw to hold by.
The miller, who had been ut his work
when he might, had been ut the mill that
night.
Men had passed his gale, and he be-
leved he heard Muller's voice"
And | saw one of EN-, Mrs. Muller,
he said, land he was sailor-with one
of them wide collars turned down. He
was Il sailor, and they were going to the
town."
Then Katie began TO hope. She had
heard of men thus carried oil 10 sea on
long voyages. Not every man desired to
be u sailor and crews were sometimes
short
William will come back" she said !;
and at night, when clouds overcast the
sky, she put her candle in the window as
she had ON the night he left her with II
kiss. If he ever came he should know she
had waited for him.
She found some work to do-sewing, at
which she could earn her bread, and peo-
pe were kind to her, and she owned the
little cottage and lis acre of ground.
There was, no danger Of starving, at
least her body was in no danger, but her
heart-her aching, anxious hcart-how
hungry that was! OF all the world she
loved but one being, Her kindred We're
AL dead. Her babe lay under the willows
within the white palings Of the church
ward. She had no love for gossip or tea
tlrinkings, no heart for talking things
over. Her hopes were bIighted, her heart
was crushed.
The long days were full of miserable
fears; the long nights full OF terrible
dreams.
The letter would have been so much!
She could have been patient with that IN
her bosom; but the fates had not spun 1t
into their web for her.
Perpetual waiting and watching was her
portion. She was always looking out OF
The window for William, always lancying
Ills tirure in that of any one at all near
his height or shape, and always beng DIS
appointed. 1onh, ,ho
,rnth Of those tales of clairvoyance that
we hear, it is that no such power ever
comes TO one in such anxiety rs lnat
winch oppressed Katie. .e.ha. shin
Gould she have had vision OF that snip
in the northern seas, and OF the face OF Iler
husband as be paced the deck and tnouShI
of her, it might have saved her' ior lle
discipline of the vessel had been goou
Thing for William Muller, and ne was III ii
fair wav TO be II sober man Tor HE.
There had been no chance to write 10
the poor woman again.
when they parted from tho snip py
which the lost letter had been sent thoy
went alone into the wilderness OF water,
and the world might have been empty OF
all human beings save the crew OF tha'
one black vessel, for all that they could see
or hear to the contrary c., t,,,
He also was sad and remorselul; Dut
how much happier was the man S ia'e 'llan
the womans. ,.,, ,bo
Action sustained him and he knew inc
limit of his anxiety. g., ~, ~
She had but that window with the sun
falling through it by day and the candle
turning in it by night, the dull routine oi
her daily life. and an illimitable anxiety.
If William never came back, she knew
hat all her life would only he watching
for HIM. And thus born, not so much OF
though her life was hard, as OF
sorrow and yearning, the doom of her
race fixed itself upon her.
Her eyes shono brighter, her skin was
f.Ioorp,. her teeth more DearlY. She gre W