New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1878-06-05

| - y =
wouldn't testify against me-
Indeed should. = returned Mr.. Dean,
with the air of stern. impartial Judge.
20, papa, won't believe it!'
And Alice took seat upon her fathers
knee.
EYES," said the inexorable father, l,
mean it. If you burn Mr.. Marshall;s barn,
I shall tell all / know about the natter
'sAnd send me to prison?'
.sTo be sure. l would be sorry, of
course, as it would deprive me Of a val
liable housekeeper. Nevertheless, l
should feel bound to do it,
And Mr.. Dean, looking into the large
blue eyes which gazed at his with such
a serious expression, seemed half in earn
| est.
"Come, come, Alice he exclaimed, at
length. at is high time for us to put a
stop to such talk as this; and, what is
more. you must promise me not to har-
Dor such dangerous notions in that busy
brain of yours
| II can't promise. It is impossible to
control ones thoughts, you know re-
turned Alice, with shake of the head
that was comically serious.
'Very WE'LL said Mr.. Dean; ssThen
must put you in strait jacket, and keep
you where you will be in no danger of
doing mischief"
Here the pretty incendiary burst into
| her usual merry laugh, kissed her father
babe him goodnight, and went to her
room, coming back to say:
Il won't burn the barn tonight. papa,
so you can rest in peace"
1t was late in March, and the day had
which come unexpectedly, and, taking us
unawares, half PROSTATE us with their
sudden he. at. Clouds had been threat
ening all the evening, great masses which
seemed to gather blackness as they rolled
westward, and at midnight low growls of
thunder began to break the stiffness, and
the big drops Of rain to patter noiselessly
against the window-pa
Alice awoke, and lay watching the
vivid dasheses which now and then light
ed up her room and left it in blacker
darkness than BEFORE. when suddenly
there came sharp. deafening crash, then
peal after peal Of thunder, which seemed
to shake the old house to its very founda-
its every inch OF mortar and stone.
| Alice buried her head among the bed
clothes, and Law quaking with fear and
half benumbed by the shock. When she
at last ventured to uncover her head and
look out from her retreat, the room was
all aglow, every object in it as plainly
seen as at monday. It could not be the
lightning, for it remained, steady and un-
interrupted, each moment growing bright
er and brighter. Jumping from her bed,
she rushed to the window, and saw a
sight which chained her to the spot, for
getful of every thing but what was before
| her.
| The barn was in flames!
The lightning had struck it and set fire
to its contents. Tons upon tons of hay
were burning fercely Their dry mass
es, kindled into huge red mountain of
roaring, leaping flames, shone luridly
upon the black sky, and glared over the
country for miles around.
In the weird, fitful beauty of the scene
Alice was for the time totally unmindfu-
that it was of any direct, personal inter
est to her; but when it suddenly occur
ed to her that it was, she few to her
fathers room. half wild with excitement
and delight
Mr.. Deans room was on the opposite
side of the house, and he had seen no
signs of the fire. Being sound sleeper
the thunder had only partially disturbed
him, so that he was no more than half
awake, when Alice came bouncing to his
bedside, exclaiming:
30, papa. papa! the barn is burning;
but / didn't do it. You see I was right.
though; for Providence has taken the
affair into his own hands, and saved me
the trouble"
"Alice, are you crazv?" said Mr.. Dean,
as by the dim light of the night-lamp he
saw her whirling about the room, per
forming rapturous pas seuz, and look
ing, in her long white gown, like very
trisky COST. She had no little trouble in
convincing her father that she was in
her right mind, and inducing him TO
follow her, as she hurried back to her
post by the window, to watch the re-
mainder of the brilliant spectacle.
There was no more steep that night for
the family in the stone house; and when
morning broke, cloudless and beautiful
after the storm, there lay the untarnished
landscape spread out before them in all
its old familiar beauty, and Marshalls
barn a heap of ruins 1T their feet.
For one short week Mr.. Dean and his
daughter rejoiced over their unlocked for
deliverance. They blessed the storm.
and congratulated themselves morning,
noon, and night, as they gazed upon the
unbroken prospect which had never