Smyrna times., 1878-08-21

Mary, show the gentleman into the |
chamber on the left. And look We girl
it's late--youd better go into your own
room and go to Sleep"
While the Tory watches them from the
head OF the stairs, Washington enters the
chamber on the right.
An hour passed. Still the storm beats on
the roof-still the snow drifts OH the hills. |
Before the fire in the dim hall of that farm
house, are seven half drunken men with
that tall tory, Jacob Mannheim, sitting in
their midst, the murderers knife in his
hand. For the lot had fallen upon him.
lie is to 60 up stairs and stab the sleeping
man.
Even this half drunken murderer is
pale at the thought-how the knife trem-
bles in his hand-trembles against the
| pistol barrel. The jeer of his comrades
rouse him to the work the light in one
hand the knife in the other, he goes up
the stairs-he listens first at the door of
his daughters chamber on the right, then
at the door Of the soldiers chamber on the
left. All is still. Then he places his light
on the foor-he enters the chamber on the
| left-he is gone a moment-silencel there
is faint groan! He comes forth again,
rushes down the stairs and stands before
the fire with the bloody knife in his hand.
Look y he shrieks, as he scatters the
red drops oyer his comrades faces, over
the hearth into the fire. "Look it is his
blood-the traitor WashingtonW
His comrades gather round him with
yells of Joy; already, in fancy, they count
the gold which will be paid for this deed,
when 10 ! that stair door opens and there
without even the stain of blood stands
George Washington asking for his horse.
"What!" shrieked the Tory Mannheim,
"can neither steel nor bullet harm you?
Are you a living man ? Is there no wound
about your heart? ? No blood upon your uni
form n
That apparition drives him mad. He
starts forwad-paces bis hand tremblingly
upon the breast of Washington Still no
wound. Then he looks at the bloody
knife, still clutched in his right hand, and
stands there quivering as with death spasm.
/ While Washington looks on in silent
: wonder, the door is flung open, and the
; bold troopers from Valley Forge throng
the room with the gallant form and bronzed
| visage of Captain Williams in their midst.
r At this moment the clock struck twelve.
? Then horrid thought crushes like a
thunderbolt upon the brain of Tory Man
Y helm. He seizes a light-rushes upstairs
s into the room of his daughter on the
e right. Some one had just risen from the
# bed, but that chamber was left vacant. He
goes toward the room on the left, with steps
IS of leaden heaviness. Look how the light
t. quivers in his hand He pauses at the door
II he listens! Not sound-a stiffness like the
o grave His blood curdles in his veins
Gathering courage, he pushes open thu
" door. He enters. Towards that BET
q, through whose curtains he struck so blindl,
ID a moment ago! Again he pauses, not
} sound-a stiffness more terrible than th
le grave. He filings aside the curtains
ell There in the full light of the lamp he
T., young form half covered, bathed in he
st own blood-there lay his daughter Mary
All, do not look upon the face of tn,
es father as he starts silently back frozen t.
p stone but in this pause of horror listen tt
S. the mystery of the deed
il After her father had gone down stairs
Iy an hour ago, Mary silently stole from tn
N chamber on the right. Her soul shaker
le by a thousand fears, she opened the doc
of on the left, and beheld Washington sittin
by table on which were spread char
r. and Bible. Then, though her existenc
as was wound up in the act, she asked hin
sr, in tone of calm politeness, to take tn
rk chamber on the opposite side. Mary ell
IT tered the chamber which he had left.
es, Can you imagine the agony of that girl
.or mind lying on the bed intended for tt
death couch of Washington, she silent
ng awaited the knife, although the kni
ses might be clenched in fathers hand.
of And now that father, frozen to ston
en- stood there holding the light in one han
all and still clutching the red knife. The
ite lay his child, the blood streaming fro
nd that wound in her arm-her eyes covert
ent with a CLASSY film.
Mary p shrieked the guilty father, f
art robber and Tory that he was, still a fatht
lue "Mary!" he called to her, but that wo
ne was all he could say.
,od Suddenly, she seemed to wake from IL
The stupor. She sat up in bed with her glas
are eyes The strong hand of death was up
her. As she sat there erect and ghast
md the room was thronged with soldiers. Ii
ing lover rushed forward, and called her
lue name. No answer. Called again-spo
to her-still no answer. She knew him nj
of Yes, it was true-the strong hand
rho death was upon her.
lie, Has he escapedP p she said IN I'll
mn husky voice.
"Yesr shrieked the father. Lii
h a Mary only, and tomorrow will join t
his camp at Valley Forge"
eat Then that girl-that hero woman-dyi
ing as she was, not so much from the wound
was her arm. as from deep agony which h
the broken the last cord Of life, spread foi
md her arms, as though she beheld form flo
ing there above her bed, beckening her aw
ier, She spread forth her arms as to encl
hat the angel form.
cad Mother" she whispered-while tn
now grouped the soldiers-there with spec
less agony on his brow stood the lov
f to there, hiding his face with one hand, WI
i as the other grasped the light, crouched
no father-that light flashed over the dark b
the with the white form in the centre" Nc
er, thank God ! For with my life / b
ring saved him."
oset Look, even as starting from that blot
,ard couch, she speaks the half-formed wol
low her arms stiffen, her eyes wide open, set
as death, glare in her fathers face.
stab The halfformed words quiver on
white lips of the hero woman-that W
this uttered in q husky whisper, choked by
Ipon death. h.rattle-that word was WASH
Silly TON ~
tn a 80 ,
LITTLE THINGs-This remark of the
lber, John Newton deserves to be written on
the tablet of every heart. 81 see in this wor
ndr' he observes, "two heaps-one OF hur
pale. happiness and one of misery. Now,
40 of take but the smallest bit from the sec
oms. heap and add to the first, carry pc
BODY IT, as / go home, child has droppe
ht, is halfpenny, and if by giving it anotht
ther. can wipe away its tears, l feel that l |
to done something. should be glad, ind
to do great things, but l will not neg
here such little ones as this" These
pazes things are what we all can do and sho