The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-10-27

TEE WANDERERS RETURN.

On wild October night, Elsie Ray
mord sat beside her solitary fireside in
deep thought-in thought that, truth to
tell, was tinctured with sadness. 1t was
not often that she sat thus, for she was
the most cheerful and busy of little
women, the best of sisters and aunts and
the kindest of neighbors, This being the
case, she found little leisure for thought
or solitary musings, for in some one of
these relations, work enough was always
provided for her
But tonight she seemed to have arrived
1t one of the hating places in her life.
Her young sister Sophia, the last of her
charges, had that morning been married.
The old gray homestead had been left
desolate when her smiling face went
from it-at least so Elsie thought. True,
she had a tribe of small nephews and
nieccs staying with her, while their
mother, Estes sister Mary, and her hus-
band accompanied the bridal party on
their tour, but they had long been asleep,
and there was no token of their presence
IA the somewhat trim looking room, cx-
Iept great basket of playthings in a cor
ner and row of shoes, headed by Willie's
new boots" and closed by baby Esie's
my bronzed slippers, that were ranged
against the wall.
Elsie's father had died suddenly, the
'ictim of a fatal accident, and his widow,
overwhelmed by the sad and terrible be-
reayement, soon followed him. With
her dying breath she commended her
youngest children to the care of their old
rot sister, and exacted from her prom
i~e that she would devote her life to them.
The girl could hesitate at no demand
made in the last feeble accents of her
lying mother. She lifted the little un-
conscious babe from the feeble arms that
lasped it, and holding it close to her
. oooom, and looking upon the fearful faces
It The little group gathered around the
dcath-b2d, gave the required promise.
In an hour her mother had ceased to
5fcathe, and Elsie's lfc-work had be-
4un. Rut it was not until the sad cere-
monies of the funeral was over, and the
iiltlc family hal returned to the desc
ota home, that Elsie fully comprehended
III ,hat she had undertaken.
None who have truly loved will fail to
CON, prehend the struggle that for the fol-
owing weeks went on in Elsic's soul. 1t
F;ls 10 slight sacrifice thal was demanded
Il Elsie; duty and love, her promise to
the dead and her VOWS to the living,
we're the antagonists that contest, d
every inch OF ground. John Francis
loved Elsie full we'll enough to have
aided her in her life task He saw no
,e'~on iii the duties she had undertaken
why she should not fulfil her VOWS, and
"a Incoming his wife divide the burden
OF her re Possibilities and care.
Blu she thought differently. She felt
lhaC she had no right to allow his gene
,'sity to lead him into such q sacrifice.
He was young ard lite lay bright and
'9ag before him. Should she allow the
aadow Of her care to project across the
,unNy path? Should she seek to lay
Jipon his shoulders the burden that
Weighed her down and doomed her to a
,te of toll? She could endure and sacri-
icc much for the children, so dear to her
by ties of blood-thc sacred legacy of her
lead parents. But to him they were
nothing, save for her sake. and she
might have seen him grow weary and
iiscontented with the untimely cares
that marriage with her must throw
upon him.
So Elsie and John Francis parted, as
they feared. forever. When her lover
found that no arguments nor prayers
could change her purpose, that She had
.olcmnly recorded her vow to the dead,
aud was fully prepared to perform it to
10 the uttermost, even to the sacrifice OF
,er dearest hopes and most cherished
wishes, he disappeared from the neigh
Jorhood without farewell to any one
who had known him.
After q time a letter came to the par
5h clergyman to tell that he was safe
md ABOUT to sail for a foreign land, and
fr9u that hour, for all those twenty
,ears, no tidings of John Francis had
fallen upon Elsie Raymond's ears. When
>he knew that he WAS gone and would
not return, she carefully gathered TO-
gother every little memento of the hap
ny season of her love and locked them in
;he caskct he had given her, thcncctorth
o be TIE shrine Of her affections. Then
~tcrnly and uneomplainingly she re
turned to her life task.
Wear after year rolled on. Elsie spun
and wove, and directed her maidchs and
her farm lalorers, and taught and
nursed her brothers and sisters, and in
all things strove to supply to them the
place of the parents they had LOST.
In time the wounds Of her heart healed,
at last they ceased to bleed at every
touch, and learned to find solace in the
Election of her children, as she called
chem, while habit made her duties light
and almost pleasant.
The midnight hour had already passed
when Elsie rose to retire. Her long,
lonely vigil had made her timid and
nervous, and she could hardly rcprcss a
shrek Of alarm, as just as that moment a
heavy knock was heard vt the door,
and resounded through the house.
But Elsie's only Thought vas of a sum-
-. l.. E. ~