The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1879-02-05

. Ufaci6t
" No answer.
mot a very warm welcome to
homeless fellow ten years away
he said. The old lady had crept
Your mothers gone, Captain.
hoped you'd heerd on't afore you g
here. Wonderful good woman Su,
a clean house, and SO good to m'
She was allus askin' me to cup
tea. Never had nothin' go to n
heart so since my John died p
"AnG where's Gracie?"
"She had her baby's layin' asid
: her P' and then, between her sob
the kind old woman told the pitifl
story.
George Reeverly's eyes grew yer
black and his lip very white. H
went straightway to the new graves
and, with curses in his heart, b
wept like a child. And that mai
had been the cause There wa
much talk in the village, but the
Captain kept his own thoughts.
The Betsey was ready much soon
er than usual for the next trip. The
Captain never seemed so anxious to
be away from the town. Some lum-
ber was laid in, with extra qusnti-
ties of corn, potatoes and unground
-four, but why. the men could not di-
vine. The night for starting came.
There was q knoek at the door of
the young physician, who was just
preparing to leave the village, You
are to go on a Journey" said the
Captain. 0Take your clothes and
books, if you want 'em.
The young man struggled, but
sailors arms were too strsng. and
he was buried On to the ship. From
that time on, no one spoke to him
save once, when a sailor was com.
mauded to print in India ink, across
his forehead, so that the world might
read, This man robs womanhood,"
and, on either hand, that it might
be forever in his sight, the word,
GRACE"
That was an indescribable journey.
Going away from kindred, he knew
not whittier; but he had sent anoth.
er on longer Journey. The days
wore away iD bitter, sitting thoughts.
What was their plan for him? How
could he ever appear before the
world, branded as he was2 Would
they bury him IN the ocean, where
no law could reach them because the
world would say his penalty was just?
What would life amount to if he liv.
ed? Where would it be apentg He
slept and ate little. Lines were
growing along his brow and about
his eyes, After weeks of anguish
an island came in sight. Thither the
ship turned her course and stopped.
It was desolate place, with no sign
of habitation for nan or beast.
Rock bound, the ocean washed up
with the same sound it used TO have
against the cliff, where Grace and he
had so often sat, and from whence
she went to her death. There was a
solitary clump of trees, just like the
spot where they found her body.
Must everything remind him of
her?
The lumber was taken out. Then
quick hands fashioned rude shell
ter. Sufficient food was placed in
the hut, and seed for planting.
Then as the Betsey made ready for
starting, the captain said in a cold,
hard way. This is to be your home
Remember p
"Great God Nor' gasped the
young nan, skill mel Do anything
rather than this death by inches.
shall go wildF'
"Another went wild for you |" and
the Betsey moved cut from her bar.
rem moorings, and there was only the
far off sky, the limitless ocean aud
the desolate waste whereon he
stood,
Should he kill himself? A man
who robs another of life usually has
not the courage to rob himself. We
are creatures of necessity. We ac-
eept what We must. With faltering
steps he walked around his prison.
There was not one thing to love, not
flower, or bird, only the monotone
of the sea that had no kiuship with
joy.
Tired, broken. an old man in a day,
he flung himself down in his hut to
sleep. Nature is kind, even to her
enemies, and be slept. He dreamed
that he aud Grace sat again on the
headland. and She talked, in her
purity and trust. of her confidence
in him, her belief that he could do
no wrong; of their peaceful and
blessed future, and of the joy her
brother would feel when he came
home, for he so revsrenced a noble
man. How pretty their home should
ha dnUyn ~ yhara tIa..- -. II - - -