The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1880-02-26

went away, never looking at the sea
without shudder like a death chill. !
All through the war it was just awful,
for Hiram enlisted on board man-o'-
war, and Pearl was just a shadow when
he came home the last time
"After the war %
''Ies sir; but he made no money Of /
any account, and so he went again, after
staying at home long spell. Well, he
never came back. 'Twasn't no manner
Of use a telling Pearl he was lost; she'd /.
just shake her pretty head and say; /
He'll come back Not mite of mourn
ing would she wear, even after his own /
mother gave him up and pat Oh black; /
for sir, it stands to reason he's dead /
years ago"
''It looks so.
"Of course it does; nobody else doubts
it but Mrs Goldby. Old Mrs. Goldby's I.
last words were: I'm going to meet /
Hiram, and they say the dying know.
But even that didn't make Pearl think
so. She woie mourning for her who /
had been the only mother she knowed Of, /
but no weeds. Weeds was for widows,
she said, and she wasn't widow"
"But the stone =
"Well sir, I'm coming to that. 4 year !
ago, sir, fue gentleman from France
came here hunting for child lost on
this coast. He'd heard of Pearl by hap
pen. chances, if there is such, and came .
here. When he saw tuesclothes, he just /
tainted like woman"
''She was related, then 2"
The strangers voice was husky, but
the sea air was growing chill.
''Her father ar.
''He took her away
He tried to- He told her OF splen- I,
did home he had in New York, for he'd
followed his wife and child, sir, to a city |
they had never reached. He was rich |
and lonely. lie begged his child to 60,
but she would hot. Hiram will come /
here for me- she said, and he viii find me |
where he left me.
"On what has she lived:"
Sewing, sir, mostly. The cottage
was old Mrs. Goldby's and bless you,
Pearl did not eat much more than bird, |
and her dresses cost next to nothing.
But there's no denying she was very
poor,-very, and yet the grand bouse
and big fortune never tempted her. So
her father came on and on to see her, I
until April. And he died, sir, and left |
our Pearl all bis fortune and the grand |
house in New York. Bnt she'll not so,
sir, she'll die here, waiting for Hiram,
who'll never come"
The stranger lifted his face that had |
been half hidden in his hand and said
''rhere was shipwreck ii the Pacific !
ocean. Davy, years and years ago, aud I
one man only was sayed-saved, Davy, |
by savages, who made him 4 slave, the |
worst of slaves But one day this sailor |
saved the life of the chiefs daughter, I
who was in the coils of a hugssnale, and |
tha chief released him. More than that, |
he gave him choice spices and woods, |
ana sent him aboard the first passing |
ship. So the sailor landed in great |
city, sold his presents and put the gold |
in safe keeping. Then he travelled till I
he reached the seaport town where he |
was born, and coming there at sunset,
beard the story of his life from the lips
of a man cutting his tombstone"
Not a word spoke Davy. Standing
erect, he seized an immense sledga ham
rner, and with powerful blows from the
strong, uplifted arms, dashed the marble
into fragments. Then, painting with ex-
haushon, he held out his brawny hand |
to the stranger-a stranger no longer.
eve done no better work in my life
than I've done in the Last five minutes,
Hiram. Go home, man, and make
Pearls heart glad She don't need it,
Hiram-sbe doa't need it. You asked |
me about the stone. The neIghbors
drove her to ordering it, twitting her that |
now size was rich, she grudged the stone |
to her husbands memory. So she told |
me to cut it, but says, Don't put dead |
upon it, Davy-put lost at sea; for
Hiram lost, but he'll be found and come /
back to me-" She never looked at it, |
Hiram, never. And there's not an hour, /
nor hasn't been for ten years that she
hasn't been looking for you to come back. /
Go to her, man, and the Lords blessing
be upon both of you"
SO, graspiug the hard, brown hand, |
Hiram Goldby took the path to the little |
white cottage in which bs had been born |
forty-fve years before. The sua had set |
and the darkness was gathering, but a
little CLEAN of light streamed from The |
window of his cottage. He drew near |
softly, and standing on the seat Of the I
porch, looked over the half curtain into /
the neat, but poor sitting room.
"It was not the grand house, PEARLS I
heritage il New York, bat Pearl herself /
was there. A slender woman, with
pale, sweet face, aud black hair smoothly |
banded aud gathered into rich braids at /
the back OF her shapely head. Her dress +
was d plain dark one, With white TufIies, /
cuffs, aud an apron.
She has been sewing, but her work /
was put aside, and presently she came to |
the open window and drew aside the cur
tain. She did not see the tail figure
drawn closely against the wal! in the
narrow porch; but her dark eyes looked !
nonrnfaiIy toward the sea, glimmering
in the half light
My darlingi" she whispered, s'are
vo,l dead anI Lss x-,,,r S,,i,.,+ o,-,., =, /