Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1880-01-29
The Heart Of Ice.

setting in.
In the silent seclusion of deep anC
lonely glen, far from any other habitation,
and some length from the public road,
stood small cottage, known as the Glen
Farmhouse, the property of Ralph Granite,
who resided there with his wife, and had
done so for thirty years.
He was cold, hard man-cold and hard
| as the name he bore.
| Mary Granite, his wife, was the exact re-
verse, with motherly face and warm
and tender heart.
On this bleak night Of December, this
night of storm, wind and SNOW, Granite
and his wife were quietly seated in the
large, homely kitchen.
At last Mrs Granite, dropping her knit
ting in her lap, broke the silence of the
room.
Il wonder where Alice is tonight,
Ralph?''
''What do you care where she is, eh?"
roughly exclaimed the farmer, looking up
from his paper with dark frown.
"A night of storm never comes but
think of my poor girl 1t was on such a
night as this that she left our home, and
L
| my heart"
''Banish her from your thoughts as have
done--the disObedient girl.
ooh, Ralph, Ralph, it is unfatherly to
talk thus Remember that she is your
daughter, my child-the only child God
ever gave u.s." .. .- .-.
And tears came rushing to the poor moth
er's eyes.
"What claim has she on us nowl A
very dutiful daughter she proved didn {
shel" cried the father, bitterly. "When
Alice disobeyed me by marrying that fop,
George Convey, | tore her face and me-
mory out of my heart
'.Alice was never a disobedient child
never, never!' wept the mother. ''She
loved man who loved her truly. She
came to you and told you all; he, too,
came, and asked your consent, to marry
Alice What was your answer2 You re-
fused, insulted him, and thrust hin from
your house"
''As I'd do again." muttered the farmer,
between his clenched teeth.
"Ihey were married in the village
church. went on Mrs. Granite, land took
the night train for the city two long years
ago. From thai time to this her fate and
where abouts have been mystery, and she
has never written to u.s."
Eyes, she wrote" said Ralph Granite,
his face growing still harder. ''She sent
two or three letters after she went away,
but destroyed them the moment received
them.
''And you never told me-" Oh, Ralph,
Ralph, that was cruel!'
''Not more SO than her disobedience to
her fathers wishes. Come how. drop the
subject"
Once more silence reignNd in the farmers
cottage.
Ten O clock came and the storm continu-
ed with unabated fury.
| The farmer and his wife took up their
candle, and securely fastening the door,
took their way up 10 their chamber above
the kitchen.
They had scarcely entered the apartment
when pitiful cry was wabted to their ears
from without.
Mr. Granite raised the window and put
his head out.
"Whose there?'' he asked, trying to
penetrate the darkness.
8 A poor woman who has lost her way in
the night and Storm" said the sorrowfnl
voice.
"Where do you want to go?"
81 wanl to reach the village, but Pm not
able to walk any further. Won't you give
me shelter. Pray do-only till morning."
spoke the wanderer out in that awful
storm.
"Poor thing" cried GRANTEES wife. 'I'n
go down and open the door,"
mo you won't.
And the farmer stayed his wife; then
said 10 the woman:
You follow the road couple q mile
and you'll reach the village. We don't take
IN wanderers.
He ,hut down the window, and his wife
fell into chair weeping.
"Ralph, Ralph!" she cried, through her
tears, ''your heart is ice The poor woman
will perish!'
to bed.
Man without heart, sleep on, for it is
the last night of peaceful slumber that will
ever visit your pillow. The morrow's
dawn will bring to your house horror
which will blight, darken, and shadow your
future on earth; it will rend your icy heart
as it was never rent before
And the poor woman of the storm,
where was she Out on the lonely road,
where snow lay in drifts, and the wind tore
by. On, on, her step faltered, she stopped,
then fell.
Fierce nowled the wind, heavier fell the
snow, and on the roalsidess started up a
face; white as the snow that surrounded
it, the face of the strange woman, rigid in
death, in her shroud OF snow.
Mnrn;,,er Anrrrr,nd with hlnp RkY