Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1880-11-04
LANCASTER. WISCONSIN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER l. 1880.

| sciZcu Nun ,sHe Staspou anu clutcne &c
into the darkness for support blu,
could touch nothing. At last he
summoned all his strength and gave
one mighty shrek. Down, down
still down! Demons began to ap.
pear and dance wildly about him, a,
last one grasped him tightly by the
throat. He gave one mighty bound
and-nearly knocked over the table
upon which he had been sleeping
and upon which his head had been
resting. For a few moments he sa,
rubbing his eyes perfectly dazed by
this terrible dream; bis fea ures
could not have been more CHASTITY
had it all been real but after look
ing about the room be became calm
er and more selfpossessed. and pres
emily his ewes rested upon the thing
that had futtered from its hiding
place among his dusty papers to the
table. II was a small blue bow, not
soiled or worn, but faded almost
white, as if it had lain many years in
! disuse.
If, from previous perusal of his
character, we have in any way come
to the conclusion that the Judge vas
by nature a merry, gentle hearted
man, or that the smile upon his face
came from a light heart overlooking
with sunshine, or, further, that for
every gray hair sprinkled SO plenti.
fully through his firm. set head, he
could count some noble deed of
charity done for suffering humanity
until holy reverence had come to
pervade his whole being-I say, If
we have reached any of these con-
illusions in regard to the man before
us-we are wonderfully mistaken.
Once upon time the Judge was a
noble man; but the taking on each
year of some new political cunning
had crowded off, bit by bit, the real
character of the man until he had
become wholly artificial. He could
perhaps tell you what he was to-day,
but as to what he would be to NOR.
row he could not tell with any Ger.
talnty until he had read his daily
paper. He had reached that danger
GUS reef within a mans life time
where conscience and character can
be warped and bent and suitably
applied to every occasion.
But the artificial smile was gone,
and something of the real Judge
came back as he sat tonight
so deeply lost IN thought reading the
inscription upon this pale-blue tomb
stone-this knot of faded ribbon
Indeed, there was shiver conVulsed
his stout frame as he laid his fingers
lightly upon it, and sigh escaped
bis lips as he quickly withdrew his
hand again
OF a certainty do we know that
person cannot dream dream unless
its. foundation be based upon some
occurrence of real life. The strange
chimera of our sleep is begot of real
lty, however grotesque ard unnatural
its elimination may be Thus, the
Judge had but re enacted in his
dream scene of long ago. To be
sure, Its parts, as we have seen, were
highly colored, and at the close his
spirit had wandered to the land of
COLLINS and ghouls, yet these were
but trifling departures from that
which had transpired between him
self and his daughter years long gone.
OF late this story seemed to have
received new impetus and went
from mouth to mouth among the good
folk and "plodders i the town" till
its proportions and height of color
far exceeded the Judges dream.
Mothers with their little families
around the cheerful hearth would tell
the story with bated breath, and
peer into the darkness and shudder
80 the wind shrieked and moaned
around the house, for twas said that
the Judges daughter had died and
that her spirit, forbidden heaven,
walked with her babe the silent
streets amid the storm, and some
there were who had heard the stified
sobs of the mother and the piteous
walls of the child on the midnight
air.
Lost in deep thought as he was,
the Judge did not fail to hear his
door bell ring Neither did old Jane,
the serving woman, who sat in the
kitchen toasting her feet in the large
oven preparatory to retiring for the
night; and her deep toned mutter.
ings were indicative of sore i'll humor
as she slid her feet INTO her loose
shoes and shuffled off to answer the
call.
Hastily the Judge pulled open
drawer to his writing table and swept
the blue bow, list book, papers and
all into it as ne heard the street door
slam and the sound of feet ascending
the stairs leading to his room. Jane
opened his door, showed in the visi-
tor and then took her way back to
the kitchen along the hall, stumbling
over hat rack, kicking over a spit
toon, and by some mighty gymnasti-
cal feat, the how of which is only
known to the female world, catching
and holding by the neck -nape two
spotted kittens that had been tagging
her her heels
The Judges affable manner and
pleasant smile returned as he half
raised in his chair to greet bis late
visitor Before him stood a girl of
perhaps sixteen years, her slender
form wrapped in worn and faded
shawl. Her face was not lovely be.
yond all description but under fav.
orable circumstances might have
been called passing pretty, though
just at present there was that about
it suggestive of awful fear-a look
that was in keeping with the wild
storm raging without.
"Well, my little girl" said the
Judge, "what can | do for your"
care you Mr.. Apple ?" she an
swered, looking timidly into his eyes.
"Hum-yes-Judge-Judge APP,
Pile; you want something of me ?"
"Yes," he said, hesitatingly; So
want you to 90 home with me-will
you, please ?"
"Oh, yes, certainly, yes; what is
your name, my little girl ?" the Judge