The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-03-06

dinner and fed the children on milk por
ridge, and kept them quiet round her
There was no love in them to agitat,
their little souls for their missing father
but the sense of some great calamity
around weighed on them and kept then
still and frightened. Ray was mute
and scarcely moved.
By four it was once more quite dark
The villagers hung about, eowed anC
afraid, like the children. Christmas Day
was passing apd there had been no ser
vices at the church. 1t seemed to then
a thing so terrible that the sin of it would
Lie on them forever.
All the hnshed, whitened moor was
without a sound; the safely folded sheer
bleated now and then, and the cattle
lowed in the byre; that was all; other.
wise, a silence like that of death en-.
wrapped the village and the church, and
the people dared not speak above theil
voices .,
All at once Keziah rose and took the
two little girls, one on each of her strong
arms, with their woolen hoods pulled
over their tlaxen heads.
| "ChrisCs Day must not go by without
a prayer said in His church" she said to
the folks in the kitchen. "Let lis 90 and
pray there for master. Twill save the
day from heathendom."
She went out into the deepening gloom,
into the air that was bitter still, but
quite MINDLESS. Followed by the chill
dren, she went over the snow under the
dark boughs of the trees to the church
door, and entered it, the women going
behind her with lanterns under their
! cloaks. They set down their lanterns in
the middle Of the isle, and the light made
a little pale glow on the tombstones that
formed the pavement.
Keziah kneeled down and PRAYED
aloud, and the voices of the people echoed
hers; when her prayer had ceased and all
was silent, the little faint voice of Ray
stole through the stiffness.
"God, please do not be angry any
more because papa made mistake; he
did not mean to be cruel. Please save
the sheep and the birds and save him.
Please do not be angry any more"
Then his own little voice died away in
sob, and all the women kneeling there
in the cold and the dark wept too. Sol:
emnfy, as hey had entered, and left the
church; some one had said, "Let us sing
a PSALM" but no one could sing, their
hearts were too full, for all their men
were out on the moors, and who could
know what might chance there?
Then Keziah on her threshold turned
and said to her neignbors:
snow thank you all kindly, but 90 to
your homes. Gossiping is bad at such
time as this. For me I will keep by the
hearth with the children. The Lord
snccor their father"
The women were moved at the serious
ness Of woman always mirthful and
neighborly, and each went quietly to her
own cottage. She herself went home as
she said she should, and the little boys
gathered about her knees, and the little
girls slept in her arms Night once more
began to fall over the world of snow. In
the inner kitchen the old peddler and an
old laborer, too old to 60 out and assist
to search, were talking low over their ale
of storms they had known forty long
years before.
Keziah had shut no shutters; she had
lit candles and put them against each
easement so that by chance they might
assist her master if he were able to find
his homeward way.
"Lord help them all, poor souls" she
thou ght, rocking the babies in her arms,
and thinking Of the ships at sea, of the
on the moor, of the sheep lost
on the tors, and the trains blocked in the
snow. .. ...o
Ray, with his hands clasped about his
little naked legs, sat and gazed into the
fire, his eyes wide open, and his mouth
parted.
Pray do not make me go to bed" he
'ail once; "pray do not"
So when she put the others to bed she
let him set up with her by the fire.
"Why won't you 60 to bed, dear??"
.he asked Of him as the cuckoo clock told
nine of the night. /
Bay shuddered.
sIn my bed, last night, when / did
deep, saw papa dead in the snow, and
Gods birds covering him with leaves. l
should see it again now"
"Ah, my poor child!' |
He leaned his head against her, and
they sat in the chimney corner together. |
The cuckoo called ten o'clock.
There was sound Of voices outside
the house, the shuffling Of mems feet in
the crisp snow; the dog barked outside,
the fash Of torches fared red on the lat
tices. Ray and his nurse sprang UP and
rushed to the door and forced it open.
The men were bearing a litter, and the
foremost one cried out: |
'Little master, it's your father. We
have done good Christmas nights
work. Nay, nay, he's not dead; never |
'ear."
Rob rushed out in the snow. |