The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1880-07-14

Ut a. .tIN gittt biStdliCc- tiS lilCii lilst'
think of an earthquake or the las
day-then drawing nearer and near
er and losing something of It's hor
ror and improbability-then comm!
to be part and parcel, nay nearly tn,
whole sum and substance of m,
daily thoughts, and resolving itsel
into a question of means and safety
not of doing or abstaining from the
deed.
/ While this was going on withir
me, / could never bear that the chilC
should see me looking at him, anc
vet / was under a fascination which
made it kind of business with me
to contemplate his slight and fragile
figure and think how easily it might
be done. Sometimes | would steal
up stairs and watch him as he slept
but usually | hovered in the garden
near the window of the room in
which he learnt his little tasks; and
there, rs he sat upon a low seat be-
side my wife, | would peer at him
for hours together from behind q
tree; starting ike the guilty wretch
was at every rustling of a Leaf, and
still gliding back to look and start
again.
I Hard by our cottage, but still out
of sight, and (if there were any wind
astir) of hearing too, was a deep
sheet of water. / spent days in
shaping with my pocket-knife a
rough model of a boat, which / fin
ished at last and dropped in the
child's way. Then ] withdrew to a
secret place which he must pass il
he stole away alone to swim this
bauble, and lurked there for his
coming. He came neither that day
nor the next, though | waited from
noon till nightfall. l was sure
had him in my net, for | had heard
him prattling of the toy, and knew
that in his infant pleasure he kept
it by his side in bed. | felt no
WEAKNESS or fatigue, but waited pa
tiently, and on the third day he
passed me, running joyously along,
with his silken hair streaming in
the wind, and he singing-God have
mercy npon me!-singing a merry
ballad-who could hardly lisp the
words.
| stole down after him, creeping
under certain shrubs which grow in
that place, and none but devils
know with what terror |, a strong,
full-grown man, tracked the foot
steps of that baby as he approached
the waters brink. | was close upon
him, had sunk upon my knee and
raised my hand to thrust him in,
when he saw my shadow in the
stream and turned him round.
His mothers ghost was looking
from his eyes. The sun burst forth
from behind cloud: it shone in
the bright sky, the glistening earth,
the clear water, the sparkling drops
of rain upon the leaves. There
were eyes in everything. The whole
great universe of light was there to
see the murder done. | knew not
what he said he came of bold and
manly blood, and child as he was,
he did not crouch or fawn upon me.
! heard him cry that he would try
to love me-not that he did-and
then | saw him running back tow
ards the house. The next | saw
was my own sword naked in my
hand, and he lying at my feet stark
dead-dabbled here and there with
blood, but otherwise no different
from what / had seen him in his
sleep-in the same attitude too, with
his cheek resting upon his little hand
took him in my arms and laid
him-very gently now that he was
dead-in a thicket. My wife was
from home that day and would not
return until the next. Our bed
room window, the only sleeping
room on that side Of the house, was
but few feet from the ground, and
/ resolved to descend from it at
night and bury him in the garden.
| had no thought that had failed
in my design, no thought that the
water would be dragged and nothing
found, that the money must now
lie waste since | must encourage the
idea that the child was lostor stolen.
All my thoughts were bound up and
knotted together, in the one absorb
ing necessity of hiding what | had
done.
How | felt when they came to tell
me the child was missing, when |
ordered scouts in all directions, when
/ gasped and trembled at every
ones approach, no tongue can tell or
mind of man conceive | buried
him that night. When ! parted the
boughs and looked into the dark
thicket, there was a glow-worm shin
ing like the visible spirit of God
upon the murdered child. l glanced
down into his grave when had
placed him there, and still it gleam-
ed upon his breast; an eye of fire
looking up to Heaven in supplica-
ton to the stars that watched me at
my work.
| had to meet my wife, and break
the news, and give her hope that the
child would soon be found. All
this / did-with some appearance, |
suppose, of being sincere, for | was
the object of no suspicion. This
done, sat at the bedroom window
all day long, and watched the spot
where the dreadful secret lay.
1t was in a piece of ground which
had been dug up to lie newly turfed,
and which | had chosen on that ac-
count, as the traces of my spade
were less likely to attract attention.
The men who laid down the grass
must have thought me mad. | call
ed to them continually to expedite
their work, ran out and worked be-
side them, trod down the earth with
my feet, and hurried them with
franctio eagerness, They had fin
ished their work before night, and
then | thoughtmyself comparatively
safe.
| slept-not as men do who awake
refreshed and cheerful-but | did