The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1880-01-07
foiled me at the argument, I asked him

dared not trust the gun in other hands.
He was the only one who understood
how to properly handle it, and he felt
obliged to attend to it. He told me
how many accidents had happened
through the mistakes of inexperienced
and careless persons, and he could nos
feel right to neglect the duty he had
promised to perform.
"That was in the afternoon. At 6
O'Clock it was time for me to start fo1
the landing place, if I meant to go; but
would not go unless my husband
went. He had sent for carriage to
axe me down, but I would not use it.
I shrank away into fit of the sulks,
and so remained until it came time for
Jacob to go away with his gun. As he
was putting on his hat my temper burst
forth into wild fame, and his calm
answer only maddened me. At length I
pushed him beyond the bounds of hui
man endurance, and he turned upon me
more sternly than he had ever before
done. He did not speak angrily, but
he spoke as an offended parent might
have spoken to an offending child. This
set my blood completely afire, and I
cannot tell you all the wicked things I
said.
"'Annie,' he said to me, as he stood
near the door, it might have been bet
ter for both of us if we had never met
II answered him hotly and passion
ately that [ hoped we might never meet
again: If you were dead said I, L
should be happier than I am now!'
No, no, Annie, you do not mean
that he replied to me.
And cried out that I did mean it.
and I declared that T hoped T might
never see him again alive. And he
went away as I said those words.
my dear girls, do you think such
words could ever have come from nv
lips? All, you do not know to what
wild and wicked results of language a
course of unbridled license will lead.
If, when Ruth Gray is angrily disputing
with her husband, some shorthand
writer could take down her words Just
as they fall from her lips, and should
afterward show them to her, she would
honestly declare that she never, never
spoke such things. And so, when many
mothers are fretfully disputing with their
children, could they hear themselves as
others hear them, they would be
shocked beyond measure. When pas
sion becomes our master we are blind as
we'll as insane, and the sin is not in what
is then said, but rather in allowing the
adversary the first foothold.
my husband went away and left me
alone, and when he had gone I sat
down and cried till I was tired. By
and-by I heard the report of the can
non, and I thought, suppose some &C.
cident should happen to Jacob! Sup
pose he should be killed! Suppose
they should bring him home deadl AS
these thoughts came to me, I remem-
bered what good, kind husband he
had been, and I also remembered how
cruel and unjust I had been. Again
and again came the booming report of
cannon, and at each report the dread
grew stronger and stronger upon me.
Oh, what would I have then given
could have recalled the wicked words
had spoken! But they had gone
forth, and I must abide the result.
Heavier and heavier grew the weight
upon my heart, until at length
thought T should 60 crazy if Jacob did
not soon return. My crime doomed up
before me darkly and threateningly
and it seemed to me that my husbands
death was to be my punishment. Oh,
when would the firing cease, and when
would my husband come home, that
might fall upon his neck and ask his
pardon for all the wickedness I had
done?
"The firing ceased at length, but
instead of hopefulness, the dread be-
came heavier. was hunting for my
bonnet, intending to go out and meet
my husband, when I heard heavy feet
in the garden. The cloud had settled
down and the thunder crash had gone,
Men came in and told me not to be
frightened-my husband was hurt, but
they hoped not seriously. Perhaps
they thought I was calm; they did not
know that my heart was frozen, and
that the fount of emotion was shut up
Then other men brought my husband in
on wide beard, and saw that his limbs
we're limp and ifeless, that his face was
like marble, and that there was blood
upon the beard-blood tricking down
upon the floor! And I heard them
talk; they told me that he had been run
over by the heavy gun-carriage-that
in coming down the hill from where
the salute had been fred, men and
boys, in wild confusion, had seized the
trail-rope, and that my husband, in at.
tempting to prevent the rush, had been
knocked down and run over.
1.-Two doctors came. I heard them
talk of broken leg, of broken ribs, and
of other injuries, and during all this
time I was as one in horrid dream
unable to move or to speak, and almost
suffc eating. By-and-by I heard one Of
the doctors say that he would live, and
then I sank down senseless.
"When I came to my senses it was
night, and. one Of the peighbors sat a
:n,y bedsid4 I:tbM tEe3n I wished tc
:see my husband: but Il was informed
that be was asleep, and that T must not
|: disturb him the1t.: LII the: 1ncrhing !
WENT to- him; and no put vi phi; Well
arm and drew me down upon the pillow
and kissed me. And he told me not tc
worry myself; he was badly hurt, but
! if would nurse him and love him he
would soon get well.
HT.oro 1,;,,o1 ~, -s>..1 L.