Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-11-18

In<m lor MIN. Iney itvS0, they DreatneQ,
they spoke. He was tired Of death and soli-
tude. -5.a.st ..f ...t-.... a..
He CROPPED back into the hut. The oil was
low, and he could not relight the lamp. He
threw himself in the dark upon the bed.
When he walked, the birds were shrill in the
hot air, and the sun glsrej in.l .-,i -,
81 will go now" he said, aloud. ST am
glad can co." and crept to his feet. ..i ~
He took two steps staggered-and fell
back. He lay for some moments, stricken
more with establishment than alarm. His
first words were: ..t.- o. t..sfft .-.,.,.,.,- q.
"Lord God! After all-after all Pve gone
through-Lord God Almighty, II You'll be-
lieve tive got &c :" ..f .. fr- -.
This was on Wednesday morning. Night
fell, but no one came. Thursday-but out
side the hut no step stirred the parched,
white dust. Friday-Saturday-no voice
but his own moaning broke upon the sick
mans straintng ear. bFF a u.
As the days passed and no one came to
him, he was aware Of his not being able to
reason with himself clearly about his soil
tude. Growing weak, he remembered the
averted faces of the people for whom he mad
labored, and whom he had loved. In the
stress of his pain their estranged eyes gazed
at him. He felt that he was deserted be-
cause he was distrusted. Patient as he was,
this seemed hard. sflt fliatGiF
''They did not care enough for me to miss
me, (" he said, aloud, gently. "Isuppose i
was not worth it. / had been in prison. 1
was a wicked man. must not blame
them.'
And again:
..They would have come IL they had
known. They would not have let me die
| alone. I don't think she would have done
that. wonder where she is? Nobody has
Growing weaker, he thought less and
PRAYED more. He prayed, at last, almost all
his time. When he did not pray, he slept.
When he could not sleep, he prayed: He
l
of his, which fell from his lips with no more
| irreverence than the kiss of a child falling
upon its mothers hand or neck.
The murderer, the felon, the outcast,
| talked with the Almighty Holiness, rs a man
talketh with his friends: The deserted, dis
trusted, dying creature believed himself to
be trusted by the Being who had bestowed
on him the awful gift Of life.
He thought, while his thoughts remained
his own, most tenderiy and longingly Of those
bered how many keen cares of their own
they had to carry, how many CHASTITY deeds
| and sights to do and bear. 1t was not strange
that he should not be missed. Who was he?
"a disgraced, unfamiliar man, among their
kin and neighborhood. Why should they
think Of him! he said.
Yet he was glad that he could remember
them. He wished his living or his dying
could help them any. Things that his pa
tients had said to him, looks that healing eyes
had turned on him, little signs OF human
love and leaning, came back to him as he lay
there, and stood around his bed, like people,
| in the dark hut.
"They iored me" he said; "Lord, as true
as Pm alive, they did! Pm glad 1 lived long
enough to save life, TO sdre life! I'm much
obliged to You for that! 1 wish there was
sonnet hing else / could do for them.
Lord! I'd be willing to die il it would help
them any. II I Thought could do anything
that way, toward sending them frost
"No," ne added, that amt reasonable.
A frost and a human life amt convertible
coin. He don't do unreasonable things. May
be I've lost my head already. But I'd be
glad to. Thas's all. 1 suppose / can ask
You for n frost. That's reason. Is.
"Lord God of earth and Heaven! that
| made the South and North, the pestilence
and destruction, the sick and well, the living
and the dead, have mercy on us miserable
sinners! Have mercy on the folks that pray
| to You, and on the folks that don'tl Re-
member the old graves, and the new ones,
and the graves that are to be opened II this
helish keat goes on, and send us a blessed
| frost, o Lord, as an act Of humanity! And
| if that amt the way TO speak to You, re-
! member haven't been praying man long
enough to learn the language very wel!.and
that Pm pretty sick-but that / would be
| glad to die-to give them-a great, white,
holy frost. Lord, a frost! Lord, a cool,
white, clean frost, for these poor devils that
have borne so much"
At midnight OF that Saturday he dozed
1
thought while Scip was sick; Of what IL was
like, to be holy; and sadly waking, thought
| of holy people-good women and honest
men, who had never done deadly deed.
al can not be holy" thought Zerviah
Hope; "but can pray for FROST" So he
tried to pray for frost. But by that time he
| had grown confused, and his will wandered
pitifuly, and he saw strange sights in the
| little hut. 1t was as IL he were not alone.
| Yet no one had come in. She could not
| at Y,,idpipht SfranUe-hOV STRANGE I
Who was that who walked about the hutY
| Who stood and looked at him! Who leaned
to him? Who brooded over him? WHO put
! arms beneath him? Who looked at him, as
! those look who love the sick too much to
! shrink from them?
81 don't know YOU" said Zerviah, in n
distinct voice. Presently he smiled. Eyes.
guess do. see now. Pm not used to
| You. never saw You before. You are
| Him I've heered about-God's Son. Gods
Son, You've taken great deal Of trouble to
come here after me. Nobody else came.
| You're the only one that has remembered
me.
| a prisoner of You. Why, yes! They deserted
| Y0u. They let You die by Yourself. What
! did You do it for? I don { know much about
theology. / am not an educated man. 1
never prayed till L come South. 1
forget - What did You do it JorT
| A profound and solemn silence replied.
|
a satisfied tone, rs IL he had been answered,
81 wasn't worth 1t but Pm glad You
came. wish they had a frost, poor things |!
| You won't go away? Well, I'm glad. Poor
things! Poor things! I'll take Your hand,
! IL You've no objections"
| After a little time, he added, in tone Of
| unutterable tenderness and content:
"Dtar Lord =" and said no more.
1t was quiet night. The stars rode on
| as IL there were no task but the tasks Of stars
| in all the universe, and no sorrow keener
| Than their sorrow, and no care other than
| their motion and their shining. The web Of
cloud tloated like exhaling breath between
them and the earth. 1t grew cooler before
the dawn. The leaves of the palmetto over
Scip's grave seemed to uncurl, and grow lax,
and soften. The dust still few heavily, but
the wind rose.
The Sunday bells rang peacefully. The
.:tk heard them, and the ccnvalescent and
the well. The dying listened to them before
they left. On the faces of the dead, too,
there came the look Of those who hear.
The bells tolled, too, that Sunday. They
| 'olled almost all the afternoon. The young
| Northerner DR. Rename. was gone-a reti-