The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1881-11-16

\
J would pay any expense Of her sick
; ness or burial.
Her auditor listened calmly. an,
spoke no word until she had ceased
Then, Strengthening herself, she n
piled
"Silyer and gold have I none; bu
such as | have give ! unto thee,
then descended from the log, tool
her visitors bundle, and led the wa,
into the house.
| In one corner was a bed of straw
made upon poles fastened to th
wall. From these poles she remov
Jed the bed, and laid it in the oppo
site corner took a clean bed ticl
from a chest, went to little barn
filled it with fresh straw, and witt
clean sheets made up an invitin,
bed undressed and washed the we
feet ; put away the bonnet, which
had been such cause for offense Il
the good brothers and sisters ant
soon had her guest in bed and her
self installed as nurse. The bed ir
the other corner was, made up fol
herself and her her two boys, one o
whom was an idiot, made so by Q
brutal beating inflicted by his faith.
er. This beating had changed tht
current of the mothers life, so that
from living a wife, after the plan oil
Paul. with her husband standing in
Gods stead, she became in her owr
right a moral agent, accountable tc
God for all the deeds done in the
body. There in that lone cabin she
had unraveled the contradictions
and the sophistries Of the great apos.
tie and gained standing ground on
which she defended her own right to
life and that of her children.
The mind once clear in a case ol
this kind, all else is easy; for wo-
man who has never worn corsets or
an extra skirt for appearance sake,
and who can, in consequence. WELD
an AK as well as any man of her
size. has no difficulty in making her
rights respected. She had thought
out and written out the whole prob
lem OF the slavery of her sex had
lost respect for the churches, which
had established and maintained that
slavery and so was 'very queer
and not at all respectable, for, if the
Church can no longer burn as witch
es the women who think, she can
make it. very uncomfortable tor
them. This one bore the disapprov-
al of the orthodox with stoical in
difference, and proved a tower of
strength to her sick friend in her
time of need. Her best drinking
cup was gourd F; but she kept it
filed with pure water from a distant
spring, and a golden goblet could
have made it no sweeter to the fe-
vered lips.
From where the sick woman lay,
she could see the house from which
she had come and where her hus-
band still lay in that death stupor.
Every day a messenger came to bring
tidings, which were always the
same Still living" As the two
beds occupied one end of the cabin,
a large fireplace and dresser filled
the other, and this fireplace opened
into an outside chimney, built of
mud and sticks. One forenoon,
while the mistress was occupied with
her guest, the boys, raising an out
cry Of Fire Fire !" rushed and
screamed
Mamma, the house is aiire -
Sure enough. So it. was. The
roof had caught from the chimney.
She got her AK, climbed up, and be
gan chopping away the burning clap
boards, calling to the boys to hand
up the bucket of water and gourd
dipper; but almost her first blow
released store of hazlenuts, which
she had secreted and which now be-
gan to pour down on the floor of the
burning building.
For the nuts the boys began to
scramble, utterly needless to her
calls for assistance. No help was in
reach, and in the extremity the poor
patient crept out of bed, and on
hands and knees reached the chest
where her hostess kept her unre-
corded deed and other valuable pa
pers, secured them. crawled on out
and lay down on the prairie while
the woman with the ex left it on the
roof, came down, flogged the boys,
and made them go for water, while
she took up what was already in
the house, distributed it carefully
from her gourd dipper, then chop
ped and threw away the burning
roof, until the third of it was gone
and the danger passed, when she
came and helped her guest back to
bed and ''set things to right"
But they were destined to alarms.
The country was wild, and there
were many accounts ofrobberies and
outrages, and just then there was an
alarm about ore or more escaped
prisoners. So, when both women
heard the footsteps of two men pass
around the house, between midnight
and morning, herd them speak in
low, cautious tones, wait, then walk
toward the door, it was no wonder
that the brave defender of the house
rose cautiously, secured her gun,
took her position, and stood ready
to shoot whoever opened the door.
But those on the outside stopped,
stood, consulted, then turned and
went away.
They afterwards learned that it
was two good neighbors, who had a
and message to deliver
from the absent husband, and who,
''for fear of frightening the women"
had acted in this strange, suspicious
way, but came in the morning to ex-
plain.
After the fire the fever grew worse,
dclirium set in, and the patient could
seldom know when the message
came that her husband still lived.
Her stout-hearted nurse and the
doctor began to think she might go
before him but when a messenger
came galloping, one forenoon, she
was sane, and too sick to be sorry
that Hiram was released from the
L.~l H., - L -. Ill. -,