Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1881-09-07
water heaving slightly under her up
raised handa2 She Sou Il Old or hnr

| WdCor ueaVIuS SuSnGly unQer nor up
raised hands? She saw it. Old as he
eyes were, they caught the wished-fo
sight-her breath came quick and fast
she fixed her eyes more firmly than eve
on the water-her thoughts on what sh
was doing. She bent nearer and neare
she prayed as she had not prayed fo1
years, and faster and faster came the
words of the old rhyme which had beer
stored up unused in her memory since
the earliest days of her childhood;
rhyme handed down from centuries from
witch mother to witch daughter, in the
cold far north, where her fore-elders
ships went to and fro. Again she fan.
cied that the sluggish water-the water
80 hard of hearing-stirred, and this
time it seemed to her that it moved more
thoroughly it was not so much 6
sparkle as regular upheaval of the en-.
tire body. She had no doubt this time
Assuredly she had seen it moving, and
she laughed silent laugh and prayed g
stronger prayer She barred her wrin.
killed. arms and again stretched them over
over it, nor did she once pause to take
rest. Darkness was falling fast; Elsie
still sat there. She could not see
anything in the room; to he1
| aged eyes-tO any eyes-the win
dow itself was now a mere opaque
blur She did not require light fo1
, the work which she had in hand. She
never once relaxed her purpose. She
was convinced that she had seen the
water move in obedience to her will. and
not till it over-leaped the barrier which
confined it and dashed over its edge be-
fore her eyes would she be satisfied. for
| then she would know that fierce storm
| would be raging on the wide waste of
waves over which that false deevn Davie
was now making his way. She had seen
| the water sparkle with the first faint i'm
pulse of movement-she had afterwards
seen it rise and fall. So she told herself.
| and so she believed: then darkness had
come. Darkness might come-her hopes
were strong; she felt absolutely confident
that if daylight would but return for a
minute or two she would now see mimic
waves swelling higher and higher until
their tiny heads tossed themselves in
tiny white crests, and it would not be
one wave only that she would see, but
wave succeeding wave atmeasured inter-
walls, each rising and falling and rising
again, but always more and more anger
ly. She gloated over the thought, and
repeated her rhyme still more fercely,
and though the darkness was now COM
plete, her gaze was more intense than
ever. She was weary and fatigued
but it was the dull thing called body
which felt fatigued; her spirit was
brighter and stronger and more resolute
than ever; and SO she sat until suddenly
an angry gust of wind dashed against
door and window, ratified their fasten-
ings noisily, and shrilly passed away.
Then she let her hands fall onher knees,
and then she cried aloud. "The Lords
name be blessed and praised forever and
for evermore.
She looked up. ALI was dark; but
! when she tottered to the window she
saw a faint fragment of moon over
which the clouds were driving fast.
| Again she heard the wind as it swept
round her frajl cottage in menacing and
wrathful gusts. The wind was rising
outside, and in the window-seat sat the
poor girl whom she loved better than any
one thing-the daughter of her own
dearly-loved lost daughter. She was
sleeping with her head lying against the
window -sill. Elsie could not see her,
but she put out her hand, and felt her
warm, soft throat and hair. "Sleep
away, my honey" said she, kindly;
"sleep while thou art able. I'm feared
the wind will not let thee sleep long,"
The girl did sleep, and the old woman
left her and went and sat down by the
embers of the fire, listening to the howl
ing of the wind, and wandering what
news she would hear when morning
came. At last, worn out by fatigue
and excitement, she herself fell into a
sound sleep.
About five in the morning she awoke,
chilled to the very bone. She was sit
ting by her burned-out fire. cold and
desolate. It was till dark, and she did
not know how to find light.
"Phnbe, my BARN, where art thou p
cried she.
| No answer was returned.
"She has crept her way into bed and
is lying there lost in heavy sleep, poor
thing" thought Elsie, remembering all
that the unhappy girl had gone through.
"She's asleep, and once asleep shell
stay asleep, and so she may for me,
poor lass; I'll not awaken her to trOu.
ble.'
So she sat where she was for some
time longer, until the cold made hel
teeth chatter and bones ache. eff only
[ could see to use my crutches. thought
she, I'D make her bed myself. I'm
fit to perish with cold sitting here p
She felt for the flint and steel. She
She felt for the old shoe in which she
kept her finder. She did her best to
strike light, but her hand failed her,
the sparks glanced aside, and she was
forced TO give up the attempt and to sit
where she was awhile longer.
At last day broke; but though she saw
her crutches near ner, she felt too numb
to trust herself to them. There was no
g~lle now. It was bright autumn
morning, and when she saw how bright
it was, her eyes turned to the bed to
look for Phoebe.
The bed was empty. She rubbed he1
eyes, but Phoebe was not there, and
when she saw this a terrible thought
| b ok~ .,.l>l Il.