The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1882-01-28


on me! have mercy on mel"
Bells ringing in the New Year--bells
Ginning in the ears of friends, telling Of
sadness and of hope--bells clashing in
at merry intervals, between music and
laughter, loving kisses, greetings, and
JOY.
Will no one in my fathers house take
pity on me? Am | missed nowherep
The bells chime feasting and gladness,
and am here hanging between life and
death. The jaws OF the grave are be-
meath me, my joints are broken, and the
bells chime on. Would it not be good
deed on this New Year day tosaye mep
0, feasters and jewellers, hear me!
Help! help! 1t is Christmas time!
Help, for Christ's sake, good peopel''
The bells float nearer, and drown the
drip of trucking water; and cry "Help!
help! saying. Nov will call till
die" A film grows over my eyes, but
my voice is strong and desperate as
shout, christmas tidel For Christ's
sake, help, good Christiansl''
A great lighta flash Of fire! For a
moment deem it death; gazing up
ward, / see amid glare of torches
faces-O, they were angels to mel
eagerly peering downward. And close
by me swings a torch, let down into the
depths. Its light falls on my haggard
face; great shout rcnds the night air.
"lie is here. He is safe. He livesr'
| cannot speak, although my lips
move, and my heart stands still as see
one, two, three daring men swing them
selves over the abyss miners, used to
danger-and in moment stout arms
are around me, and am borne upward,
carried gently like child, placed an in
slant on my feet, and then laid down
tenderly on the hearth. am so weary
and faint and worn that liewith closed
eyes, never striving to say a word Of
thanks.
$50 not so near the brink, madam, |
entreatp' | heard voice cry, sharply.
Then Iopen my aching lids, and be-
tween me and the shaft there kneels
white figure, between me and the sky
there bends white face, and tears fall
down upon my brow fast and warm. 1t
was my betrothed, Florian; but even
when she stole her little hand into mine
mime so cramped and numbed that it
gave no response to her tenderness and
even when she stopped and pressed her
lips upon my cheeks, 1 could not breathe
word to thank her.
Yet Florian, dear wife, let me tell
thee now that from the depths of my
happy heart there rose hymn of Joy,
and ! understood from that moment
that thou vert mine, and lowed my life
to thy love.
Then thy sweet lips breathed words
that fell upon my soul like mamma
words of tenderness and pity that made
the torture Of those slow hours in the pit
fade away, so mighty did this reward
seem for my suiferings
/ was carried to Trevesy, and rs the
men bore me along, you walking by my
side, heard them tell the tale of my
servants fright when my horse returned
home alone, and How they came to your
father for tidings of me- Then they
whispered of the painful search through
the day and night, the tracking of my
horses hoofs upon the snow, and the
story of the scared peasant, who all
night long had heard the cry of tortured
ghosts issuing from the earth. And the
story seized upon my Floran's heart
with deadly fear, and turning back upon
the black moor, she tracked the hoof-
marks till they stopped upon the brink
OF the old, forgotten shaft, the shaft of
the worked-out mine, well named the
Great Wheal Mercy
There was found and saved by her
had loved so long. And, dearest, as l
slowly came back to life on that New
Years morning, and family whispered
to you of my long love, my patient ST.
lence, my pent-up sorrow, you, in your
great pity, thinking of my suffering in
the shafts, poured out all your maiden
heart. And your loving words, my
Florian, were sweeter to me than even
the triclSling spring had been in the
Great Wheal Mercy.
So in month you were my wife, and
now sit by happy hearth; and look
ing down on the happy faces of wife
and child / thank God for that crown
ing mercy, thy love, dear one which
saved me on New Years day from
dreadful death in the shaft Of the Great
Wheal Mercy.