Nebraska advertiser. [volume] (Brownville, Nemaha County, N.T. [Neb.]) 1856-1882, 1882-02-09
BREAD UPON THE WATERS.

In al open spring wagon one beauti-
full morning in June two women were
driving slowly along a lonely road which
wound by the sea. One was much
younger than the other, with gentle
sweet face, and earnest, brown eyes.
There was about her an air of refine
ment and culture which her companion
sadly lacked. She appeared absorbed
in watching the ever-restess sea; but as
the wagon turned sudden bend in the
road, her gaze was attracted by an old
house which stood some distance from
the shore, and she uttered an eXclama-
ton of delight.
How beautiful she said; land yet
how lonely and desolate. Does any one
live there, Mrs. BlountP"
eyes" was the answer, " Mrs. Gran
ger lives there, but she's crazy No
body visits her, and she visits nobody"
How sadr' said the younger woman.
Zone would imagine that living in such
spot as this, with no sound save that of
the breaking of the waves to disturb the
silence, the mind might grow calm"
The house was built of gray stone, and
showed the marks of the many wild
storms which had beaten upon it. Over
the greater portion of it crept the heavy
trailing ivy, in which wild birds had
built their nests. The grand stone steps
before the door were covered with vines.
Several of the shutters, torn from their
hinges, lay where they had fallen,
and over them, too, was creeping the
heavy ivy, which threatened to encom-
pass everything. The chimneys were
broken. cornice and column were warped
and split, and the massive woodwork
about doors and windows was old and
worm-eaten. The grounds about it
were an intricate tangle of brushwood.
Towering shrubs, which had been
planted here and there, had grown from
lack of attention and pruning, into wild
and unshapey trees. Rosebushes,
blooming luxuriously in red, white and
yellow, grew in every direction; and
wild vines and unsightly weeds choked
were broken and dilapidated, and about
the whole place there was look of such
ruin and decay that gentle little Mrs.
Arden's heart ached as she looked upon
it. 1t seemed to her that this lonely
deserted place had story to tell a
story full of humun love, heart-break
and disappointment, and, with her face
full of interest, she asked Mrs. Blount if
she knew what had driven Mrs. Granger
mad.
"Oh, don't know that she's what
you ought to call downright mad" was
the answer; "but she's everlastin' pc
culiar, that's sure. You see, ten years
ago she came down here with her hus-
band and two children to pass the sum
mer. Her husband bought this house
and fitted it up as fine as fiddle, an
they calculated on a fine time, but they
hadn't been settled more two weeks
when the trouble came. Mr.. Granger
and the two children went out in a boat
and was all drowned The body of the
little girl was the only one that came
ashore. They never found the others.
Folks say that Mrs. Granger stood on
the beach watchin' for 'em, when some
men came up with the little girls body.
She carried it herself to the house and
shet herself up, refusin' to see a soul
She's never left the house since, except
to walk to the beach or to the child S
grave. They say she sits on that grave
for hours at time
"And does no one go to see her? Has
no effort to comfort her been made?'
asked Mrs. Arden, whose warm heart
was deeply touched at this story of a
sisters sorrow.
"Oh, folks did go at first" replied
Mrs. Blount. "She'd no lack o. COM
p'ny. Bout everybody in the village
called an tried to show her that her
trouble was all for the best, and was
meant to turn her triffiin' heart to
Heaven, but she never said nothn' in
answer. She sat like a stun, an if she
heard she didn't let on. After a time
she wouldn't see anybody, and of course
people stopped goin' there.
Poor soulr' murmured Mrs. Arden.
go, what should be without my dear
husband and my childP" and she sprang
out of the wagon as it stopped before a
large, comfortable house in the village,
and caught in her arms little golden
haired girl who ran to meet her.
Mrs. Blount took boarders in the
summer, being a thrifty woman, and
anxious to turn an honest penny. Mrs.