Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1883-05-04

"Butyou had him for vor- o,., q, ,
YOU notg interrupted Mr. Pendaito" u,u
despera'efly' %IIe has been a comfort
to you. God has displayed His love .
and mercy in this case in sparinp HIN
to YOU nun
"Mr'tendleton and the rheumatic
hand Reht up again-"I amt never
asked to hey hun spared to me. ef I .
had itaWould hey be different
amt gqt Through yet. Thar's been lot,
Of Other things. big ones. that might
lest rs vel as not speak of. and littlr
ones. Look at that bridge, IN ven
tur' to say that you shook in your shoes
when you came over it. an wouldn't
be sorry tais minute eff YOU were safe
back. Whenever Jackson goes over If
my heart Is still an cold till he comes
backfor fear he's fell through. I've
prayed to the Lord about that. Then
you may think this a little thing
hut thar Is Jackson's garden. He set
out a rosa bush in it fifteen years ago.
Well, 1t amt died. Thar amt ever
been a rose on it, though. An it
seems 70 me sometimes that if
thar Should be Jest one rose
on that bush that | should believe
that the Lord had been thar. You
wouldn't think I'd been silly enough
to prayab II that. hev. It's fifteen
year, an thar amt never been rose
thar. ANo, Mr. Pendleton, it amt no
use. Iou mean well, but it lays with
God, ef Hes anywhar. to show Him
self to M in way | can get hold
on"
So the pretty rosy-faced young min
lister woulI go away, picking his way
cautiously over the unstable bridge,
after a somewhat nonplussed prayer,
which Mrs r Ell, incapanitatcd from
kneeling by her rheumatic knees, had
sat and listened to grimy.
The Bar lighthouse was three
miles from Rye A sandy, dcsolate
road almost rs billowy as the sea
stretched between The only house
in the whole distance was little
brown one just at the other side of
the bridge. The Weaver5 lived there,
mother and daughter. They sup
ported themselves by sewing for a
shop in Rye Jackson Reed is nephew,
William Barstow, had been engaged
to marry the daughtcr-Abby her
name was but month ago he had
brought wife home from the city
He had Tentel a pretty little tenement
over in Rye,anl Comet housekeeping.
Abby Weaver had tied up few little
notes and keepsakes in neat
parcel, and put them away ont
Of sight Then She went on with
her work She was a plain, trust
wOrthy-l0oking girl, with no show
about her as diff rCnt as possible from
the one her ecrant lover had mar
ried. She was pretty, with an en-
trancing little air of style about every
thing shewore Abby had seen her
60 by a few times in a jaunty velvet
Jacket and Killed petticoat, with the
fair rees.a face with its fringe Of fluffy
blonde hair smiling up at her husband
out OF bewitchiug little poke. Then
she ha lgone and lookel at h rself in
her poor glass, taking in the old black
alpaca, the plain common face with
the dun hair cJmbed back from her
forehead.
NO WONDER" said She. an I'm
glad it's8o, for | don't think the Lord
can blame him"
Sarah Reel La | found a double trial
In the breaking off of the engag m mt,
In the first place. shn had liked Abby.
In the second place, tli5 new matri-
monial arrangement had taken the
darling Of her heart from under her
immediate supervision. If he had
married Abby Weaver, he would have
lived either in the lighthouse, as he
had done all his life, or in her mothers
cottage, But nothing could suit his
pretty eIty lady but to live in Rye
The bare idea of the lighthouse ter
riied her.
sarah Reeds frame Of mind had moi
improved since the marriage.
one afternoon, a few weeks after
the young couple had set up house
keeping an unexpected deficiency ir
some household stores sent Jackson
Reed to RE, where The nearest
markets We're. 1t was the middle OF
the afternoon when he went. and
there was Il storm coming.
&" Don I worry, Sarah" his last words
We're, an I'll be back by five to light
the lamp. It'n be pretty near dark
enough ior it then, | reckon, eff it
keeps on this way, eff it is June
She sat at her window with her
knitting after he had gone and watche |
the storm roll up. She had taken a
fancy lately to landward window,
the one with the poor little garden
patch under it, and the rose bush which
never Die somed. The bush really
10 Jked Wol ierfully thrifty, considering
its man drawbacks to growth. But
il was IN a sheltered corner, and had
all the warmth and mildness that
could be had in the bleak place. 1t
was three feet high or So a hardy little
Scotch rose. There certainly seemed
no reason in nature why it should not
blossom, but blossom it never had.
Mrs. Reed never looked at it now for
buds See never even glancel at it
to-day; She only looked out uneasily at
the darkening sky, and knit on her
stocking
Mrs. Reed had been rather good
looking in her youth. and was even
rather good-loOking now. She had
bright alert blue eyes, and pretty, soft
gray hair. But there was an air of
keen unrest about her which could jar
on nerves like a strident saw. In re-
pose she would have been a sweet old
woman. Now, she looked and was, as
people say, hard to get along with.
At ) O'clock the storm was fairly
there, and the old lighthouse keeper
had not come home. A heavy tempest
twilight was settling down, and it
was almost time the lamp was lit.
Six O'Clock came, and it was darker
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