Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-10-28
The nnestion Isl "a stand this rzr
Della Grinwet.
IArlo E.-,s in Lippineott's Magazine. ]

more COMMONPLACE than Kempton, decTepit
little GT.o.cgv Tor village, lying on the coast
of Maine. Properly speaking, however, no
seaport an lie utterly commonplace, with its
sugge=.ioH Of the yay5oeryof tie sea, the ships,
the sailors who have been il far lands, the
glimr5aa OF unUritee1 tragedies Oh every
hand But among Sea-sida villages kerlpton
was surely duh enough, and dry enough, and
Iifeless c1OUgh-as if the SCI Y iilds had sucked
its vitality, leaving it empty and pa'id and
iuicelc5- like the cocllIe-sheil5 which bleached
upon is sandy beaches
Yer Kempton had one peculja,it which
maT-ei il as singular among al New Eng
lauI towns. Its one church stood
start and doleful upon the hill at
who's foot lay the ro5ting wilarves; and
bac,1 from the church stretched the
chuicll.arl in which the KenPton dead took
their long repOse, scarcely more HOMOGENEOUS
than t.leic colorless lives. Tie sexton, dig
ging their last Ie5oing-places in the ochrey
loam. might lo0l, far Of coward the sea
who C. iaey had vrested from the grudgjng
rvato.s q scanty subsistence; aad the dead
wives. if 50 be that their ears We're yet
sautjs.- might lie a5 night and hear below
she h.t. oe the waves which afar had rolled
Over a- unmarked graves OF their sailor hus-
t
mounts the sexton wenG daily, quite IN
miudts Of being the unique feature Of Kemp
ton 10y Longing TO the weaker sex. WITH
mascl..3s stride and coarse hands, her IN
kemrt locks blown by the sal5 Winds the
woman went her wey and did her work with
a stead +.ness a,G 81 vigor which might have
put to same many q man idling about the
bout IA Ter the hill. She was not an old
70
the l-eaatare aga OF Toll and sor-
row. las the Eeather-5eaten face,
the looping shoulders, and the
faded i.,.r made her seem old. To look at
her, i; aa,s difficult TO realize what her youth
cou,3 hive been like, OF to call up any image
Of sY.,t o. gracious maiieuh0od IN which
she cou! nave shared.
It was & gray November day. The white
zap, made doubly black the dark waves of
The Lav, ard the bitter wind blew freshly
through the withored grass and stubble,
chasil- -le faded leaves over hempton hill
until tlay rushed about the old meeting
housa Ike fight Of terrified witches. a
Btran-a YVES driving slowly up the road from
the ul-- town in IN open carriage, and as he
cam. 10 the top of the hill he drew rein be-
fore tl- church AMI booked about him.
H. agzs was not that Of one who beheld
the sc.13 for the first tiua He gazed
down a5 the irregular houses under
the L... cudd-ad Ike frightened and
yvCG5--aCrl sheep. He looked over
the lay to the lighthouse, looming
Cha y AID white against the dark sea and
SKY. Ills glance took in al the details Of the
picture. cold and joyless, devoid allie Of
warmth QT color. He shivered and sighed,
his hraUs dropping more heavily Yet over
his DaIa piercing eyes, and then turned his
Eaze a. objects nearer at hand.
Close by was the stark church, with
wcata '~-5catcn steeple, wherein half & dozen
generations of Leup5cu women, the men,
FOR uaz5 part being at sea, had wOr5hipad
the power Of the storm, praying more for the
ascGpt from evil Of the absent ones than for
good to themselves Beyond the church ap-
p5Glet the first hea1stones Of the graveyard,
5he ground sloping away 50 IA pidly that
little more than the first row of slate slabs
was be from the street. With another
shivc- 21r. Farnsworth for by that name
the geGtlaman played his part upon this
worlds s-agel, got down from his carriage,
fastened his horse, and walked toward
the stones, whose rudely-chiseled cherubs
learel At him through their moss with q Gil
boic and sinister mirthfulneas.
As NJ. FarnswOr5h opened the sagging and
CmpaiEJ=d gate of the enclosure, he became
aware shat the place was not empty. The
head and shoulders of human being were
visible halfway down the hill, partially OBJ
scured by the dull-reddish beapof earth
thrown up from apaStially-dug grave.
The visitor made his way down the irregu-
lar path, so steep as to be almost like a rude
flight OF stairs, and, as he neared the worker
he suddenly perceived, with something of
shock. that the grave-digger was q woman.
She worked as if familiar with her task-a
mans battered hat pushed back from her
forehead, over which her faded hair
struggled in confusion, and across
which certain gIiny streaks bore wit
ness that she had not escaped the primal
curse, butlabored in the sweat of her brow
KenptOn's popularity in the matter Of its
sexton had not come to the stranger be
fore. although he once Rad known the
village Life somewhat intimately He
regarded the woman with a double curl
osity-to see what she was like and whether
perchance he had ever known her. He
paused IS he neared her, resting one nicely
gIovea hand upon q tilted stone which per-
petuatcd the memory and recorded the viz
tues of captain who repOSed in some chill
cove under the northern seas. Dome SlISnG
sound caught the ear of the sexton, VINO
until then had not perceived his approach;
she looked up at him stoidly, and as stolidly
looked down again, continuing her work
without interruption. If there remained any
consciousness OF the s5rangeness OF her occu-
patton, or if there stirred any womanly
shame to be Observed they We're betrayed by
no outward sign. She threw up the dull
yellow earth at the feet Of the newcomer
as unmoved as if she had still only the
dweilers in the graves as companions of her
labor
'Don't you find this rather hard
work, my good womang" the gentleman
inquired at length, moro by way of
breaking the silence than from any especial
Interest.
eyes" the sexton returned impassively,
Stits hard enough"
sit is rather unusual work for woman,
too" he said.
To this very obvious remark she returned
no answer, stone to which she had come in
her digging seeming TO absorb all her atten-
ton. She unearthed the obstacle with some