The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1883-10-18

above. heard him almost right away.
"'Oh, ma 7 Such pitiful call Thcn
he cried and whimpcrcd very weak,
like his breath Was most gone, and hi
heart most broke. 1 followed thai
sound and found him easy. He was
mircd to his nrm-pits in mud and water
couldn't at first rce how I was to get t.
him. There was the body Of big wnl
nut tree lynn back on the hard ground,
and the bark was loose. I pulled it Of
i'll slabs and throwcd 'em onto the hum.
mocks, and so bridgcd my way out t.
that little yallcr head. He struggled
wild when first pulled him out; thcn
Iave up III n kind Of faint. l carried
him home in hurry. There was still.
Sooa many people ut MYERS. THY
nadn somo milk warm and put taste
of liquor i'll it, and forced few drops
lown his throat, as you've done to a
| chilled lamb on n winters mornin'. He
was bathcd and rubbed and wrapped in
soft tlannin and laid in the baby's warm
! nest aforc the fire. Nyfer and his wife
stood lookin' down Mt him.
" 'Raich, said ho-and she looked ND.
| her black eyes a-swimmin' and her face
all a-tremble. Then lie took her into hi
arms and held her cloast ---'Raich. we
haint loved one another enough, and
we hain't loved our children enough
There's that that's better'n money au
land, and for the rest of our lives wei
try and keep holt Of it,
"And believe they did. The lttl,
hoy had fever, but he camo out al
right at last. Miss Nyfer died abou
five years after that. and he took IT,
family and went back East. Of course
| wouldn't have told this story Just us J
have if any of 'Cm had been around"
The people had listened closely, and
when Mrs. Lockcry put on her bonnc,
and resumed her seat the hush was s,
profound that we could hear, high abov,
our heads, the twittcring clamor of
nest of young tahagcrs, to whom tn,
mothcr-hird had brought worm.
The next to address the assembly was
noble looking old man with silvcry
white hair. 1t WAS Mr.. Luke Wilson,
OF Squire Wilson, as he was generally
called. Tie had a firm, intellectual head,
and when he spoke his language was
correct and we'll spoken.
"Ihc Widow lIockcry," he began,
has disclaimcd all right to the title OF
heroine. Do not let the verdict be rem.
1crcd till have finished what I am about
to relate. My friend and ncighbor for
forty years will, + know, pardon me if ]
for once lift the veil from n passage of
her experience to which she seldom al-
ludes, and of which many in this audi
ence have never heard. Nothing has
been told here to-day, nothing could be
told, more strongly illustrative of the
covrage and endurance of the pioneer
spirit, at least of the spirit of one brave
pioneer.
zone winter evening, many years
ago, stranger presented himself ut the
cabin of Thomas and Ruth Lockcry,
and begged II nights lodging. He was
Canadian, completely tired out, and
far from well. Neither Lockery nor his
wife had 1t in them to turn sick stranger
from their door; SO they gave him sup
per and bed. The next day he was
unable to rise, and before night he
broke out with smallpox.
"Thc following morning when went
''ut to feed my cattle I happened to look
coward Lockcry's, and saw on n sharp
rise of ground, about half way between
the two houses, woman standing and
beckoning to me. 1t was my ncighbol
here. l went toward her, but while J
was somc distance away she halted me
and told me in few words about the
man with the smallpox, and Charge
me to watch the road and warn the com
munity. She said she had been inocu-
lated, and would not take the disease.
but she feared for her husband and
children. That day I rode eleven miles
| to the nearest doctor. His wife cried
and would not let him CO. He read lii
| books for M hour, while my horse
rested, then he made up n package Of
medicines for me and L started back.
left the medicines and stimulants on the
b-oak hill, and Tom came and got
them.
"As Ruth had feared, her husband
md two children were taken down
Several out of the nearer families then
offered to take all risks and help hcl
nurse her sick, but she firmly refused
their assistance.
" Il can get along alone she would
say from her post on the HILL 'Thc
Lord gives me strength for all | have to
DO, and this horror must not spread
Everything she needed was furnished
promptly and abundantly, and this is all
she would suffer us to do. The stranger
had the disease in its mildest form, bui
Lockery and the little boys, Amos and
Willy, were hopciessly bad from the
first. Ono morning the poor woinan
called to me that both the children were
dead, and told me to have two coflh
brought to the hill that evening at dark.
George Giles and / dug short, wide
grave at spot on the place where she
dcsignatcd; and that night she took
those collins to her cabin, put her chill
drcn into them, and buried them with
her own hands One morning, some
---y -
three weeks later, as I went out Of my
house just at daybreak, Isaw Mrs. Lock
cry waiting on the hill. Sho looked
changed and bent, and her hair was
loose and flying in the wind. 1 can sec
il all now. The sky was such n clear.
pale gray, and she looked so dark and
wild against it L ran to my old post
from which I had hailed her daily for
weeks.
- Thomas died at midnight she
called. Make his coffin as light as pos.
sible to have it strong enough
"Thcn shouted back
" Ruth Lockery, you have don,
enough Giles and Twill come to.dn,
Il