St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-05-12

half in sport and half in earnest, over
the lonesome day she would have, and
i he promised to bring her home new
bonnet to console her. Yes, it was Tues
day, and jackson Reed had told Abby
Weaver about it yesterday-that was
Monday. He had forgotten that she was
no longer so interested in Willie Bar
stoW's movements. And when he had
told his wife what he had done she
scolded him for his thoughtlessness.
Yes, it was Tuesday, and he was out
on the sea, and there was no light Lit.
Nothing to keep him Off these terrible
rocks that the light had been set there
to show. In the morning he would be
thrown dumb and cold where she could
almost see him from her window. 1t
would be with him as it had been with
his father and grandfather, and may be
with his wife as it had been with his
poor young mother. All the strong,
batfied, but not suppressed nature of
the woman asserted itself with terrible
force.
ooh, my darling! my darling! my
darlingn' she shrieked, in a voice which
was in itself both prayer and curse.
'sYou out thar, an all the love in your
mothers heart can't light We home!
Oh, the black water rollin' over that
beautiful face, an those laughin' blue
eyes that looked at me when you was
baby, an those black curls I've brushed,
an those lips I've kissed-puttin' out
that lovin' soul! 0, Lord! Lord! Lord!
''He's been a good boy" sheswent on,
in curious tone, as if the mighty ear
of the memorable God she had half be-
lieved in was become now reality to
her, and she was pouring arguments,
unavailing though they might be, into
it-.he's been good boy; never any
bad habits, never any little mean ac-
tions. There's Abby Weaver, / know;
but look at the face of the girl he's
married. O Lord, love is the same be-
hind g homely face an handsome one.
But while you keep on maxim folks
that think rosies is prettier than pota-
toes, an pearls than oysters, the love
that looks out of a pretty face will hold
the longest an strongest. He want to
blame-O Lord, he want to blame. Alb
by was a.good girl, but you made this
one as pretty as piotur'. He want to
blame, Lord, he wa MT to blame. Don't
drown him for that. 1t amt right to
drown him for that. 0 Lord! Lordn'
She sat there shrieking in a strained
weak voice, half in prayer, half in ex-
postulation. The wind rose higher and
higher, and the sea Numbered louder
and longer. A new terror seized her.
If her husband should recover from the
bad turn which she suspected he had
had, and attempted to cross that bridge
now, he would be killed, too. God
knew what new rents might be in it.
When her sitting-room clock changed
| out nine, above the roar ff the storm,
she went into a perfect flhay of despair.
Down she sank on those old rheumatic
knees that had not bent at her bidding
for the last five years, and prayed as she
never had before.
In the midst of her agony great calm
fell suddenly over her.
II will go an light the lamp myself >
she sax, in an awed voice, an He will
go with me-" Slowly Sarah Reed arose
on feet that had not borne her weight
for five years. Every movement was
excruciating torture, but she paid no
be outside of it. She realized, as it
were, the separateness of her soul and
her spiritual agony from all bodily pain.
She walked across the floor, went out
into the entry, and CROPPED her way up
the narrow stairs leading to the tower.
She dragged herself up the steep steps
with terrible determination. She slid
apart the slide at the top, and blaze
of light almost blinded her. The light
acas It,
Sarah Reed might have Aoated down
those stairs, upborne on angels wings,
for all she knew. Somehow, she was
back in the sitting-room, on her knees.
Her husband found her there, a half
hour later, when he staggered, pale
as death and drenched to the skin, into
the room.
"Good Lord, Sarah, who lit the
lamp?'' his first words were.
i'.The angel of the Lord,'' she an
swered, solemnly, raising her gray head.
II he'd turn over thar on the road,
bout a mile out Of Rye. I've jest come
to an got home. Seemed to me
should die when I thought of William.
The bridge is pretty well broke up, but
] hung on to the side. And, Lord!
when I saw that light burnin' could
ha' come over a cobWeb. Who came to
light it, Sarah?''
''The angel of the Lord, . she said
again. s.Don't you ever say it amt so,
jackson; don't You ever dare to try to
make me stop thinking it's so. I've
been askin' the Lord all these years for
something to show me that He was
anywhar, an he has give it to me. I
crawled up them stairs
!" You went up them stairs, Sarah?"
Eyes; went up to light the lamp,
an it was Lit. The Lord he'd ben thar.
T+,e Oh IJ;,,, 'ft} Ess4 /