Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-10-05
She spoke to her husband, who opened

She spoke cher husband, who opened
the window. Whats wanted?" he
asked. peering ont into the darkness.
"Priscilla's sick" moaned the dis
tressed voice; lawful sick. She's
tainted. an l can't bring her to. &c
for the doctOr-quick, quick. quick.
The voice ended in a shrek on the last
word. and the speaker turned and ran
back 10 the cottage. where. on the bed,
/ lay pale, gaunt woman. who had not
/ stirred since she left IL. Immovable
through all her sisters agony, she lay
there, her features shaping themselves
/ out more and more from the shadows,
I the bed-clOthes that covered her limbs
taking on an awful rigidity.
She must have died in her sleep,
the doctor said, when he came, with
out n struggle"
When Mary Brown really understood
that her sister was dead, she left her 10
the kindly ministrations of the good
women who are always ready in such
times IN country place, and went and
sat by the Kitchen window in the chair
which her sister had occupied that after
noon.
There the women found her when the
last offices mad been done for the dead.
Come home with me tonight" one
said; Z" Miss Green will stay with her."
with 4 turn OF her head toward the OPP
pOsite room, and an emphasis on the
pronOun which distinguished it at once
from one applied to a living person.
"NO," said Mary Brown: Pm
a-gOin to set here an listen" She had
the window wide open. leaning her head
out into the chilly night air.
The women looked at each other; one
tapped her head, another nodded hers.
Poor thing!' said third.
You See" went on Mary Brown,
still speaking with her head leaned out
OF the window, - / was cross with her
this afternoon because she talked about
hcarin music. ] was cross, an spoke
up sharp to her, because | loved her.
but | don't think she knew. didn't
want TO think she was goin' TO die, but
she was. An she heard the music 1t
was true. An now I'm a-goin' to set
here an listen till / hear it, too, an
then III know she 'ain't laid up what
said agin me, an that I'm a-goin to die,
too
They found it impossible to reason
with her; there she sat till morning,
with q plying woman beside her, listen
ing all in vain for uncarthly melody.
Next day they sent for widowed
niece of the sisters, who came at once,
bringing her little boy with her. She
was kindly young woman, and took
MP her abode in the little cottage, and
di'l the best she could for her poor aunt.
who, il soon became evident, would
never be quite herself again. There
she would sit at the kitchen window
and listen day after day. She took a
great fancy To her nicce's little boy, and
used often To- hold him in her lap as she
sat there. Once in while she would
ask him If he heard any music. IAN
innocent little thing like him might hear
quicker than a hard unbclicYin' old
woman like me-, she told his mother
once.
She lived SO for nearly year after
her sister died. II was evident that she
had failed gradually and surely. though
there was no apparent disease. 1t
seemed totrouble her exceedingly that
she never heard the music she listened
for. She had an idea that she could not
die unless She did. and her whole soul
seemed filled with longing TO ;oin her
beloved twin sister. and he assured OF
her forgiveness. This siSter-love was al!
she ha,l ever felt. besides her love of
God. In any strong degree: all the pas
sion Of dcvOt on of which this homelv.
commonplace woman was capable was
conferred in that. and the unsatis;ed
strength OF L was killing her. The
weaker she grew the more earnestly
she listened. She was too feeble to sit
up. but she would not consent To lie i'm
bed, and made them bolster her up with
pillows in rocking-chair by the win
dow. At last she died. in the spring. a
week or two before her sister had the
year before. The season was a little
more advanced this year. and the apple
trees We're blossomcd out further than
they were then. She died about ten
o clock in the morning. The day before
her niece had been called into the room
by sbr.ll cry of rapture from her:
I've heard it! I've heard it," she
cried: ~ faint sound o. music, like the
dyin away of Il bell. Mary b. WI
kinS. iH HTpcr's Bdzar.