The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-12-22
WAS IT PROVIDENCE


 WAS IT PROVIDENCE
 Drake's Travellers Magazine
 In the little hollow where they stood he dead grass was covered with thick carpet of yellow and red leaves, and above them the bare branches moaned :.smally in the chill November winds. The young girl shivered as colder blast swept down upon her, and as George touched her neck in drawing her shawl loser around her. she trembled even more violently. and in the upward glance she gave him. he saw something he had never seen in her eyes before.
 Is i; possible that you love me " he exclaimed, bending down and striving to ,aise the pretty blushing face so that he night again catch the expression that lad so bewildered him.
 Her eyes were full of tears when they ne, his, and he knew his question was answered..
 Bat am married and am poor, shle you are rich r he muttered. "What an bridge the wide gulf between us ?'
 Her answer was sob. for with him she recognized the hopeiessness of her ove and his.
 And the wild November winds caught lp the dead leaves and whirled them around in mad dance over the fields and moors. but it's shrillest shrieks were 70, more mournful than the sighs and sobs with which the helpless levers poured out the strains of thelr helpless ove.
 ltwas true he was poor. but he was nch in the capacity he owned for loving he ,imid shrinking girl a, his side. And she was rich m money, but beggared in nope, for her purity made the chasm be- seen them wider than 1t seemed to him. Tor her there was nothing but despair, and for him nothing bu, the sorrow that -oines to us all when a loved one suffers.
 Alice shouted George. ,ha, night, as ne ranged up and down in front of her house. Alice come quickly Miriam $ dying.'
 Why did the sad message send a thrill Q ,he heart of ;he girl: Had she prayed or this, and had her prayer been an- :wered Whether in fear or no, she crept loser to him. as he hurried her through ne silent village streets, only her own swelling heart could know Miriam dy- ng. His wife severng the cord that held them apart.
 4, the bedside of the sinking woman Alice knel, in an agony of prayer that ms cup might pass from the lips of her friend, but the shadows gathered thiekly, and when the night light burned cut, Miriam passed away into the cold dawn of the breaking day, and Alice's hand touched Georges on her pale forehead.
 IL had been Miriam's wish that she nigh, be buried beside her mother. and, faithful to her dying request, George made his preparations to carry her to the ,,le town from which he had taken her. 4 happy bride. only short year before
 You thought was rich,' whispered Alice, as she bade him goodbye at the -epot. Let n ot your heart be troubled
 have only five thousand dollars.'
 And George blessed her with looE. lie knew what she meant. The clouds e'ween them were breaking. Miriam s ,eath had brought her nearer to him. had made their happiness possible, and now. -onld he accomplish an amount equal to aers, life had all the colors of bright promise for them both.
 Goodbye. darling" he murmured, and as the train bore him and his dead away, heHsaw her smile through her tears. and knew she was his.
 The train thundered along its pathway. out through the dead fields, past whirl- ag leaves, as yellow as Miriam's hair un- -er sunny sky, as blue as Miriam's eyes through forest and glen, past village and own, and once more into the open coun- ", tha, Miriam had loved so we'll And Seorge, in his loneliness. thought of Mir am and Alice, the one only privileged one to take the other angels place. A long streak of jagged fire flashed in a.s eyes, the sea seemed roaring Tn his ears. Caught up and whiried around, he 'eii as If the earth had passed away, and hen came silence, blindness, uncon- sciousness
 It was long before he recovered his senses, and then they led him to broken loffin, and Miriam Miriam, pillowed on friendly breast smiling hintiy upon him.
 Am dreami E, or dead r he asked, snil stunned and bewildered. Dear George " she murmured. She must have been in a trance" said a physician, standing near. ~The shock of the collision restored her to cosciousness, but she cannot recover now. My poor boy, prepare for the sorst. Her injuries are fafalr' George took her in his strong, manly arms, and stroked her hair. All she had been came back to him, and watching her smiles growing fainter and fainter, he aasped her to his heart and held hs T ,ntil the ssow and painful gasps turned nto the futtering of an angels wings. The trial of (,eorve'S claim zoainxs the