The Mineral argus., 1883-12-06

boAlAGACo ACN
twilight came Cd, ami sitting there wait
ed for their father TO come. Gradually
silence fell upon them all. broken only
by the subdued roaring Of the fire in
the stove, and the bud ticking Of the
clock on the mantel-shelf.
AS Dear listened, how wildly came
back that sorrowful night when she
stood and heard the clock ticking loud.
er and louder, as Tiny gently breathed
her life away; and it seemed to Dear
that she would never again hear the
clock ticking in the night without think
ing Of that scene. She glanced at her
mother, and did not wonder that she
had no hearutor Thanksgiving this year.
Indeed. she thought they ali had more
cause for complaint than Thanksgiving.
Half blinded by tears, she started up,
and, going to the window, looked out.
II was a frosty starlight night. There
was no snow on the ground, but here
and there patches Of ice were forming
over the pools of still water left by the
heavy fall reins.
"why don't papa conner" said Tptop,
fretfully
''He will come soon" said the mother.
soothingly. and in obedience to an old
habit, began absent-mindedly humming
G%reenville, the M tune she knew, and
by whose aid she had year after year
hummed the Gates babies to sleep.
"Is papa at the shop" asked Dear, in
the first lull in the humming.
mo; he wen down to the cotton mill
with a load Of bobbins, and he ought 10
be here by this time"
MAY l go a little way and meet him?"
asked Dear.
Eyes" remembering that Dear had
been in the house all day-"only first
light a candle aRd make the tea, and put
more wood ia the stove, and bring me
Tiptop's night-dress, and unite the boys
shoes, and YEA your hood and don't be
gone long,"
Dear had closed the outside door,
ready TO start on n run, when she heard
old Fans whinny in the direction of the
barn. Papa has come, and is unhar-
Messing Fan" thought she, feeling a lit
tie disappointed that she could moi meet
him and ride home. Instead she
turned to the barn.
At the stable door stood old Fan,
stesming as If she we're having q vapor-
bath. "Papa had load home" tn ought
Dear as she went up to pat Fan. But
what was that she stepped on2 A thill?
Yes a broken thill, still hanging TO the
harness. Startled, Dear glanced around
the yard. The wagon was not there,
and now she saw that only a part Of the
harness was on the horse, and that was
trailing on the ground.
Before this feeling in her heart had time
TO take shape, Dear opered the stable
door and let Fan la, and, carefully clos ng
the door, ran fer the street. The road over
the hill lay, like three narrow foot
paths, with straight ridges Of turf be-
tween, and along these narrow paths
Dear sped with flying feet, straining her
eyes TO see she dared not think \ hat.
At the brew Of the hill she raused and
looked down. Tbs road wound like a
brook down the long hillside, turning
10 the right and 10 the lett. with here
and there steep pitches and many bars,
till it was lost in the darkness far down
toward the valley. AS far as her eyes
could reach there was nothing unusual
to be seen; but at her feet lay a broken
harness strap. Up that road Fan had
come, and dc wnthat road Dear mus go.
On and on, over bars and pitches,
scarcely touching the ground, loose
| stones nit by her feet fiving before her,
I till, suddenly, halfway down the Steep
est pitch, she came to aplace in the
road where the stones and the gravel
had been plowed up as If by the piung-
ing Of a horse.
Here lay the wsgon-seat. A little far
Their on lay two or three planks across
the road, and at the foot of the steep
pitch lay, on its side, a wrecked lumber
wagon, which had run backward till it
capslzed; and across the steep gutter by
the roadside lay a load Of plank which
had slipped from the wagon as il
went over. Here vas q part of the bro
ken Teins, belonging 10 the harness
with he ends under the load of plank.
The wagon was her fathers. Dear
knew that; but where was her father2
She stood and looked on either side, up
the hill and down into the valley. Moth
ing moved; there was not even wind
enough to bend the tall dead grasses by
the roadside, and no sound was to be
heard in all the still night but the gu-g-
ling and babbling of the little brooks
that had quilted deep channels IN the
waterways on either side OF the road.
Dear could bear this silence no longer.
Papa, papa, where are your and n
wild cry went no the hillside and down
into the valley bringing no answer.
20 papa, papa what shall | dot" she
calleu again, and as she listened with
~straining ears, she heard, or thou hit
she heard, a low moan ear her. She
dropped on her knees. Papa, papa,
are you here?" 1t was a prayer nowl
Surely she heard a sound AS if IN answer
and It seemed to come from the plank
that had slid over the gutter.
In an instant Dear was ever there,
p~eering among the planks. She could
see nothing but b could hear a sound
plainly now. She tried with frantic
haste 10 raise the planks, hut there was
not strength enough in her small arms
for that, and almost without thought
she darted, not up the hill to her moth