The Penn's Grove record., 1884-02-23
THE LOST BRIDEGROOM.

In rugged and mountainous district
of Wales is situated a mining village,
noted for this little story which the
miners tell to their children.
Years ago in the little village Of
there was an humble but neatly-kept
cottage, where an old miner dwelt with
his wife and only .child-a son. And
AIick was but a young boy when he
first descended into the mines with his
father.
One evening, as the old miner was
returning home from a neighboring
village, his attention was attracted by
a little girl. She was weeping bitterly.
A few broken. almost i~narticulate
words told that she had been deserted
by her mother. The child, weary and
| hungry, had cried itself to sleep, and
while she was sleeping the unnatural
parent had forsaken her.
The old man was touched by the
incident. Raising her tenderly in his
aims, he wendell his way homeward.
Entering the cottage he placed the
light burden in his wife's lap, saying:
"God in His wisdom has seen fit to
choose our home from all the other
homes in the village to shelter this de-
serted child. Knowing your kind
heart, wife, l did not fear to bring the
little n to you"
The dame pressed the good mans
hand affectionately i'll reply, and Amy
for so the child was called-was soon
seated before a simple repast.
Alick. on his return from the parish
school, welcomed the little girl with
every expression of pleasure.
Years passed away, and Amy child
hood days were spent.
Without great claims TO beauty there
was, nevertheless, a charm about hel
which all recognized.
The miner and his wife were not sur
prised when Alick one day asked them
for their consent to make Amy his wife,
and to this request they accorded their
heartfelt blessing.
The day for the rustic nuptials was
| named, and was looked forward to as
an occasion of general rejoicing. The
| happy day arrived, work was suspended
that all night join in the melry-mak-
ing.
Taking the hand of the trembling
girl within his own, Alick, according to
the long-established customs of the
village, led the way to the little vine
covered church, where the parish priest
blessed their love. Children strewed
flowers by the way-side and sang gay
songs. Each guest had made amodest
offering, but to no one would Alick
coniide the nature of his gift, wishing,
as he did, to excite an agreeable sur
prise,
When they had returned to the cot
tage Alick kissed his wife, telling her
he would leave her but for a short sea-
san. He left the house, and, with one
lingering look at the doorwaywhel e Amy
stood waving a merry adieu, he hur-
RED off in the direction of the old
mines, and a curve in the road soon hid
him from view. As his 1.-the figure
disappeared Amy uttered a faint sigh,
suggestive of a dull forebodIng evil or
the fullness of her mirthful joy.
Days passed and search had been
made everywhere. Weeks followed;
then months. But the bridegroom did
not return. Nor could his absence and
strange disappearance De accounted tor.
No clew was gained by those who
searched untiringly. AT length hope
was abandoned. The widowed bride
chung tenaciously to one idea. which
seemed almost like a folly-in life Or
death, she would see her husband again
before she was called away from earth.
This belief afforded her comfort, and
the neighbors, while they did not share
the conviction. humored her in the
thought, and spokelregretfully of the sad
changes that sorrow had wrought in her
fresh young face.
Forty years were gone. and but for the
sad, wistful face Of old Amy, and the
whispered stories of the peasantry, the
unaccountable disappearance Of Aiick
would have been forgotten. But tie
tale told in an under breath by many a
hearth was. that Allck had been carried
! off by an evil spirit, with whom he had
held compact. Many even went so far
as to say that his soul haunted the old
cottage, and had been seen during
stormy nights in the mountains. Amy
indeed asserted that she often heard his
voice calling her, and the light that
burned always from nightfall until
dawn in her easement told that her
her heart ever kept vigil oyer his fate.
The old cottage continued TO be
thought haunted by ghostly visitors,
and because Of this superstition none
would occupy it. 1t gradually fell INTO
decay. The women of the village rare
lY passed the dead miners house with
out offering a prayer for the restless
soul.
! The old mines having been worked. il