Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-08-26
A WOman's Fault.

They were lovers. All the romance and
sentiment of the world was theirs. There
is something unfathomable in this thing
called love. It tyrannizes over body and
soul as no other feeling can. 1t creates
happiness from the greatest sorrow, light
from the deepest darkness.
Through her tears as they parted shone
such light of love that he almost dared
call her wife. She knew that she was
loved in return, and that knowledge
created faith in her heart which was to
endure even to the gates of Heaven and
beyond.
''In yearr' he whispered as he left her.
And she answered:
II will wait year-a lifetimer'
When year had passed and no word
came from him they tried to shake her
faith by creating doubts. Men had no con-
stancy, they sneered; men would wiring a
woman's heart and have no pity. Tears
came to her brown eyes, but again she an
swered:
els viii come back to me!''
When the one year had become five the
old sailors in the taverns and lofts shook
their heads and said to each other that
the ship had surely been lost and that her
young captain would never be heard of
more. Wives felt pity for the heart long
ing and waiting through such uncertainty,
and they whispered that it would be no sin
| to love again
81 shall see him again-he will surely
return! was the answer of Faith, with
her sorrowful face and aching heart.
The five years became ten. The brown
hair was streaked with gray, and the girls
fair face had become the face of woman
who carries sobbing, wailing misery in
her heart. Men showed their cruelty by
seeking to awaken new love; women ex-
hibited their bitterness of heart towards
their own sex by ridiculing her faith. But
the light of never-dying heroism bu ned
| in her eyes as she answered them:
s'He gave me his promise-I am watch
ing for his ship!'
| And the ten years became twenty. Men
and women had gone to their last rest until
scarcely one was left who remembered
when the lost ship sailed or who was her
captain. But there were children who had
heard her story, and as they smoothed
down the gray hairs with their soft hands
they whispered:
"It is so sad And he was lost at sea?"
"LostP' she answered. "Aye! even
though the whole world told me so should
wait and watch for him!''
And twenty years became thirty. One
night when the storm -vexed sea lashed the
shore in fury and men uttered brief prayers
to God as they turned their faces upon the
ships making brave fight for life, Faith
lay dying.
The end had come. A human heart,
troubled and bruised and SCARED by wait
ing in vain-by hoping, to be ever disap-
pointed-was about to be stilled. For a
moment the storm lulled, just as a man
draws a long breath before dashing into
some great peril. As it screamed and
roared again in its vengeance, Faith lifted
her thin hand and whispered:
''He is coming back to me! l shall see
him again and hear his voice once more %
Ths nurse moved nearer and whispered
kind words, but Faith waved her aside and
cried out:
"Do not come between us! I hear his
footsteps-he is here! 1 loved him, and
my reward has come at last! Let me clasp
his hand-let me look into his eyes!'
And again the storm lulled, until the
gale died to sobs and whispers, and the
roar of the turf sounded miles away. Be-
fore the fury gathered itself for fresh at
tack two spirits passed out of the old
house hand in hand and were afar on the
path to Heaven. She had listened, and his
footballs had at last echoed in her ears. She
had watched, aud her glazed eyes had at
last been gladdened. She had waited, and
he had come to be with her through the
peris of the dark valley,