The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1884-10-30

All, but over wonder, more than fifty
miles away, that Sunday morning,
slender little woman had climbed into
an old rickety, open buggy. l have
told you that l never saw her face, but
/ make no doubt that ut that moment
her face beneath the faded sunbonnet
was beautiful; lovely light, as of first
youth and first love, played over the
lonely pallor of her cheeks; her sunken
ewes shOne and a bOnny. smile parted
her lips as she leaned forward and gath
cred mp the reins and started the bony
slow-moving horse on the long and
wearisOme journey. For ''the bOy5''
bond had been signed. To morrow
they would be set free for time at
least-and respite meant everything.
No need now TO look beyond the over
whelming gladness of the one thought
that tomorrow they-he-would be
free, and she would be there to receive
them once more into light and air and
lifel
Fifty miles, why, that is nothing!
Across long and lonely reaches of
trough, " where the old horse plows
his way painfully through heavy sand,
stumbling every now and then upon
the shin-Oak roots that twist their loose,
ugly knots over the road; through bits
of brown, dreaTy prairie, where the I'M
certain wheels creak over great clOds of
black earth, Jumped by the cold into
sharp masses as hard as a rock; down
| into ravines deep-washed-Out, where
tho shadows lie heavily and where wild
things, with eyes that shine, creep
| stealthily from crevice to crevice; over
soggy bOttom-lauds, strewn with wrecks
of overloaded treighters, where the
crows cav in the big cotton-woods and
discuss angrily the pale passer-by.
Fifty miles, why, that is nothingi
1t is cold and the wind stings her face
| like so many needles; her bare hands
are blue and stiff and her feet are numb.
/ But do you think she feels on her fore
head the frozen air which presently
melts into a binding rain as she sits
/ far forward on the seat and urges the
old horse alongP
A mule-rabbit, with long, pointed
ears and ghstening coat of fur, gathers
/ himself up at the side of the road pre-
pared to speed away, but aware of her
| unseeing eve, settles hms IF comfOrta-
| bly, in his bed of dried grass and stares
out at her; couple of deer, tawny and
| sleek. lying in the shelter of a hollow,
| lift their heads and drop them again as
/ she goes by. The few horsemen she
meets pass her without the customary
| salutation, awed into silence by the re-
mOteness of her gaze; yet turn to look
afterward, remembering the joyous
smile upon her lips.
And night falls and those awful
Phantoms are somewhere yelling then
faces
The next day is well worn when she
crosses the low fiat and ascends the hill
at the foot of which nestles the town
1t is still cold, but the clouds have
| broken and n sudden food of ligh
hathes the valley and turns the windows
to coppery gold. A bird somewhere il
the distance, as the faded old horse
breaks into a stumbling trOt, throws on
upon the frosty air a succession o
JOYOUS notes that are caught up ant
answered by another still further off
She pushes back her bonnet and draw,
long, restful breath. All, there is tn,
big stone schOol-hOuse and the snug lit
tie cottages on either side Of the street
and there is the low Lighthouse so full
last summer of merry laughser anC
music and light and-why, what
crowd about the iail-dOOr! Oh, yes
they are there to welcome the DO 5
why, of course, and how kindl Onl,
she lOnged to be the first to meet him.
The old horse slackens his pace anC
keeps on; she leans out eagerly, letting
the lines fall, and claSping her hands
while the color comes ana goes on he
pale cheeks. She does not see them
But then her eyes arc dimmed, NJ
doubt, by the wind and rain and cold
Stand aside there, gentlemen! She ha.
come TO meet them; do you under
standP
She is lifted gently down, and hel
faltering steps are supported as she
moves blindly forward. The pitying
crowd parts; two on three men rise hur
] riedlY from be ide the things that LID