Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-11-26

Then John was dead. The father of
her crippled boy, her companion for SO
many years, was drowned, it might be.
in the angry waters that even now were
pouring through the gorge with the
roar of demon. Or he was living in
the road. cold and stiff, with his lifeless
eyes staring up into the blackened heav-
ems. the pitiless rain beating upon his
face.
Such were the thoughts that burned
their way through the brain of Martha
Parsons as she stood dumbly looking at
the broken rein by the dim light of the
lantern. The impatient paving of the
horse, demanding to be let under
shelter, recalled her to knowledge of
her surroundings, and quite mechanic
ally she opened the stable door. The
horse entered, rubbed his nose against
that of his fellow and began at once TO
eat from the bin in front of him. Mrs.
Parsons followed him in. removed tae
saddle and bride, and taking the IAN
tern from the floor where she had set it,
retraced her steps through the storm to
the house.
Fortunately, Johnny had not wakened
sufficiently to mole her absence, and was
unaware of the return of the horse
without his father, and she could sit
down and think what to do. What
could she do? Over and over again
she asked herself this question. 1t was
two miles to the nearest neighbors, and
between ran the gorge, in attempting
to cross which, perhaps. John had lost
his life. 1t was too dark to see more
than a few feet ahead of one. even by
the aid of lantern, and if that were to
q bf.r- ,,ff 1,ap
bility to return. Besides, there was
the sick child, who would scream HIM
self to death if he Weakened and found
himself alone in the house. And Just
then he did waken. and she went to him
and gave him the water he asked for,
and induced him to again close his eyes
and sleep, doing it all without showing
the terrible agony at her heart. or say
ing a word about the return of the
horse without his rider.
When she thought Johnny asleep,
she arose and went Tito the kitchen.
She did not dare to remain in the room
with the child lest he should suddenly
open his eyes and see the agony which
she felt she could no longer suppress.
There was nothing she could do for her
husband, living or dead, except to keep
the lamp burning in the window as
beacon, in case, as was Just possible,
he had been thrown after crossing the
gorge. and was now wandering about
In the darkness.
But for Johnny she would have set
out to follow the road back towards
town. hoping to find some trace of her
husband, but to do so and leave Johnny
when there was so little chance of any
good coming of it, was not to be seri-
ously thought of. She must wait until
daylight, and then-even then what
could she do? If the rain should cease
it would still be DAYS and may be weeks
before any one would be likely to visit
the cottage. But this fact did not
change matters. There was positively
nothing she could do except to wait and
keep the lamp in the window burning
as brightly as possible.
For many moments she sat motion
| less, and then stole quietly to the side
of her child, whom she found much as
he had been for some hours past-sleep-
ing uneasiiy and with considerable
| fever. AS Size was slipping from the
! sick room again. she heard a noise as
| if some one were fumbling at the
kitchen door in vain endeavor to find
the latch. She listened with a feeling
OF returning hope. mingled with a hor-
rible, superstitious dread; the latter
born of her excited condition and the
terrible dreariness of her surroundings.
The sound continued until she could
not be mistaken; it was some one try
! ing to open the door. and who else
! could it be but her husband? With
! feeling of faintness, as if she had sud-
denly been caught as she was about to
/ drop into horrible abyss. she ma tened
I to lift the latch. AS she did so. form
i covered with mud, hatless and with a
! look of death upon his face and in his
! eyes, entered. For an instant she did
not recognize the form as that of her
! husband. but when he staggered for
/ ward into the light and sank upon a
/ chair, she saw that it was he, and in an
instant she was at his side, striving to
remove his storm soaked garments.
''Tell NE where you are hurt, John;
| tell me what to do, quick she said.
'.Are you wounded anywhere, or only
terribly bruised by your fall? Tell me
quick. so can help you"
But he only stared at her and made
no reply.
John. JOHN she cried, now doubly
/ alarmed, ''what is it? where is it? tell
me. dear. Is it your head that hurtsp'
! He looked at her so strangely that
she thought he must have been crazed
! by blow upon the head.
/ Slowly he raised his hand at last and
/ drew it across his forehead.
/ Il d'know, Marty" he said. in a
! hesitating tone, Il reckon-I d know
/ exactly what is the matter
He still sat gazing at her with that
/ strange look in his eyes, as if he was
not certain of where he was.
| Mrs. Parsons hurriedly placed the
/ ea-kettle back on the stove. where it
/ instantly began to sing. and Il moment
/ later had cup of tea prepared. Then
she came and put her arm about her
| husbands neck, paving no attention to
| his filthy garments, while she held the
cup to his lips.
Drink this, DEAR she said, land
then I'll get your wet clothes off and get
you to bed, and you will feel better.i'
He took a sip CT the tea and then,
/ looking up at his wife as she bent
| over him, asked:
DO you think they'll lie: Us stay till
| mornin'?''
And Martha Parsons tired to keep
her voice from trembling and make it
sound cheerful as she answered: "Oh
yes. dear. they SAID we could stay until
morning.
She saw that he was out of his head
| and knew that the better way was to
hoping that if she could get him 10 bed
and apply hot draughts to his person.
he might recover his mind in a few