Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1885-04-13

head, while I sat with soul profound
y stirred by the agony of his voice,
listening to the dull roar of the hu-
man tide that beat and lashed along
the street. Then he began speaking
again in low monotonous key that
thrilled me to the heart.
'sWhen I regained my conscious
ness, / was lying upon a heap of
straw. l did not think, the sensation
of rustling straw seemed to come into
my mind of itself. / remember feel
ing it wonderingly with my hands.
/ seemed to be wrapt in a mist,
through which familiar sounds made
their way family as from distance.
I heard the trampling of animals and
the noise of farm-yard fowls Groom
ing and cackling. Slowly my frozen
brain resumed it's work and / felt
rather thar saw I was in stable and
heard the cattle on either side of me.
Then a stable boy reused me with
cry that was like a shock to my fac
ulties and / rose feebly to my feet.
I remember thinking the boy had al
most comical look of terror upon
his chubby face and he breathed hard
as if from running. He was fat and
round.
I was not certain of anything. My
sensation was of bewilderment. All
was unaccountable all mystery. l
looked down at my feet and saw that
they were covered with coarse but
new shoes. l held out my arms and
looked at them. | was dressed in
a strong clean gray suit like mill
er's working suit. 1 wondered at the
long beard upon my face, at my
sleeping in stable. Ifelt weak and
hungry and asked the boy for food.
He started away at the sound of my
voice but came back and resumed
looking at me.
AS | again asked for food he told
me to come with him and when |
stepped slowly out into the open air
and saw the morning sunlight stream
ing down the valley and over the
meadow; saw the brook and the or
chard; like wave of reviving
warmth came the thought, Il am at
home.
This was all | was sure of and
l clung to it like one sinking, even
though when I turned to the house
all was changed. The trees were
taller and the house had grown larg-
er. 1t was the same and yet not the
same. While these thoughts were
knocking at my poor feeble brain my
guide had opened the door of the
farmhouse and called to some one
within.
A mild-featured white-haired ole
lady came to the door and said, 'come
in At the sound of her voice the
bonds of my silence were loosed anG
l cried in terrible voice. Mother
Mother don't you know me- She
turned like a flash and looked at me
wildly, then, old as she was, ran tc
me fiinging her arms about my neck
1t was my mother. knew it anG
yet did not know it. For why was
her hair so white, her face so wrinkleG
and sad? My mother was merry anG
had soft plump cheeks, this mother
was old. True, remember her hail
was little gray but not white like
this
l reached out my hand and touch
ed her head. l did not know my owl
name. Trembling with excitement
my mother called Mary, Mary, Az
thur has come, he that was dead il
alive again. At her call young lady
of five-and-twenty summers came
running, in dumb amazement in an
swer to the call.
My sister Mary! Why my siste1
was little dancing girl of fifteer
with hair in shining ringlets, only
yesterday.-And with wild cry
sank under the weight of my madden.
ing thoughts.
The next that / knew / was lying
upon bed in my old familiar cham.
Der and mother sat with some food al
my side. / inwardly thanked Goo
that no further change had taker
place in her. And then my mother
told me what had taken place. How
that more than ten years before hao
fallen into fit and brain fever had
set in. How one night when the watch.
Ell, my father, was momentarily alb
sent [ had arisen and stolen away
into the night.
'Oh my son how we searched fol
you. Father blamed himself for the
awful calamity and nearly all he had.
he spent in sending detectives and
letters all over the land. He died.
Arthur, trembling with age and sor-
row at fifty-three.
But God be praised you are come
back to usp lay stunned and mute
under this tragic intelligence. God
in heaven, l was thirty-two years OF
age and yet had lived only twenty
two. / who but yesterday was a
beardless boy was now man of
middle age. That ten gears aoas one
long dreamless night to me!
But to shorten my story, when
became stronger | asked the question
| had held in my heart and dare not
ask-I feared this last burden which
came upon me-asked for Agnes, and
trembled to think that she too would