Sharp County record., 1885-07-30

"Oh, MIR. tred!' the old woman
cried, catching his hand, while look
of such unselish delight irradiated her
wrinkled face as absolutely transfigured
it. "The Lord be thanked that it is not
We who have been taken!"
mo, not l." Fred said slowly, while
she, in the relief that seemed to set all
her senses free again, heard the cricket
chirp, and saw how the golden needle
of light had slipped away from her lap,
and felt it where it lay bright and warm
across her foot. "Not l." he said, shut
another" And there he paused again,
finding speech difficult, and laid his
hand on her shoulder as if to steady
her; and then, in despair at his own
cowardice in breaking the news to her,
he turned abruptly to Annie. Help
her if you can, Annie" he said. Tell
her Jem was on the train, too. 1t is
her Jem who was killed
The old nurse spoke never word.
| Did she understand? She felt trem-
bling; but she did not weep or moan or
move by hairs breadth; only sat with
her hands dropped helplessly in her lap,
looking unseeingly up at him who had
brought the news. 1t seemed as if the
silence could be felt. Annie had flung
herself on her knees by the old wom-
ans side again, and was covering the
poor old hand with vain kisses and
vainer tears. Her heart was full of an
intolerable pity, that took almost the
shape of self-reproach. What words of
comfort could she dare to speak to one
who was old, and weak, and poor, and
helpless, and who had lost, not one gift
out of many, but the one only blessing
she had?
For few moments the stricken
woman sat there speechless, aging viSi-
bly, before their eyes in the first awful
shock of the bereavement. She was as
if she had gone deaf and dumb and
blind in an instant, or rather, as if,
with faculties all overstralned and
tense, she had been suddenly plunged
into sphere VITA which theirs had no
communication But after time she
reused herself with an effort, drawing
a long breath, and moistening her dry
lips.
Don't fret for me, children" she
said, brokenly, with wan smile, mov-
ing her hand, trembingly, to Annie's
hair. "Some one had to- be taken, ye
see, and some one has to suffer, and it's
better than another; for I've not so
long as some to wait. It's near the
closing OF the day with me; the night
will be upon me soon and don't need
the strength to bear it, as them as has
but begun the day. Don't ye fret,
Annie; don't ye fret, dear. The Lord
has laid His burden upon me; but His
hand will be under when my old fee'
fail"
She got up unsteadly, still smiling
that faint, wan smile, and stood a mo-
ment looking uncertainty about her, as
if trying to find herself in this strange
world she was lost in, and, suddenly,
the chirp of the cricket smote her ear,
like familiar sound from the friendly
old world of the past, linking the then
and the now together The conscious
ness came slowly back into her eyes as
her look wandered out over the lawn
and the trees beyond, and then seemed
to pass on to some point further still,
perhaps beyond earth altogether, be-
yond death, beyond space and beyond
time. She seemed quite to have forgot
ten the presence of the others.
GAY, ay!n she mumured, softly. GIVE
not so long to wait as some. The Lord
is full of love and mercy. It's better l
than another. And better Jem than
one, may be- less ready"
And with that she turned and went
into her little, desolate home, and closed
the door; and the two lett outside
looked at each other silently, and then
went mutely away together, saddened
through all the happiness of their re,
union. By what inscrutable justice had
this sorrow passed them by to fall on
her? What is the mystic sign that so
often turns aside the angel of woe from
the abode of the happy, to sheathe his
sword afresh in hearts that have already
bled? Is it because they who have sui
fered most are stronger to endure again,
being the quickest to discern the hidden
blessing in the sting, and the surest OF
making it their own?
Who can tell? Life is full of prob
lens more unanswerable than this. -
Grace DEMO Litchfeld, IN N Y. lnde'
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