Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-05-05
THE MADONNA OF THE rOE
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1
more moral power to move after the man
than an uusougbt girl or n woman repulsed.
Her whole feminine nature was quiver,ng |
pitifully. when man Is rough with
woman he iorgets that he hurts two crestures
the human and the womsn-and that he
hurts the second more than IL can hurt him |
self by Just 80 much as the essence OF the
feminine nature is fact superimposed upon
the human. But a. the mystery OF this
knowledge is one that princes and Philos-
ophers have not yet commanded, who should |
expect it of the fisherman Henry Salt
The children during this unhappy scene
had stood silent To their fathers quickness
of temper they were used he scolded one
had become the unexpected, and kind OF
moral embarrassment filled the cottage. The |
baby aud the other baby began to cry |
Emma Eliza, whether from some rudimen |
tary idea of calling her fathers attention
or frpm some daughterly delicacy which led |
her to get herself out OF the way, sat
down Mt the instrument and vigorously
played Pull for the Shore" on the wrong
key Rafe got upon his crutch and hobbled
to the door the wife alone stood quite
still.
The wind was rising tiercely from the
north, as has been said, and bursting in at
the open door, caught it and clutched 1t to
and fro, closing but not latching, aud noisily
playing with II, rs II with shaken mood
that could not tix ITSELF For the instant,
the master Of the house seemed to be shut
out, and seemed possibly To one outside
to have been SldnRed out 10y hands with
10.
"Let me by, Rate: let me by this minute"
The wife made one bound, and down the
wooden steps, where she stood bewildered.
No one WAS to be seen. 1t was deadly dark,
and the wind raved with a volume OF sound
which seemed to the Fairharbor woman,
born and nourished Of the blast, to be some
thing intelligent and Internal pitted against
her. She flung her shril voice out into IT
pye to me- rm sorry. Henry! Henry
Henry 1'm sorry I'm sorry ~.
But only the awful throat OF the gale made
answer. She ran little way, straining her
ears her eyes, her voice, beating her breast in
Kind of frenzy, calling passionately, PLAIN
lively, then passionately again and so, de-
spairing, for she made no headway against
| the roar of the November nor wester, stag
| gered, turned and stopped. ,.-
At this moment, scrambliug through the
dark, little figure hit her, hurrying up
| upon little crutch.
"I'm goin' to catch my father" said
RATE.
| blown straight like helmet or visor of gold
| from his forehead, calling as he went, slip
| ping, daring, tumbling on the sharp rocks
and up again. Down there in the dark mid
way of the road she saw a little fellow stop to
| gather strength and throw the whole force of
| his sweet young voice like challenge to the
| gale:
| Father marm,s sorry (don't YOU
| cry marin. ] thiEk he'll answer) Fa-
| ther father! marin says she's sorry .
| Marin is sorry, father ! Dust keep still,
marm. I'm sure he'll answer) Fa-
| rHBR MARIN Is SORRY "
The crippled child hurled the whole of his
| little soul and body into that last cry, and
then she saw him turn and limp, more slow
| ly back. He came up To her gently where
she stood sobbing In the dark and
wind and as if he had been the parent, one
might say, and she the child, he patted her
81 told you I'd catch him, marm-dedr
! marm," added Rafe.
She shook her head incredulously, con
| vulsive with her tears, turning dreariiy to e
| back. She hardly noticed Raie in that min
ute. The wife was older than the mother il
| her il stronger we should say her nay.
"But, l caught my father" persisted Raft
che says, says he"
"Raie, he couldn't, dear"
''Marm, he hollcred, so be L."
"Did your father say that, honest, RATE ~
She lifted her head pteously, pleadinGly
before the child.
az think he did," said Rafe, consc len
tiousiy. 81 says, Father, msrm's sorry
and he says so be L."
"lf he says, 80 be L. God bless you, Raie
mothers sonny boy"
But with that she began to sob atresh, hal
with hope and half with misery. The child
whose sympathies were made old and lin,
| by suffering, watched her soberly.
al think he did" said Rate, stoutly. a.
think my father hOllered so be l.
He lifted the truthful face OF sn angel in
halo to the poor Madonna in the glimmer o
the open door. His yellow hair shone lik,
an aureole about his ardent little face III,
| would have given his scrap book just then {,
say, 81 know he did" But Raie never lied
The other children supposed it was becaus,
he was cripple.
1t was in Just eleven days that they
brought her the news. Abraham L. Sal
asked Bran to tell her, and Bran sent
| woman neighbor The northwestern ha6
blown graudly, az any one might know
straight for the Banks and blown tn,
| Abby T.. Salt thither in a smart voyage o
four days and half. After the steady blow
the weather thickened, aud that which ha,
| happened to Fairharbor fishermen, and will
| happen again, God help them! till the way
OF the wind and wave is tanned to human an
guish, happened then and there to Henry
Salt The ZephaHldh Salt, a fine three
I masted schooner, about returning from tn,
| fishing grounds, carried the word to the tel
| egraph at Boston, and the telegraph to Abra
| | ham E. Salt as was said, he 10 Bran, Bran
| | to the woman neghbor the woman, pray
| ing Gods pity, to her
She did not say it as she meant to. Who
, | of us does hard things a. we thought W,
, should She walked straight into the cot
, tage, and stood still in the middle OF tn
floor, and began to cry. The first she knew
she had caught the little child and put hin
, INTO his mothers arms, and said
Rafe, tell your marm that your father
drownded-for l can't.
"At the Grand Banks on the morning O
November -, Henry Salt and job Ely, c
Fairharbor, dory mates set out from tn
schooner Abby e. Salt to look after thei
, travis, and were lost in the fog. Every effor
, was made in vain TO find the unfortunat
, men. No hope is any longer felt OF thei
, safety. The bodies have not been recovered
Salt leaves a wife and six children. Ely wa
unmarried. The abby r.. Salt belongs I
the well known firm OF Abraham l.. Salt ,
| Co, of Fairharbor
Miss Ritter, idly nibblng at her DdH
AdUertiser before her open camel fire on
bleak December morning, chanced upon tn
paragraph, which she re-read and pondere
| lopg. Ellen Jane had sent no word out {
) her misery, poor thing! A letter achieved
an affliction to the unlearned, and she ha
, | enough to bear without adding that
"pd rather do days washing any tim
Q than write letter." she used 10 say Beside
, | after all, what would the "boarder lady
7 care? When it came TO the point OF bereay,
! ment, remorse, widowhood, hunger, colo
aud despair, the summer patron SCENE
=. as far from the Fairharbor winter
her paper parasol her valingcens.
Henry Salt had gone the way of his cal
> ing, like other men he had become one
the one or two hundred Fairharbor fisher
o men over whose fate comfortable drysho
d world beayes a sigh once a year when tt
v winter gales blow 80 hard as to shake til
y | posts of the firm warm house little, or eve
J. | 10 pun the lace above the sleeping baby's cri
o IN the curtained, hre-lit room. His wifi
!, | ike Other women was "Fairharbt
+ WIDOW" and like other women must ben
l. her to her fate.