Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-03-11

Harrild's house Above him spread
the fantastic branches of the tree, hung
about with icicles and fringed with
delicate and graceful traceries in snow.
Even in the midst of his rapt attention
of the house he could not avoid
being struck with their beauty, and
at odd moments he turned his
eyes upward to observe them. Pres
emily singular fancy crept upon him.
The branches assumed weird shape
and form. Crooked twigs became
transformed into grotesque figures,
perfect in limb and feature, and though
there was not one among them that
was not out of all reasonable proper
ton, not one seemed monstrous. They
were all pygmies, and sat or stood IN
unnatural attitudes-with their legs
twined under them, with their arms
curled around their bodies, with their
faces between their knees; here an elf,
with his back to William, and his mead
turned over his shoulder to gaze at him;
there dwarf, lying at full length, and
bending over toward him at danger
Gus angle The unfamiliar and curious
figures were motionless for many mo-
ments; not limb, not feature stirred,
but at the end of that time animation
DdSStu luCO buciI UodlCS. AAOeioii SoiAAN
into their limbs, expression to their
features. And of the hundreds of
strange faces with which the tree was
filled, there was not one that was not
directed tow ard him, there was not one
eve that was not fixed upon his. Some
smiled with the familiarity Of old acc
quaintanceship, others frowned with
severe cause; and one old fellow with
a great knot in the middle of his fore
head eyed him so sternly that he turned
away in anger at the delusion which he
had allowed to take possession of his
senses. AS he turned, his attention
was attracted to the beautiful appear
ance of the hedge-row which lined the
boundary of Reuben Harrild's land.
1t was nearly man high; and as
he gazed into the tangled skeins
of bare and naked bush, snow-lined in
purest white, he saw thousand start
ling pictures in the maze. Through
the interlaced vista he saw castles and
rocks with the glow of sunlight upon
them; merging gradually into the phan-
tasy of many suns setting with glori-
Gus light upon a dozen battle-fields,
with shreds of armies flying from
bloody pursuers; merging again into
grave-yards lying in the light of pale,
cold moons, which threw a CHASTITY
glare upon myriad of white specters
in their winding-sheets, gauntly stretch
ing out their attenuated limbs. And
there-wonder upon wonder!-was the
same stern old man with the knot in his
forehead, cycling him more seriously
than ever, and, with a monstrously dis
proportionate finger, beckoning him to
approach Whom did this old man re-
sembie? His face was surely familiar
to William. All, yes; it was DR.. Bax.
No; Stephen Winkworth. Wrong
again. 1t was one of the worst of the
persons to whom the little doctor had
been good that night, and who, crazy
with drink, had threatened to do them
both an injury if they did not instantly
run. Wrong again. 1t was the toy
soldier which DIR. BaX had fastened to
the foot of the child's bed. Still
wrong. 1t was Alice, the deformed
girl, with her silken hair cut short.
Wrong once more. 1t was an entirly
strange face-a face he had never be-
fore looked upon. William rubbed his
eyes; there still stood the grim old man
with his gigantic finger, bidding him to
come.
But now the figure was no longer
alone. On every side arose hundreds
of white phantom shadows, inviting
William, with the same reckoning
gesture, to join their company. As he
watched them, with increasing amaze
ment, their numbers grew until the en-
tire landscape became filled with mo-
tioning snow-shadows; and CHANGING
upward into the spreading branches
of the tree, myriad white faces
Il Il;
to rise. Compelled to obey, he stood
house, found that it had disappeared.
that trees and hedges had vanished,
and that he was standing ON great
plain, carpeted with snow as far as the
eye could reach, without a single speck
or stain upon it to show that it had
ever sustained habitation. Not one
stationary object reared itself between
Heaven and earth; and, stranger still,
although the plain was thickly
thronged with shadows gliding rest
lessly around him, and though he was
continually turning this way and that,
in his endeavor to follow their weird
and ghostly motions, the surface of the
snow did not present single mark to
denote that it was trodden. And now
miracle occurred. A wild excite
ment possessed the phantom throng,
and, the ranks dividing, figure of sur
passing loneliness approached. 1t was
that of beautiful woman, with a
crown of crystals upon her head. A
thousand stars of icicle cleaned about
her. She was CARRIED in robes of snowy
whiteness, which hung loosely upon
her form. Her limbs and features
were faultlessly nodded, and in her
eyes dwelt an expression of such Heav-
emily love and goodness that William
was impelled to kneel to her. But ne
was powerless; his limbs refused to
obey his impulse. Closer and closer
she approached. Clear as spotless
crystal, she stood before him, lustrous-
ly beautiful, with holy light in her
eyes. No stain was on her soul-.for
he beheld it in all its purity. And on
her heart, with a calm and placid smile
upon its lips, lay the body of sleep
ing child.
William, gazing with awe and Won
der on the vision, felt a cold touch upon
his arm, and turned in the expectation
of seeing some new wonder. But he
stood alone within circle into which
no spirit ventured to intrude, and a
voice whispered into his ear the word:
sFaithr'
He knew that the presence of an In
visible Shadow was upon him, and that
this was the name of the snOtleSS WOs