The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-01-28


that had hurt himself.
~ knowed without askin' that il was The
Teller at the bottom OF it; 30 jest smoothed
hor shining 'allcr hair and tried to pacify
her, a-telline ner he wasn't worth it, and the
like
"'Don't say n word agin him, Uncle Joe,
she said, leavn' OFF cryn' fer u minute; u
love him yet, and can stand anything except
that
"Then she began telling me about it ms
well as she could for cryin'. He'd begun ter
line her when she was a-coming back OF
evenings, and always had something 10 tell
her about books and SIGH like, He was the
first man that she ever see that she liked, and
he looked 10 her so kind and so smart. Then
he began making lots over her good looks
an her eddication, an so forth, an swore
that he loved her more'n he did his life. so
she thought of him as if there wasn't another
man on top Of the green earth, and loved him
moren she did her own folks. But imme-
diately after I'd seen him that day he quit
coming; may be because he was aleared of
me, arter catching my eyes, or something or
mother, an she'd hecrd in town, from some
mcddlin woman, that he was going to marry
a rich young lady, the daughter Of "A rich
StOIckecpcf III IuulJdHOOSS'
"'Unce joe she said, a looking mt me out
of q pair of eyes as tender like and innocent
as a new born babes, Il don't want ter live in
this troublesome world nuther minute arter
he marries; they say it's next Thursday
evening at o'clock; Go'clock is jest the
time that the sun goes down behind the hill
yander-behind the hill; if he marries
won't be living arter it; mark my words. ,
III trembled all over from head to foot as
she said it, fur in all my born days l never
seed before nor sense SIGH a unhappy, miser-
able look on human face; she looked like
her last hope was gone.
81 loved her like she was my own flesh and
blood; an when | seed what the black
hearted scoundrel had done to make her life
a hell TO her, was as mad as bazes, and my
heart felt like it was being dragged through
brier patch, bleedin' fur her in her
! trouble
al had no idea, however, of how desperate
she was, really, and how far things had gone,
until afterward, an SO | kept hoping that
when the first pain o. the disappointment
was over she'd be all right agin; but there IS
where | was fooled in her,
II tried mighty hard to git her to stop
cryin' when we was walking back home, but
she kept on and said it wasn't no use, she
didn't want ter live arter he'd deceived her.
"'Uncle Joe,' she said, shaking from
head to foot and a weepin', yer don't know
it all; can't tell you the worst
81 left her nigh her pap's house, begging
of her not to take on so, and to drive it from
Ter mind. She never made no promise; she
went on up the little gravel track betwixt
| the two rows of grapevines, staggering like
drunken pusson, or some one losin' OF
their mind. Her pretty figure in her gray
dress looked kinder bent and droopin', nothin'
on earth like what she had been.
81 never seed her to talk to her again; l
thought she's stay in in ter drive it off from
her mind never once thought of Thurs
day being the day sot for his weddin, not
outstanding she'd said it was; but Thurs
day, about this time of day, | was a-passng
this Identical spot, for the sun had jest gone
out of sight over there where it's so blood
red in the sky. Now observe first, before l
go any further, the shine on the side of the
rock
He paused and pointed to the monstrous
cliff Directly across its rugged surface,
high above our heads near the summit, was
distinctly delineated the shadow of the earths
surface; us the sun, already below the
horizon, sank lower the shadow line mounted
higher, and the sad song of the whippoorwill
and the deep melodious croak Of the frog in
the river marshes indicated that the queen of
night would soon wrap the great mountain,
the lowly valley and the silently rolling
river in her dusky robe On past the river,
whose surface mirrowed the red sky, shone
the bright red glare Of great ,4lst furnace
perhaps two miles away in the suburbs of the
city. -
On the river little steamboat, with its
single light in the engine room, sped on
ward, end the deep, long whistle from the
factories in the city noted the death Of day
Had foreseen tire end Of the old country
mans narrative the very moisture in vapor
waves that hung among the trees, along the
shadow covered part of the cliff and down to
the waters edge would have suggested ma
lures humid winding sheet; the water worn
nools and assures in the smooth green rock
at its base would have seemed drear, vine
draped sepulchers, and the weeping willows
the bereavod friends OF O departed one,
standing in clusters with dropping branches,
as if unity were consolation.
"You can see the pint Of the rock now"
Uncle Joe continued, palmer tnan w coulu
before it begun to git dusky down here,
cause the shines all up there in one spot. It's
a-climbing higher every second, and it won't
be three minutes before it's gone clear off the
face of the earth.
"As l said before, | was coming along
here, and a-happening TO east my eyes up
ward, seed woman a-standing on the fiat
rock that sticks out over the edge. 1t was
Stella; knowed her by her white frock and
the big black straw hat l would not have
recognized any other pusson 'cept her. She
was as still as a post, and the wind was
a-happing her frock powerful, with the sun
a-gleamin' through the soft yaller hair.
'Merciful Makerl 1t all came into my
mind as quick as flash Of lightning re-
membered what she'd said about Thursday
evening and his getting married. knowed.
somehow, that she wasn't there fer nothin';
something told me that she was intending to
| take her own life.
~ seed her a-gazing at Chattanoogy, that
We kin SEQ from there like pictur She was
a-wipin' of her eyes like she was cryin'
at looks like it might be a mile from here
up there, but the little sun spot, like stream
of light a-bustin' through a crack in the floor
of heaven, was around her, and could see
! q, la Gao ,nirhtu NIGH