Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-12-21

lamplight shone full on her gray hair anc
kind blue eyes
"Don't CO." said Judson "Stay will
me. It will only he for few minutes IT
never see YOU again
Something in the voice startled the old
woman. She looked at him, raised her
head, listening, and then, recollecting her
self, sat down, laughing
That's just what | allus say TO myself
she said. The folks come up hyah, n stay
Jest long enough foh me to find they's dear
friends, n 60, N / never see them again.
"And yohre satisfied with such friends
as the cars bring you every day :" he sneer-
ed, savagely.
Miss billy drew herself up with a certain
dignity. They're all my friends, as | said
But l have my own people, sab. Blood OF
my blood and bone of my bone The dear
Lord sent them an me into the world TO-
gether'
"Who are they ?" he said in lower tone.
"Our family Thars my brother sab,
Colonel James Holmes. I'm waitin' hyah
for him now. I'm expectin him every day.
An my father n mother they're up on
the Old Black An thah's child in our
family she added with proud rising of
the voice He's my brothers son. He's
sech boy s yoh never hear Of now, sab.
He was Jest seven when he-went away.
She turned her head, the tears creeping
down her withered cheeks.
The prisoner half rose, with muttered
exclamation.
whats that Who cried Miss Dily.
81 beg yoh pardon, sab, | thought | heard
a name"
What do you mean y
Nothing nothing. | thought yoh said
a name that ! used to be called at home
mother an Jem an all Of them. haven't
heard it foh years. l reckin it was talkn'
Of them made me fancy it. Im afeerd my
minds gettin foolish studn' about Jem,
an expectn' him
"An' yoh think he'll come =
Il know it, said Miss Dilly, quietly
Squire Barr, sometimes he says Maybe
the colonel's merried rich wife, in some
of those big western towns, and hes done
forgot us all An the girls, / know they're
| afeered he's dead But he'll come Every
| day since he went away I've asked the
| Lord to send him back so he-hes to come. -
Judson did not speak for some time His
| jaws sank deeper in the muiiiers about his
neck. He said at last;
AN when he comes, | reckon yohd be
| pleased to hear of the rich wife and the
grand house T.
Miss Dilly WINGED. "Ef Jem's home is
like thet, its all right. I'd go if he wants
me But what I've thought I'd like
She hesitated
"What =
"Ef we could 90 back, jest our two
selves to our house on the Old Black, an
him an me live thah together a few year
before we went away
The mans head dropped on his chest
He was so still that she jumped to her feet
frightened.
"Yoh're very porely" I'll bring some
thing-lve gum camphor in a jar Of whis-
key" She laid her hand on mis- arm
At that moment the passengers came in
from supper Army and Captain Foulke,
who had kept their eyes ON the prisoner
through the open door, foremost They
thrust themselves between him and Miss
Dily.
Come. Mr. Judson, take somethin warm
in"
They talked loudly, bustling about him,
that she might not see the handouts. The
passengers crowded out of the door going
to the train.
Judson with fierce gesture motioned
the men aside. Il must speak word to
her He crossed the room TO where Miss
Dilly stood.
For Gods sake doan git tired An may
be he kin come back ~
The train was gone, and Miss
Dilly went about her work stupehed. Why
had she talked of Jem and his boy to this
man She never spoke of them to strangers.
1t seemed as if the good Lord had made her
do it to night.
She prayed for her brother that night AS
she had never PRAYED before. She did not
know why she did it, Nothing in this
gruif stranger had reminded her of saucy,
Jem.
But when everybody in the inn was in
! bed and asleep, she crept on to the porch
and stood looking out into the gray, fathom-
less night Somewhere out in that great
unknown world-he was. He might be in
that grand house-he might be sick and
starving among beggars; but wherever he
was, he must come back TO her. Her child
sh faithful soul went out in an agony of
supPlication.
me ~
The fog was thick and cold and Miss Dill
ly was used to the warmest corner of the
| house But it seemed to her that she must
90 out into the open wide night to come
nearer to him. He was there alive, need
ing her Lord bring him back to me,
she cried
The people at the station noticed a change
in Miss Dilly after that night. She had al
| WAYS been kind, but now she was tender to
every living thing she could reach, with
| the tenderness which a mother shows to
| sick child She had always been cheerful,
but now she was breathlessly anxious to
make every one about her happy and mer
/ ry.
/ Il reckon" said Colonel Royall shaking
his head, "she's ripenin' fur the end.
The doors is openin' an the glory's a shin.
| in down on her
An uneasy dread seized the station when
this opinion was made known. Everybody
whispered and kept an anxious watch on
Miss Dillys coughs and appetite. Mrs.
Barr, who was dribbling woman as to
mind, at last told her what they feared.
Miss Dilly laughed a sound, healthy
laugh,
ITS not death at all that's comm, Mis-
soury," she said. 'It's Jem The Lord
isn't deaf Nor hard of heart. Neither
hes he gone on a journey, as the prophet
says He'll send my brother back to me.
I'm thinkin' of it continovally now. If
one of you's sick | think-what if that
was Jem An try to help you. And if
another ones downhearted, / think, what
if that was Jem An try to cheer him
up That's the truth, Missoury. 1t isn't
death, it's Jem."
"If the Lord should disappont her after
ALL the squire muttered with bated breath
when he heard this report from his wife
Summer came and winter and summer
again, until two years had gone by.
Judson had stood his trial and been con-
victed and served out his brief term of i'm
prisonment. The day he received his dis
charge, the warden of the prison, as usual,
spoke a few kind words of warning and
counsel to him at parting. He was startled
when Judson, who was noted as a reticent,
gruif man, answered him formally:
"Sah yoh're quite right. I'd been run
MIN down, steady for ten year. Down.
Sudden, one day, like a flash of lightnin'
across my path, l was made TO know of a
woman-who shall be nameless hyah-who
had loved me an believed in me all my life.
Thet has made different man of me.
Sab, she's KEEP holt ON me She's tied
me to God with her pra'ars | cahn't get
loose ~ he cried with a nervous gulp in his
throat.
"Sah. thank yoh foh yoh words. I'm
goin TO her to try to be the man yoh say.
I'm goin' 10 trust to her an God to pull me
through -
Before he left, the warden gave him
more advice. Take your own name, Jud
son, he said 81 suspect you are now un-
der an alias Say nothing to this woman
of your past life. Begin afresh where it is
not known, and may God bless you, sab.
This was in October.
Christmas, that year, brought as usual, a
stir Of delightful excitement TO the inn.
Sewer Station knew nothing of the high
significance which modern thought attaches
TO the great festival of the Christian year,
1t was the day, however, ON which Colonel
Royal sent, before breakfast a bumper OF
foaming egg nog TO every white man and
woman in the clarin' Every negro who
asked for it had "a warmin' of whiskey
at the Colone's expense, 1t was the day,
too, on which Squire Barr gave his annual