West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1888-08-24
ODE VALLEY. AN DE sHAD-
DER
H. s. Edwards.
a III. ~

straight, strong limbs bearing hel
bravely; on into the great road, on
through the village with its l.zy
groups sitting about in the after
noon shade, on past the Jail, never
stopping. She moved as one in a
trance, and the strange light shone
from her eyes.
"'En de valley an dc shadder,'
Ben," she shouted, "er-fearin' moth
in. An I'm comm back -leanin' on
His rod an His staff; I'm or. comm
back" People looked at her Curl
ously, but she stopped for none. The
shadows fell; night found her upon
the lonely highway. The tall pines
crooned above; it seemed as though
spirit sighed from the lips of the
dying man A whippoorwill called
from the depths of the forest; to her
it was voice from the past, and
strange things caught.at her dress
as she glided by.
"'En de valley an de shadder,' "
she whispered, san leanin' on His
rod an staff " No moon rose to
comfort her, but mocking- bird
sang as he used to sing in the haw-
bush by the cabin when the baby
was rolling on its back in the sand
and she was sewing. On, never fall
tering; tired of limb, hungry and
athirst, but onward still.
At dawn of day she dropped down
by friendly door in the city's sub
urbs, and told her story. The hos
pitality of the South animates the
humblest dwelling, and the humber
the roof the broader the nnquestion-
ing hospitality. Her thirst quench-
ed, her hunger appeased, she drag
ged her stiffening limbs into anoth-
er road, and continued her journey.
The sun came forth and parched the
ground, but the trees lent her shade
here and there. Thirst came back,
but the sparkling brook danced
across her way. Hanger too came
again, yet the hospitable cabin fol-
lowed it,-night; and sleep, when,
far in the night, shesank in fence
corner murmuring, cen de valley
an de shadder. And as she slept,
nothing evil passed the sentinel that
there stood guard beside her.
With the dawn the blistered feet
resumed their weary way. The his
tory of one day was the history of
the next. She started on Thursday;
on Monday morning she passed
through the great white columns OF
a princely home, and told her story
for the last time; and at 10 o'clock
the next morning the trial of Ben
Thomas for murder was to begin at
Jeffersonville, in Twiggs county,
seventy odd miles away.
The evening of the same day
found Mandy back in the city, and
with her was grayhaired man
Marse Bob, she called; and the peo-
pie who passed him on the street
touched their hats to him, and look
ed back as his tall form went by. A
buggy was to bear him to Jefferson
vile in the early morning, but for
her there was work yet to be done.
"W'en You pass Black Ankle"
she said to him, Il III be dcir." Be-
fore he could stop her she had gone.
Not voice broke the stiffness Of
the hamlet as she entered among the
brooding cabins, save the far bark
ing of Bill Fowler's dog. She had
heard that animals see spirits; was
he barking at his masters ghost
come back again :? Her flesh crept,
and she almost screamed rs she trod
unawares on the spot where the man
died. There was no light in the lit
tie house, no sound; should she en-
ter? The wall of baby came out
to her,-a feeble wall, as of one sick
or starving. She laid her hand up
ON the latch.
"No," she moaned, 'not now.
Hit s de las chance, de las" She
passed down into the black swamp,
lying there in the clouded moon like
the grave itself.
"'En de valley an de shadder,'"
she whispered, IAN er-fearin'
nuth'n','" AS she entered there,
that other night came back, and its
horrors rose about her. There was
the bush that clasped her knees,
there the crooked tree that barred
the way, and there the tangled
brake.
Then the lagoon, with its wide,
still stretch of water, lay at her
feet.
"Ben y she called; but the name
died in her throat. She raised her
head again and threw the knife with
all her might've, for the handle
seemed in her grasp as hard and
bloody as on that fatal night. Yon-
der it will fall, she thought, strain
ing her eyes to where the black
night rested upOn the cold. pale