Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1888-02-04

him to her bedside. Will WIS no horseman.
and made so little speed upon the way that
the poo: young wife was very near her end
before he arrived. But they had some
minutes talk in private, and he was present
and wept very bitterly while she breathed her
Last.
DEATH.
Year after year went away into nothing,
with great explosions and outcries in the
cities on the plain; rcd revolt sprinsiag up
and being suppressed in blood; battle sway
ing hither and thither; patient astronomers
IN observatory towers picking out and chris
tening new stars; plays being performed in
lighted theatres; people being carried into
hospitals OF stretchers, and oil the usual tur-
noil n agitation of mems lives in crowded
centers. Up in Willis valley only the winds
end seasons made On epoch; the fish hung in
the swift stream; tho birds circled overhead;
the pine tops rustled underneath tho stars;
the tall hills stood over all; and Will went to
and fro, mindiag his wayside inn, until tho
snow began to thickcn on his head. Fills
heart was young and vigorous, and if his
pulses kept q sober Time they still beat strong
and steady in his wrists. Iio carried a rudy
stain on either cheek, like q ripo apple; no
stopped q little, but his step was still firm,
and his sinewy hands were reached out to all
mon with q friendly pressure. His face was
covered with those wrinkles which are got in
open dir. and which, rightly looked at, are
no more than q sort Of permanent sunburn-
Ing; such wrinkles Leighten the stupidity of
stupid faces, but to q person like Will, with
his clear eyes and smiling mouth, only give
another charm by testifying to q simple
and easy life. His talk was full Of wise say
ings. he had q taste for other people, and
other people had a taste for him. Whom tho
valley was full Of tourists in the season. thcro
were merry nights in Wills nrbor; and Ills
views, which seemed whimsical to his neigh
bors, were often admired by learned people
out of town and colleges. Indeed, he had u
very noblo old ago., and grew daily better
known; SO h e his fame was heard of In the
cities of tho plain; and young men who had
been summer travellers spoke together in
cafes of Will O the Mill and his rough phi.
losophy. Many and many an invitation, you
may be sure, he had, but nothing coalj
tempt him from bis upland valley. He would
shake his head and smile over his tobacco
pipe with a deal Of meaning. "You come
too late" he would answer. 81 am q dead
man now; I have lived and died already
Fifty years ago you would have brought my
heart into my mouth; and now you do NJ.
even tempt mo. But that is the object Of
long living, that man should cease to care
about life" And again: There is only one
difference between @ long life and a goc.i
dinner: that, in the dinner, the sweets come
last" Or onco more: "When I was O DO, /:
was q bit puzzled, and hardly knew whether
it was myself OF the world that was curious
and worth looking into. Now, I know it Z.
myself, and stick to that"
He never showed any symptoms Of frailty,
but kept stalwart and firm to the last; but
they say he grew less talkativo toward the
end, and would listen to other people by thu
hour in an amused and sympathetic silencs.
Only, when he did speak it was moro to tie
point, and more charged with old experience
He drank q bottle Of wine gladly; above oil
at sunset on the hilltop or quite late at nigh.
under the stars in the arbor. The sight OF
something attractive and unattainablo sea-
eonod his enjoyment, he would say; and no
professed he had lived long enough to admire
candle oil tho more when he could compare
It with q planet.
One night, in his I'D year, be awoko in bed
in such u~neasiness Of body and mind that he
mediate In the arbor. It was pitch dark,
"1tuSOt Su0A +, tuo 1Afc4 WIS b"C1cu, 1utl
the wet woods and meadows loaded the air
with perfume. 1t had Numbered during the
day, and 1t promised more thunder fos
the morrow. A murky, sitting nigh,
for a man Of ". Whether is Va,
the weather or the wakefuiness. or
some little touch Of fever in his old limbs,
Wills mind was besieged by tumultuous AMI
crying memories. His boyhood, the nigh,
with the fat young man, the death OF hl.
adopted parents, the summer days with Mar.
jory, and many Of those small circumstances
which seem nothing to another, and arc VT
the very gist Of q a own life to himself
things seen, words heard, looks misconstruet
arose from their forgotten corners ant
usurped his attention. The dead themselvc.
were with him, not merely taking part il
this thin show Of memory hat defled befor-
his brain, but revisiting his bodily senses At
they do in profound and vivid dreams. Tie
fat young man leaned his elbows on tho table
opposite; Marjory came and went with an
apronful Of flowers between tho garden and
The arbor; he could hear the old parson
knocking put his pipe or blowing his resonant
nose. The tide of his consciousness cbbed
and flowed; he was sometimes half asleep and
drowned in his recollsctions Of the past,
and sometimes he was broad awake wonder.
ing at himself. But about the middle
Of the night he was startled by the
voice Of the dead miller calling to him out Of
the house as he used to do on the arrival Of
custom. The h~allucination was 50 perfect
that Win sprang from his seat and stood
listening for the summons to be repeated: and
as he listened he became conscious of another
noise besides the brawling of the river and
the ringing in his feverisb ears 1t was like
the stir Of the horses and the creakins of
harness, as though a carriage with an i'm.
patient team had been brought up upon the
road before the courtyard gate. At such IN
hour, upon thissrough and dangerous pass.
the supposition YVES no better than absurd
and VIII dismissed it from his mind, and re.
slmed his seat upon the arbor chair; and
sleep closed over him again like running
water. He was onco again awakened by the
dead miller's call, thinner and more spectral
than before; and once again he heard the
noise Of On cquipage upon the road. And Sc
thrice ind four times, the same dream, or the
same fancy, presented itself to his senses;
until at length, smiling to. himself as when
one 1U1Es q EWvsu ekka, 10 pros1oAel