The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-01-04

suppose it was that way with US. Sne ran
down the river one day in a steamer for
breath of fresh air, and | promised TO meet
her on her return. She kissed me good-by
so gaily when l left her and told me that
the hours would seem long till we were
together again. There isn't much more to
tell now, parson. 1 was working that
afternoon, when the foreman gave me a
headline to set up for the evening edition OF
the paper. l read: Fearful Catastrophe,
and as | glanced at it 1 saw II
was an account of the collision or
her steamer with a0other on the
river that afternoon. o God! the anxiety
of that moment, the slckenlng doubt and
dread | rushed to the river hatless, coat
less, Just as | left the workroan, and |
shouted her name as Iran. The river trent
was crowded with people, and L could
hardly make my way amongst them; then
I was turned back several times by the po-
lice, aud it seemed as if | would never get
near enough to learn the news,
At last got near the water aud saw that
they were bringing bodies to the land in
boats close to wnere / was "Have you got
my Nelly?" | cried, as each load passed me,
and the dead faces would be uncovered for
moment in the hope that they would be
recognized. But evening came, and there
was no one like her in all the long procession
that had passed me, and by-and-by night
came and it became too dark to search any
longer or to see. Suddenly the thought
flashed across me that Nelly might be at
home. OF course that was where she was
She would be waiting for me and ouder
ing at my absence, perhaps afraid for me.
How foolish not TO have thought of that
beforel How fast ran back! But the lit
tie windows were all dark when | got there,
and when opened the door aud called her
name, there came no answer. | went back
to the river after that and sat there all that
night, cold and hungry and full of despair,
and the night winds must have heard me
crying for my Nelly whilst the binding
tears ran down my face.
Early the next morning they began again
dragging for the bodies, and, by and by,
they found her. Not a bruise or mark or
cruel cut upon her, bnt her face so still and
white, her eyes 50 tightly shut and her little
hands so cold! | remember looking at her
as she lay there cold and wet, and | could
not thiak that she was really dead. " ould
tie blue eyes never look at me again and
the dear lips never speak? Were the little
hands never to lie in mine, nor the willing
feet to patter beside me? could not believe
it, | went and Whispered in her ear and
kissed her and waited to see her smile at me.
Then all the world became dark. | re-
member trying to throw myself into the
water that might die too, and remember
who tried to prevent me- | beat him till
the blood was streaming from him and |
saw him fall at my feet as if dead; but re-
member nothing more. | woke up in a hos
pital, where they told me | had had brain
fever. l don't know how loUg l lay there,
but l recollect being next in a
prisoners dock and hearing a white-faced
constable telling the judge how had beaten
and stabbed him without provocatiou. |
locked in vain for words to answer with.
What could l say? No judge on earth could
understand what | felt; indeed, | hardly
knew myself The verdict was Guilty"
and the sentence ten years, and that is now
| came to be in prison. They think me mad
in here; they call me dangerous. But what
have | to live for now! In the midnight
darkness, through the workshop noise, in
the loneliness of my cell, | see her face,
white and cold, and l cry out to her and
long for death to take me beside her
don't know even where they took
aer or where her grave is, ard if
[ were out in the world again tomorrow
l wouldn't know whsre to look for her.
Life isn't worth living now, parson.
know all about your tracts and gospels, but
they don'6 bring me back Nelly. | some
times think that she isn't so far away, after
all, for l seem to hear her voice and feel her
near me. If she ever sees me, she knows
how miss her and how black the world has
been since | lost her.
That's my story, sir. Next time you see
me tied up and flogged you'll think that
Nelly isn't far away and that her little arms
are round me, though no one knows it but
myself.