Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1889-09-20

that the gallant Uuiprspiffc had sunk and
every soul ON board had perished it was al
most a relief TO the anxious watchers Ger
tainty, though hard 10 bear, was better
than hope deferred,
Gently did sympathetic friends tell the
mournful news to the lonely girl at the
point but dazed and bewildered, she did
not seem to comprehend their meaning.
For days she lay in kind of stupor, un-
needing everything, even the presence of
the kind old dame who watched by her side
night and day with tear dimmed eyes. Only
when the waves dashed loudest would the
girl stir uneasily, raising her head as though
listening for some ones coming.
At last she awoke from her long sleep,
coming back once more TO life and to her
senses but the beautiful hair was as white
as the foam that dashed against the rocks
she used to love, and the dark eyes looked
large and mournful beneath the snowy
wealth. As strength slowly came back to
her, so also came the firm conviction that
her lover was not dead, but would one day
return to her So firm was her faith that
she grew cheerful, almost happy. Once
more she assumed her duties-clothing lit
tie children, ministering to the sick and
aged, helping weary housewives. There
was not person on the island who had not
at one time or another felt her kindly influ-
ence or her strong, stimulating presence.
Every night at dusk, after her days
work was done, she would place a large
bright light in the window of the little sit
tng-room that looked toward the harbor,
leaving the curtain drawn aside, so that
should he for whom she watched come at
night, he would find her still waiting for
him Not a night did she fail in this most
important of all her duties. Her light was
a bright beacon. Sailors soon learned to
know it and look for it, and they never
looked in vain it was always there, steady,
clear unwavering.
Thus passed several years, when sudden
ly, mysteriously, without a shadow of warn
ing, Mistress Marian disappeared As 81
lently as years ago she had entered the life
of the fisher folk, so now did she leave it :
and as they knew not then whence she
came, neither did they know now whittier
she went.
There we're many conjectures as to her
strange disappearance. One old sailor af
firmed that one night when he was out fish
ing he saw a little boat come from the
point, bearing a solitary passenger with
snowwhte hair, who rowed out toward a
large ship that could be dimly seen, as
through a fog, and was taken on board 4;
then the large ship quickly vanished. But
as this old man was well known to take his
black bottle with him on his fishing expedi-
tions, and as no other person could be
found who saw the wonderful ship, his sto-
ry did not gain the credence that its inge-
nuity deserved The most of the people
inclined to the belief that she had gone
back to her fathers relatives but how,
when or where, not even the old woman
who lived with her could tell.
A decade or two passed, and the old
house in its exposed locality grew more
and more weatherwOrn and dilapidated
and finally, one winter, doubtless feeling
that its time of usefulness had passed, it
succumbed to fate and, during a heavy
gale, fell to the ground Some of the tim
bers were washed away. others were used
for fire wood by campers and fishermen so
that after time nothing remained to mark
the spot where the cottage had been, save
a few damp, moss covered logs.
But still in the same place on quiet sum
mer nights during the hot sultry time of
July and August-the time when the Va
terspriie was said to have perished-this
weird, white, uncertain, trembling light,
few feet from the ground, is at times plain
ly seen. Not all the scientific explanations
of wiser heads can convince the simple vii
layers that this strange light is any other
than Marian's beacon for her sailor lover,
or shake their faith in the plausiblity of a
story handed down from successive genera
tions
The merriest sailing party, rounding the
point of a sweet summer night, will become
subdued at the sight of the light while the
timid maiden will nestle closer to the skip
per at the helm, as she says in awe-struck
tones, "See Mistress Marian's light is still
burning. '-Ne,c England Magazine.