Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-01-03
WITH LOAF AND CANDLE,

WITH LOAF AND CANDLE.
FIN parts of England there is superstition that
loaf of bread and a candle f1oated on the water
will seek the sunken body. In Yorkshire cake is
white bread, bread is oatcake.]
With a loaf and candle!
We live in the oldest world, where men
labor to do the simplest things in the most
roundabout way, and to put whatever they
come in contact with to purposes other than
those intended.
Full score of in the main not unintelligent
men were about to search for the body of
their master with loaf of cake and candle.
How loaf and a candle should conduce
toward the finding of the object they sought,
it is not easy to see What there was in the
nature of loaf or candle to make each appro-
pirate to the purpose, not one of these in the
main not unintelligent men asked
The upper reach of the canal had drained
itself away, but at the locks the rush of water
had furrowed the bed, pent in as it had been
between the walls, and had left deep pools.
Below the locks the face of the land was fat,
the fall slight, and there the canal was brim-
ming, and much of the water that had over
flowed still lay about in the fields. This por-
ton of the Keld basin went by the name of
the Fleet, which indicated a time when it
had been waste of ooze and water channels,
sometimes overfowed and sometimes dry
The whole of the drained canal bed had
been searched between the lock and the
bridge that carried the road across the river
and canal distance of three quarters of a
mile, but without success The men who in
tended prosecuting the search in their own
fashion were clustered below the shattered
locks. But the gathering did not consist of
men only. With them were some mill girls
from a factory on the slope that had not
stopped, not having been affected by the
flood. They wore scarlet or pink kerchiefs
over their heads, pinned under the chin and
plain white pinafores to protect their dresses
at their work from the oil, costume as pic
turesque and becoming as convenient. These
girls were there because it was an unsuitable
place for them-no other reason will suffice
to explain their presence. But women, water
and wind will penetrate everywhere.
+ Mrs. Sidebottom and Salome were also on
the canal bank. They had no faith in the
experiment about to be tried, but each for
different reasons thought 1t expedient to be
present. Salome would not be away, so in
tense was her enxiety about the fate of Uncle
Jeremiah, and Mrs. Sidebottom would be
there so as not to seem Indifferent. Janet,
tired from her long journey, and not strong,
did not come out; she remained with her mo-
,ther. Philip and Lambert Pennycomequick
were there as duty; disagreeable and
'onerous duty the captain considered it, be-
cause it spoiled his dinner.
A loaf and a candle.
! A good round loaf of bakers bread had q
hole scooped out of it, and into this hole a
Itallow candle was thrust. The candle was
lighted and sent adrift on the canal.
+ The night was dark, the moon did not rise
for another hour or more. All the mills in
the valley were dark. Not only had they
been brought to a standstin by the flood but
the main of the gas was broken. This was
the cause of the eclipse, likewise of the lamps
on the road The water had left the cottage
of the lockkeeper, and the bodies of the dead
man and his wife had been found and laid on
the sodden bed. A yellow glimmer shone out
of the window, for candle burnt there, and
a fire had been kindled. An old woman, a
relation, driven from her home by the water,
was sitting there, trying to coax fire to keep
in, in the wet and rusty CRATE, and supplying
herself with gin to keep out the chill.
! The town on the hill flank twinkled with
lights, and just beyond the ridge pulsated the
auroral flicker from the distant foundries.
/ The lamps on the railway shone green and
red.
+ Some of those engaged in the search bore
lanterns.
/. The cluster on the embankment, with the
moving lights, the occasional flash over a red
kerchief or white pinafore, and the refec-
tions in the water, united to form pictur-
esque and striking picture.
i Isl there" said one man. "Tleet Qight
be headin' agin t. stream"
"There's no stream flowing" said another.
! s'There owt ia be, and there is for sewer.
VI can1 be gan'in up t course"
because t'wind be blawing frae t. east.
: 1t was true; the loaf of bread which had
been placed in the water, instead of taking a
seaward direction with the natural fall of
the current, was swimming slowly but per-
'ceptibly upward. The yellow flame of the
candle was turned towards the locks, show
ing in which direction the wind set, and ex-
planning naturally the phenomena. The cur
rent was so slight that the wind acting on the
loaf had power to overcome it.
sSho's travelin' upwards" said the first
speaker. "Sho's bound to seek him aht."
Into the canal suddenly fell mass of I'M
dermined bank, making splash and sending
the floating light gyrating and dancing as
the wavelets formed. One of the mill girls,
going too near the edge, had trodden on the
loosed soil and nearly fell in herself, provok-
ing laugh and reprimand.
"Mind what tha'rt ABBOTT, LASS shouted one
of the men, eff tina falls in I'm none boun
to hug thee aht."
81 can crawl aht wi'out thy hugging, Bill, !"
answered the girl promptly.
"Eh!' said another, 'Efie, fog sewer thou'rt
not bawn to be drowned"
Some byplay went on-a half romp-in the
rear, between a young woolcomber and girl
reeler.
INA, them" shouted the night watch,
Nswe're none come aht for lakes" games
sand if you're to remain you must be quiet. +"
The incongruity of their behavior with the
gravity of the occasion struck the young peo-
pie, and they desisted.
What had become of the refuge huts
Curiously enough, till this moment no one
had noticed its disappearance, perhaps be-
cause of the completeness with which 1t had
been effaced. No sooner had the steam pene-
trated to its interior than it had collapsed,
and every brick and slate and rafter had
been swept away from the platform it had
occupied.
The policeman had joined the party, carry
ing in front an enormous bulls eye lantern,
One of the men had provided graphing
ifosas, always kept near the bridge because
accidents were not uncommon in the canal
and the river; drunken men fell in, children
in play got pushed over, girls ip paroxysmso OF
despair threw themselves in.
I'l.s Loaf with the light had now got abovs
the spot where the bank had fallen in, and
the ripple aided the wind in carrying it with 9
in the locks.
''Sho's got an idee!"
"Wheer? 1T crust or it crumb?"
sho's maxim rect ahead for t. deepest hoyle
6aoie)."
1t was SO; the loaf had entered within the
walls.
Every now and then, On ripple, the bread
leaped and the flame wavered as banner.
The draught snuffed the glowing wick, and
CARRIED some of the red sparks away and ex-
tinguished them in the black water.
The searchers now congregated on the
paved platform and looked timarpusly, yet
fnquisitively, into the gulf where lay the peol
da1iz as ink. The candle fame family ira