The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-02-15
A MESSAGE IN STONE.
Novel Way in Which Joe Brought
His Grievances to Notice.

In very plain house in an obscure
village in Georgia, lived Robert Hurley
and his wife Ann, natives of the village
of B. They had started life hand
in hand some fifteen years before, with
good health and nothing more. God
had blessed their union with three
children, two boys and girl, aged re-
spectively fourteen, eleven and four The
boys attended neighboring school at
which Joseph, the elder, being of a
studious turn of mind, among other
things, had CLEANED some little knowl-
edge of photography.
At the time in which our story opens
the mother was grievously ill. She
soon died and Hurley broke down, took
to drink and became Indifferent to the
welfare of his children. Gradually he
absented himself from home night after
night, passing his evenings at the pub
lie house or wherever he found the COM
pany more pleasant than at home. Mat
tiers went on thus for several months.
AT length Hurley began to ''spruce up
a bit, and before long the children had
step-mother who was of different
disposition from their own mother.
Household matters that formerly were
barely tolerablo now became decidedly
unpleasant. The step-mother was a
woman of ungOvernable temper. She
seemed from the first to have an intense
dislike to her husbands children and
took every occasion to manifest it.
Under this treatment the children be-
came FESTIVE; complaints to the father
brought no interference from him and
increased the wife'S anger. Joe, being
the eldest, seemed to come in for d
larger share of unreasonable abuse; like
begets like, and the once quiet lad an
swered the step-mother with disrespcct
and anger.
Once, after the boys had gone to
school, Mrs. Hurley, noting the absence
of the little girl, called her impatiently
There was no immediate response, and
the woman softly crept up the garnet
stairs, and finding the child, she rough
1y accused her of heedlessneSs, and seiz-
ing stout billet of wood, was about to
intiict on her condign punishment. just
then the elder boy, returning from
oNlOol. tilcIcN UHc HOuSt. al inc SlpDU
of his little sister pale and trembling,
and the passiondistorted face of the
woman, he unfortunately gave way to
anger. All the real and fancied insults
and ill-treatment he had suffered came
to his mind, and his blood boiled.
Let my sister alone." he cried, in q
frenzy. Let that child go, Or
His dreadful threat was followed by a
look of hatred from the step-mother as
she raised the stick to strike the child
He rushed to the rescue, his only inten-
ton being to protect the girl. While he
was striving to take the cudgel from the
'enraged woman disgraceful hand-to-
hand struggle ensued. Mrs. Hurley
'tripped on some obstacle, and, in falling
heavily to the floor, struck her head
against the stove. At that instant ped
der, who had been silent witness of
the occurrence, seeing the unpleasant
termination of affairs, rapidly left the
scene. The woman lay gasping and I'M
conscious, with the blood slowly oozing
from dreadful cash in her head. The
boy retained the weapon from which she
had released her grasp, and for a brief
instant he stood over the bleeding
woman in this guilty attitude. He was
acne. Early in the struggle the little
girl had run out, crying, Joe kill" Her
cries and the noise of the struggle
brought the neighbors into the room.
They observed the lad in the compro-
missing attitude referred to.
Scarcely knowing what he said, Joe
uttered wild cry of, "Oh! what have
done?" and STOPPING down, ate mpted
to raise the woman's head on his lap.
To his intense horror she was dead, and
her limbs were rapidly growing cold
and stiff.
The neighbors gathered about, utter
ing wild cries of alright. But, shocked
as they were, no pen or tongue can de-
scribe the speechless, CHASTITY terror of
the boy. He was deprived of utterance
and reason almost, by the awful occur
renee. He jabbered incoherently, while
the bystanders, who had heard his threat
and the noise Of the struggle, looked at