Morning journal and courier., 1891-09-25

Splashing through these shallow pools that seemed more cold at every step, he headed resolutely for the light. The tall | cat-tails brushed his face as he passed, l huge brown haystacks stood out against l the heavy sky like spectral dwellings, and l the fintlock Tapping against his back | seemed to spur him on into the darkness. |
 The light at last! Clambering, stagger- ing, slipping up the iron stairs, thiekly coated with sleet and freezing spray, the the keepers room. s'Redfoot is coming!' he screamed to the old man far up in the tower. A few minutes more and the
 shaky old rheumatic came stumping
 down, half paralyzed with fear. Then
 when he heard of the threatened visit his
 wrinkled face lit up with a determination
 grand to see.
 ssThat, ole cripple, is ready" said he, grimly surveying his poor array of weap- great curved scimetar of Eastern make,
 and brace of ancient pistols here and there in corners and odd crannies of the room. Over the door was large steel trap, relic of bear hunting days, long unused and much tarnished.
 First of all the beacon was put out, and for the first night in it's history old Strat- ford light was invisible.
 "Keep it dark" were the last words of the boy as he started off again into the gathering storm. "Come back!" yelled the Benham, thinking the boy had gone daft, and he limped to the doorway and shaded his hand, trying in vain to catch glimpse of the lad. Gonel and the wind, increasing every minute az the tide rose, true to the seaman's prophecy came shrieking through the mist, hurling the | waves madly upon the shore. Each gust 1 threatened to dismantle the lighthouse, I strings. The feeble keeper shook his head | mournfully as he turned back and bolted | the door. Sitting in the dim tower later
 he watched the lightning play and heard
 the low, ugly surges of the breakers be- ! low him. There was rockets pale blue l flight, and another, out toward Charles
 Island. Almost at once binding glare shone out down the beach, wrapping the
 very waves in fire with it's broad flame. | Who could it be? Just then the
 heavy door below gave way with
 against it. A rush of night air
 followed and uncertain footsteps stumbled
 up the steep stair. Calmly the keeper
 puffed his short pipe and waited. A
 click, curse, fall, then groans of pain
 and hard oaths came up the dim stair
 way. "Jed's found the bear trap" solilo-
 quized the smoker above: watching the
 blaze that was still so bright. ''Un-
 doubtedly some signal" thought the old
 man, 'but did Jed see it?" Gradually the
 fire burned down lower and lower, till the
 driving spray extinguished the embers and
 all was blackness.
 Morning came, gray and bleak, and the
 storm was done. The old man in the
 tower hummed merrily in 8 squeakv treble
 as he polished up the great retiectors. An
 occasional moan downstairs told when
 Jed yet fingered in the iron embrace, a
 wretched captain. The burned pole bare
 and lone and the blackened ground where
 a haystack had stood marked the spot where the false light had been, kindled ai
 has always been supposed by the faithful
 fellow who saved old Benham. He wal , never seen again. Whether he died o1 some quicksand they never knew, but h.
 had done his work, for the long, stead, , swells that washed the southeast ledg that morning were breaking over the tim bers of the lost Miranda.
 t JUDGE STENCILS VISION.
 Among the queer characters who ire ! quent the neighborhood of the light is al old negro named Judge Spenoes. Whenc
 came the title no man knows, but Judg , I he has been called from time immemorial He is an inveterate "clammer." At loy I tide he may generally be seen, reck deeI off by the bar, raking out round clans, ,an as the tide turns and the flood drives hir in shore, he turns to hoeing long clans i 5 the sand and shadows. A small, misers ] bly, small mud -colored mongrel always ae
 ! o,,S@ A11 T-,I@ k-. l. r high-sounding name of Balm-er Gilead. N matter what the weather may be thes - cronies will be, as rule, every day winc :, ing their way to the sands soon after SUI rise, there to spend the day, the Judg 8 digging, Balm CT Gilead dozing or chasin sand deas till twilight brings them towr T ward with their plunder. On last Fourt = of July the Judge experienced what he hs y been pleased to call a vision, in which will swear lon consideration of fnge y of gin) that he saw spirits. It all happel > ing ashore late in the day with his la n load of clans, and in crossing the bal 1' shore stepped in a small pool left by u r. rising tide. "Gawd," said the Judge, 8 a terward relating the incident, ''de hu y shoal fahly gib way and way goes whir T. ing same like I was in one O dem cyclon le canes. Why made clear drop CT mo d forty-f millium CT feet an inches a. 'e lit in armchair, by gum. was in b , ,r immense room, biggein the Milford tow D: n hall an mo'ah lit up dan dat place are IS IS town mestin' nights De sweetes' smel war in de are; vile roses or ole Jamait T. isn't ekal ter it, no sir; an sech singin' {
 dey war. Well, whiles I war li R. tenin' and lookin' fer all r. was worth, in come gempu ,, got up fit ter kill in a blight green suit u, cloes dat shined same like bluefsh. 'd knowed it was de debbil infinite he cum i S. fer seed him befoah. Soon as he set to me he sez natural as life, and he look fl m de worl like Ben Bristol wen he star F back Ter de bar an he sez, ''What'l y 'e take Judge?" "De ole sling wid punch ( of sugar, hot," sez I widout lookin' up ,s even thinkin. Well, vile he war gone, ro mos gorgus angels an actresses, a ~ 70 harp -picker's cum by all dancin' and ma a a in nor sad sweet music fer me. I far ,d ,d felt fetched fur mint an I sez: No m " ~ clammin fer you Jedge wen ders gin o oeo angels an music here widout worki no Gawd! reckin not!
 - But ole "Sate" cum back wid de cumco ;;n tion steamerin' hot and jes gives fa1 h tA we'll gaze at her and down she goes. As a a drinks her off Sate gib yell an say s' "Cum in, yo' bone-chawers, yo' lib pic ,,on CTS, yo' skull-smashers, cum! Yer's game 'n .u Wid dat helly dun bruk loose. Hun're ,n ra CT green gempmum cum rushin' in an ell to ry mudder's son grabs me, singh lout 'o an strongy:
 ,d "Sling back de sinner an kick him ld-by, ~ Gin, gin, an nigger's backbone;
 Id We'll pull out his sfedders an learn him ter fly, at Gin, gil. e1' nigger's backbone.'' 1e This part the judge renders in hil or falseto, supposed to be en exact imitatie s. of the internal voices, in his last no y always breaks badly and he says apol 1t getically, with suggestive smack: "I' d too thirsty, gempmulns, to sing well at "Well dey sent me whirlerin' up mor'n as million hours fo'ah I lit anywheres an til landed right plum where I started, on le dere was dat ole Deac'n Nettleton der t. scand'lous drunk, sah, scand'lous drum k. An he talked foolish.'' Deacon Nettlete Id says, speaking of the event, ''I found tn ly dissipated negro Spence intoxicated la l. Independence day, lying in puddle, wi le his dog Balm of Gilead holding his hes ir up so that he could breathe, and both u es negro and the dog smelt of strong d1in b. and flat, yellow bottle, empty, lay ne lg by"
 8, TO BE CONTINUED.
 E The Old Mans Darling Did N AC Arrive on Time.