Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-15
TALK OF THE TIME.

1t was at the turn of the tide with him.
For weeks he had been slowly melting away
with fever, and the time had come when it
was a question of rallying enough strength
to hold his own through the night. He had
drifted so far out on the ebb that there was
some doubt Of his coming back again all the
way on the flow.
Ofall those concerned in the matter he
took the least visible interest. To take an
interest in anything meant activity and q
purpose in one direction, and that was more
than he seemed able to compass. The wife,
whose brave, patient watchfulness had been
as a tonic to him; the doctor, whose touch
and voice gave always new hope and cour-
age; the nurse, quick to see and ever ready,
the whole household, in fact were at the
point of strained nervous tension, when the
far-off barking of some watch dog and the
nameless noises Of the night seemed almost
too much to bear in patience-and yet they
made no sign of it all. With them every
manifestation was Of cheerfulness every
word was weighed to hide that anything in
particular was Immediately at stake. OF
course he was not to know that he was
looked to for an unusual degree of self
assertion until such o course became last
resource.
Nights Voice Mpfaed by Snow.
The snow seemed to have been taken
into the confidence OF the watchers. Earlier
in the day it had driited down in desultory,
purposeless sort of way, as If it had nothing
TO do except to figure as casual visitor. As
night came on watch the flakes became big
ger and more determined, and the passing
carriages and wagons and the usually noisy
street cars passed 10 and fro as quietly as
though they were so many shadows. The
hush of a deep snowfall was on the earth,
and it seemed as though even the street
lights had put on overcoats to prevent un-
due glare.
And SO the hours were gathered to their
fathers and others were born, until mid
night conceived and the new day was born,
and the snow, tired from It's long days work,
bade the clouds good night, and the moon
came into view in the clear-cut skies. The
doctors fingers rested on the wasted wrist
to measure the pulse beat The nurse stood
at his side with q medicine glass with its
ministering draught and that other watcher
followed their movements and the ex-
preston of their faces with steadiness
born of anxiety and unconscious fatigue,
The patient seemed to sleep. 1t was such
short step from wakefulness, such as he
manifested to the bJrderland of slumber,
that he came and wslt so easily 1t was al
most impossible to tell whether he was
there or in transition or back again with
those who hung over his bed. The contents
slowly and painfully swallowed, and then he
sank back into that hollow in the bed which
he had made and from which they feared to
lift him. He seemed. too. to sink into the
same apathy, the same death-ike stiffness
which had been creeping upon him with the
hours since the sun went. The doctor looked
at the others and his eyes told them that the
was almost there when time would
either become thing of the past or would
gather the frayed, feeble strands of being
with new grasp. Before any word could
be whispered. before thought could
man opened his eyes, those poor
windows through which shone no sunlight
from within, but the doctor, bending down
The eyes roved about from object to object,
rested an instant on each face and then
passed on as If unseeing till they fell upon
the drawn blind OF the window and there
they halted and seemed to ask for some
thing.
Cross in the Window.
Quick as an inspiration one of those
who looked on, moved-can you not guess
which of them 1t was?-and in an instant
the covering of the glass was removed
and the moonlight and the snowlight
cleaned through the darkened room.
The eyes seemed gratified though
they blinked as though strained by
the unaccustomed brilliancy. Then they
dulled as II to close again and lapse into
a quietude that was the forerunner of
tn ing of awe, when into their depths came
q look of something strange, something un-
canny, something that at first seemed fear
and then became trustfuIness. And they
opened wide, tired and dim as they were,
there was a directness in their gaze
that was a distinct change. Again the doc
Tor bent close to the lips and listened, and
when there came no sort ofsound d., he spoke spoke
;ort to speak, and the man Of
many sick rooms followed that staring look
vl,ofN = Nhnr tro
Clear in the moonlight and black against
The snow-piled roof of a tall house over the
way, there in the center of the window was
1 cross. 1t was startling, actual and seemed
20 near the outer surface Of the pane that it
rairly leaned against it. The eyes slowly,
and with mighty effort, turned from that
which lay beyond the window and sought
The face of the doctor. full of questioning. |
Yes he whispered, "ft is there. can see
t too."
Again the eyes travelled to the great square |
If light, and it seemed as though the lips |
we're wrinkled into ghost of smile. Then |
he hand of sleep was laid upon the lids and |
hey closed Sleep, peaceful, restful sleep |
iours of it. too-followed. and with the |
gain, but the flow had brought back its |
,urden and lifted it beyond the grasp of the |
bD.
A Shock at the Right Time.
cit was the only thing that had no |
now on it." said the doctor to the nurse. |
The wind seemed to strike it at 4 different |
ngle from that of the trees, and so it
ooked black in the general brightness.
Iven this morning you can see how much it
ooks like cross through the window. Ifit
we're the top OF telegraph pole it would |
ave had several crossbars, and that would
ave spoiled the resemblance, but there ia
My one crosspiece on these telephone
oes, and from the level of the bed it Was
S perfect a cross as could be wished-and 1
elieve that it did the business for him. 1t
1as the sort of shock he needed, and it
raced him up just at the right time"
p. L. W.