Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1892-04-07

her entreaties for uic pzae home
were at time pitifo However,
Wishing on this trip. <e - 9TH
ers. to convince the f6nt they
need have no fear d becoming
homesick, | had neF Sked Cor
leave of absence.
sAt last, about u of De
cember, letter rea1 lne kfom
the house while I ~ lzbana,
stating that after the \ Instant
All travelling agents il Iiber-
~ untii-Janua1y <za - hae -
q Marry Christmas and aHappy
New Year. or course. was ex-
tremely well pleased and mentally
calculated that after the days labor
was completed on the 10th would
board the 0 .. m. train for Nash
Vile, and reach home on the morn
ing of the 18th.
"Retiring on the night of De-
cember 8, suffering from the undue
mental or physical excitement. I
fell into what appeared to me to be
q peaceful sleep, in which / dream
ed that / stood at he rear entrance
of strange brick house, one which
| had never seen in my waking mo-
ments, but every exterior detail of
which l seemed to note carefully
and still remember. Why or how
| was supposed to be there or why
/ was at the rear door, I do not
know, but | was perfectly sure that
il was proper to be there, and also
equally as sure that this house was
Mary's home. / knocked upon the
door and was admitted BY Mary's
sister, who, though it seemed not
in the least strange to me, expressed
but very little concern at seeing me,
merely saying, Mary is in the front
parlor, and, as persons doin dreams,
disappeared. Twas alone. Taking
a hasty survey of the room, / no.
ticed that it seemed in disorder,
such disorder as results from NOV
ing before articles are placed in
their proper positions. scanned
things closely. a PAR lady's
shoes sat in the middle II The room,
close to the leg Of the centre table.
A lounge sat in the farther end
against one of the curtains which
hung over the folding door, the
other curtain being drawn, disclos-
ing small room in which the only
article Of furniture visible through
the curtains was bureau such as
were so much used at that time.
''It is needless for me to mention
every object which | seemed to ex-
anime in that one brief moment,
though | recall everything vividly,
even the carpet, the wall paper, the
unhung pictures, and the frames;
suffice Ito say that Mary stood in
front Of the bureau in the little
room, with her long, black hair
hanging loosely over her shoulders,
while she searched for something
in the topmost drawer in utter ig-
norance of my presence, gazed
upon her moment, and called her
name. She turned toward me with
a look of widest surprise which
quickly turned to one of JOY as she
rushed toward me with outstretched
arms, crying out my name. / adj
vanced toward her. As she threw
the curtain further back, in her
wild haste her foot caught under q
rug which lay in the doorway, and
she began to fall. Ileaped forward
and caught her in my arms before
she had fallen completely to the
floor, raised her gently and placed
her upon the lounge, not yard
away.
"Her sister had heard the noise
we had made and she came running
in. Mary did not speak. Ibid not
seem to be excited and can even re-
member in the dream OF having at
tributed her quiet as she lay upon
the sofa to faintness. Her sister
bade me enter an adjoining room
to the right, which did, seeming
to know that it was the sisters de-
sire to be alone with her while she
prepared her for bed and the treat
ment necessary to resusci.ate her.
s'In this other room | began to
feel alarmed and endeavored to al
lag ssysfeass as well As to divert my
thoughts by examining things close
ly. A door with broken glass
opened out upon driveway, which
seemed to have been newly paved,
and which led to the street a few