Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1892-12-22
OLD ESON.

-i'.
stranger within my gates, the man whom
in his extremity clothed and fed.
l remember well the time of his com
ing, for it happened at the end of five
days and nights during which the year
passed from strength to age; in the in
terval between the swallows departure
and the redwing's coming: when the
tortoise in my garden crept into his win
ter quarters and the equinox was on us.
with an east wind that parched the
blood IN the trees, SO that their leaves
for once knew no gradations of red and
yellow, but turned at stroke to brown
and cracked like tin foil
AT o'clock in the morning Of the
sixth day | looked out. The wind still
whistled across the sky, but now with
out the obstruction Of any cloud. Full
in front Of my window Sirius flashed
with whiteness thar pierced the eye.
A little to the right the whole constella-
ton Of Orion was suspended clear over
wcdgelike gap in the coast, wherein
the sea could be guessed rather than
seen, and travelling yet farther the eve
fell en two brilliant lights, the one set
high above the other; the one steady and
fiery red, the other yellow and blazing
intermittently; the one Aldebaran, the
other revolving on the lighthouse top.
fifteen miles away.
Half way up the east, the moon, now
IN her last quarter and decrepit, climbed
with the dawn close at her heels. At this
hour they brought in the stranger, ask
ing # my pleasure were to give him
clothing and hospitality.
Nobody knew whence be came, except
that it was from the wind and the night
seeing that lie spoke in a strange tongue.
moaning and making sound like the
twittering Of birds in chimney. But
his journey must have been long and
painful, for his legs bent under him. and
he could not stand when they lifted him.
So, finding it useless to question him
for the time, / learned from the servants
all they had to tell-namely, that thev
had come upon him but few minutes
before, lying on his face within my
grounds without staff or scrip. bare
headed, spent and crying feebly for sue
cor in his foreign tongue, and in pity
they had carried him in and brought
him to me.
Now for the look Of this man. He
seemed a century old, being bald, ex-
tremely wrinkled with wide hollows
where the teeth should be, and the flesh
hanging loose aud faccid on his cheek
bones; and what color he had could have
come only from exposure to that bitter
night. But lis eyes chiefly spoke Of his
extreme age. They were blue and deep.
and filled with the wisdom Of years, and
when he turned them i'll nv direction
they appeared to look through IIle. IT,
yond me and back upon centuries of sor-
row aud the slow endurance Of man, III
If his immediate misfortunes were but
an ineonsiderabIe item in long list.
They frightened me. Perhaps they
conveyed . warning Of that which was
to endure at their owners hands. From
compassion | ordered the servants to
take him to my wife, with word that
wished her to set food before him and
see that it passed his lips.
So much did for this stranger. Now
He has taken my youth from me, and
the most of my substance, and the love
Of my WIFE
From the hour when he tasted food IN
my house he sat there without hint of
going. Whether from design, or be-
cause age and his sufferings had really
palsied him, he came back tediouslv to
life and warmth, nor for many DAYS
prcfessed himself able to stand erect.
Meanwhile he lived on the best of our
hospitality. Ny wife tended him, ana
my servants ran ut his bidding. for lie
managed early to make them under
stand scraps Of his language, though
slow in acquiring hours-I believe out Of
calculation, lest some one should inquire
his business (Which was mystery Of
hint at his departure
/ myself often visited the room he had
appropriated. and would sit for an hour
watching those fathomless eyes while /
tried to make head or tail Of his dis
course. When we were alone nv wife
and l used to speculate at times on his
probable profession. Was he IA merchant,
an aged mariner, tinker, tailor, beg
garman, thief? We could never decide,
and he never disclosed.
Then the awakening came. | sat one
day in the chair beside his, wondering as
usual had felt heavy of late with a
soreness and languor in my bones, az if
a dead weight hung continually on my
shoulders and another rested Oh INV
heart.
"a warmer color i'll the strangers cheek
caught my attention, and bent for
ward, peering under the pendnlous lids.
His eyes were livelier and less profound.
The melancholy was passing from them
AS breath fades off pane Of glass He
was growing younger. Starting up ran
across the room to the mirror
There were two white hairs in my fore
lock, and at the corner Of either eye half 4
a dozen radiating lines. was an old
man.
Turning, regarded the stranger. He
sat as phlegmatic as an Indian idol. and
in my fancy l felt the young blood
draining from my own heart and saw it
mantliDg in his cheeks Minute by min
ute watched the slow miracle-the old
man beautihed As buds unfold he put
on lovely youthfulness, and drop hy
drop left me winter.
/ hurried from the room, and seeking
my wife laid the case before her. This
is ghoul, said, rthat we harbor; he
is sucking my best blood, and the house
hold il clean bewitchedn She laid aside
the book i'll which she read and laughed I
at me. Now my wife waswell looking,
and her eyes were the light Of my soul
Consider, then, how felt ~ she laugh
ed, taking the strangers part against \
me. When left her il was with a new
suspicion i'll my heart How shall II \
be, I thought, .if after stealing my I
youth he 20 on 70 take the one thing I
that is better
In my room, day by day, 1 brooded
upon this hating my own alteration
and fearing worse. With the stranger (
there was no longer any disguise. His
head blossomed in curls; white teeth
filed the hollows Of his mouth; the pits
in his cheeks were beaped full with roses, (
glowing under transparent skin. 1t
was Hson renewed and thankless, and i
he sat on, devouring my substance.
Now having probed my weakness, and 4
being satisfied that no longer dared to
turn him out, he. who had half imposed