The morning call., 1893-01-05

voyage: expect me back by the next New
Year. 1 shall hasten everything Tor your
sake"
She went to q sleepess bed that night.
In the morning her fathers glass showed
| her the Chevaler far out at sea. For many
| DAYS she went about heavy hearted. Her
mother watched and pitied her, and her
| own heart bled afresh.
! But youth is the season OF hope, ana love
| is its twin; and as the months of that spring
| and summer went by, the girl felt more and
| more as though she were only enduring a
brief probation 10 life long happiness.
| News had reached her Of the Chevaller and
| her beloved. First came letter from Rio,
full of love and promise; then an incoming
| whaler reported speaking the Chevalier in
| the far South Atlantic. and that all on board
| were well; aDd then a letter from Lima
All was well. time was flying, the promised
| time for the reunion was approaching.
| There is rarely. vet sometimes a New Eng
land autumn when the mellow Indian sum-
| mer is prolonged from November far into
| December, and the year fades away IN days
| Of yelled sunshine. when nature seems IN a
| dream and winter is held back by some
! strange spell. 1t was SO this year. Down
| TO the ist of January there was neither
| snow nor frost; silyeTy mist sat upon the
sea; the days were like May days, but with
| a sOftened sun; the nights were balmy and
| glorious. As Thankful and her mother sat
outside The cottage they could see the lights
from the town and the bay The sounds Of
! laughter and talking came up to them
| everything seemed under a charm.
So 1t was on that New Years eve. They
| sat there hate, talking Of the dead-of the
absent-hardly daring 70 talk of the future.
! The night was bright and starlight; every
thing was visible, yet indiStinct At that
| place aud time, nobody had been abroad for
1 2 hDHr New
| Years eve. Just then Thankful directed
| her mothers attention to figure advancing
slowly up the slope toward the cottage.
| ''Where?" asked Mrs. Benson. Il don't
see IT,"
"Why. thereP' said Thankful, with out
stretched finger. "It's man. He's coming
! this way. He-he looks ike Jack"
| She started up and advanced to meet him.
| Mrs. Benson strained her eyes, but cOu.d
! see nothing like human figure. She saw
! Thankful advance few PAGES, stretch out
/ her arms as II 10 embrace some one, and
| then fall seuseIess 10 the ground.
When Mrs Benson carried her IN and re-
| yved ner she started up and cried for Jack.
my dear child, be calm!" said the mother.
''He is not here. He has no: been here"
YES, yes!-he wasl l saw him-I al
most touched him. He came close up to
me-aHd then he disappeared, and could
| not see him."
The mother looked at her with grief and
awe.
! Dear Thankful" she said with deep
! solemnity, me STRONGEST your burden on
/ the L0Td-and bear your grief as / have
borne mine. You have not seen John
! Sturdy; you have seen his double. You will
never see bin again"
For tile next year their lives went on with
! that sense Of chastened sorrow that pos
| sesseS those whose only hope in this world
/ Is reft away. Mother and daughter drew
| closer together in their compani0nship Of
| bereavement. Life for them was all in the
! past; their present comfort was merely that
| of ministeriug to the sick and afii cted about
them, and thus to LEARN the luxury Of do
ing good"
The only news that had Teen received
from the Chevalier was daTkly coafrmatOry
! of the vision that Thankful had seen. One
| OF the boats had been found floating in the
| South Pacific, empty and oarless; ship
wrapped in FIRE from stem to stern had been
sighted afar off in those waters where help
could not be extended nor inquiry made.
They lived on during that year, and sor-
row grew old and was still as dark as ever.
! Their neighbOrs condOled with them, and
hoped that the time would come when grief
| would be Gained. and that life might yet
! have some pleasures for these afflicted ones.
| Would that time ever come TO Thankfully
! Not, surely, at such an hour as this, when
! the New Year was again at hand. 1t could
| bring no hope nor promise TO her. but the
| time. as long as she should live, must be in
her mind associated with the last words to
her: Expect me back by the next New
| Year. l shall hasten everything for your
sake"
1t was a very different New Years eve
| from the last The harbnr was locked in
ice; snow covered the ground; the air was
singing with frost. a clear sound OF bells
| from the town, as the new year was glee-
| fully rnng IN, came no to tbs lone women
| as Trey sat by their fire. No speech had
| passed between them for an hour. As the
| last peals Of the bells passed away. Mrs.
| Benson said:
at is all hard to bear, Thankful. We
must learn TO bear"
The girl started up with clasped hands
and passionately exclaimed:
( But never to see him again-though l
may live for fifty yearsi / can't endure the
! thought lie came to NE once after death
| why not again ,"
| The door noiselessly Enclosed and ad-
mitted a moving figure. 1t advanced toward
| them; they looked at the face, SPELL bound.
1t was pale, wan, wasted, but IL bore like
ness to John Sturdy.
| No womanly fright. no terror Of the super
natural possessed Thankful In that mo-
ment. Glad to have seen his face again in
answer TO her appeal, her loving. yearning
| heart hnngered for something more than
bis shadow. She started toward him-sbe
| opened wide her arms TO him.
'Oh, john" she said. don't do as you
/ did before. You said you would come back
| at this time"
Her loving aims EMBODIED him. Thank
! Ged. 1t was not a shadow; it was John
/ Sturdy, weak, sick, feeble, but it was he.
Tbey had the lappiest kind of New
Year after ali. When the first greetings
were over, and Mrs. Benson had refreshed
! him with tea. ana he aud Thankful sat side
| by side, hand IN hand, inexpTessibly glad,
| but silent for want of wOTds-then after a
little he tod the story of his adventures and
! escapes, by sea and land, out Of all Of when
he had been saved to them. Some day lie
will tell 1t In print. 1t is too long TO tell
| here.
When he had finished Mrs. Benson asked
| where we're you a year ago tonight, John?
| Thankful thought she saw you
/ He looked nquriDgly at his betrothed.
| She told him all
That was tie night" he said, "when the
officers and crew Of the poor burning Chey-
| alier took 10 the boats in a heavy sea. One
boat was swampef before myeyes, and all
in it we're drowned. Ours rolled and pitched
so heavily in the chopping waves that / ex-
pected we, too, must perish. 1t was Just
| there, while l was hopelessly directing the
men at the oais, that vision came before
| my eyes of the harbor hereof the town
aud this cottage. / saw you both. and
| Thankful held out her arms to me. From
that instant knew we should be reunited
Yes, knew II, and | cherished the belief
and Rugged 1t to ms heart in all the dangers
and labors that have beset me SINCE
james Franklin Fits in Romance.
| |
You cannot deny facts, and it is fact that
Salvation oil is the greatest paine ure rs cents.
| Dogs are slaughtered for culinary nur.