The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-08-09
OUT OF DARKNESS INTO LIGHT.
A Novel: BY DR.. j. A. Houser.

and kissed him, said a thousand pretty
little things to him, promised him every
thing, just like a girl would do, and
soon took him all to her heart, and
transSubstantiated herself into the DO
main of maternity. She crossed that
vast gulf of laughter and tears that
lies between the virgin and the mother.
She left the sunshine and the tempta-
ton, the flowers and the Magistrates, on
the one side, to take up her abode among
the cares, continuous anxiety, intense,
but never realized hope. Heaviness of
heart, innumerable regrets, WEAKNESS
that makes the soul sick, and all else
that is far across the gulf where moth
ers dwell. but all of which find their
balance, their more than balance. In the
deep, unreasonable love that bends over
the cradle.
Sitting down, laying baby gently upon
her lap. looked at him a moment, as
tears gathered to her kind, blue eyes,
she felt truly the baby was an object
of pity. Touching his dimpled cheek,
she said:
Baby, a cruel she-wolf is your moth
er; she flung you from her fangs ana
you fell down in a scorpions nest. You
start out in the world marked with the
disgrace of illegitimacy. Your existence
has been used to eXtort few vulgar
dollars to sustain indecency awhile in
its revelS. 1t shall be my earliest duty
and my latest care, to so perfectly bury
you in the oblivion of years that are to
come, that neither the she-wolf that
dropped you here, nor the great Vile
nosed world, that, like some grununS
swine. is always trying to snout Up
something among the wreck Of hU nan
crafts, that will make some poor, little
heart ache. will even dream where you
are, or under what canopy of love you
slumber. You shall be lost flower In
the wilderness of a woman'S love. FOUR
life shall be a little song that floats
n N afn nf echoes \
coming spring melts the snow and dis
solves every track of the hunted deer,
so the summer of my love shall remove
every trace and trail of your little iden-
tity. No sleuth-hound shall ever trace
you to your little dell on the leaside Of
my heart"
Pausing a moment. and kissing the
cooling lips for the first time, Sparkle
Brooke continued:
Eyes. baby, you are mine. / am your
little mother. and henceforth 1 will live
with you and you with me-"
All this Carl Brandon had heard with
feelings that denied him utterance. No
words could convey an adequate idea
of his emotions. Before this hour he
had never known how much it was pos
sible for him to love such an unseljsh
creature as Sparkle Brooke. Before this
hour her beauty and her brightness had
always captivated him; now Ter good
ness and her kindness were so radiant
he only understood her as a spirit of
idealism that had been refined and puri-
fed through all gradations ana every
form of life, finally rising above all the
drOss of selhshness and reaching a
'Nervana" Of its own, spOtless as ray
Of celestial light condensed into the
divine love of a mother
While Carl Brandon was musing, in
the bewilderment Of admiration and en-
chantment, Sparkle was carefully in
specting the baby His clothing was Of
the finest materials, the most costly
laces and incest linen. While thus in
speeding him. she tishe1 uD a little gold
chain that was buried in the tat folds
Of his neck. and found hanging 10 1t u
lOcket in which her quick anxiety dis
covered a portrait of the father and
mother. With almost betrayed anger.
the girl broke the chain, saying: No
baby. they have disyraced YOU enough;
you have no father AMI mother you are
just d little collection OF smiles and
tears that breathe and cry You shall
not wear this. You shall have but enc
picture. and that shall he Of myself; it
will soon be photographed on your baby
heart"
Carl still kept wondering what strange
freak would surprise him next, but as
the girl was master now, she was not
capable of saying a thing that carl
would not have said "amen" to. She had
demonstrated what good women have
in all ages of the world that XOman
can only conquer by patience and love.
When Sparkle's mother entered the
room to announce the evening neal.
after the eventful day had worn away,
and saw her little daughter nursing the
baby which she did not know was in the
house before that moment, she could
but exclaim:
why. where did that baby come
from"
Sparkle said, Its ny baby, I'm its
mother" which called forth a good
hearty laugh from the kind woman,
which Carl tried 20 initiate. but some
thing in his manner did not permit of
such merriment.
But" said the mother, whose baby
is it? l did not know any of our neigh
bors had babies.
Dear mother, You watch the town
pretty closely, out yOu don't know all
that happens" replied Sparkle
By this time the woman's eyes were
well fixed on the child, and her first e.
clanlatiOn was:
Its awfully pretty anyhow, whose
ever it is" and thinking no more about
it for the time being. supposing that
some neighbOr woman had left it there
by Sparkle's request. so she might fon-
die and kiss 1t, rs she did every baby,
she brought Mr.. Brandon his supper.
He desiring to cat alone, she and her
daughter, leaving the baby on the bed
withdrew 20 partake of their meal.