The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1893-12-02
store near a Kentucky iron furnace

store near Il Kentucky iron furnace
and that is saying Il good deal. i.
Il had gone about half Il mile up that
ridge when l heard voices, pitched
in different keys, making Il most un-
earthly sound. and just then, as ]
turned a bend in the road, L saw four
men q short distance ahead. They We're
at the side of the road, and seemed
to be in a STOPPING posture. They
caught sight Of me at the same i'll.
slant, and the noises stopped. l could
feel my hair raising on end. There
was no use of my turning back. If
l had started to run they could have
%Ovcrhaulcd me in no time with the o u
fresh and powerful horses that We're
stopped some time before, and all was
quiet.
The old house looked about the site
where its deformity lay outlined by
the simmer Of Il November moon. 1t
was the Ill as when Il woman. upon
whose face care AND wretchedness had
made hard and hideous scars, sees the
change reflected for the first time in
her mirror. 49,
These people go 10 bed early said
the old house. II wonder If they have
always done so. l suppose l shall have
to do the same. And l suppose l shall
have to become acquainted with them.
There is no such thing as ever getting
back to the plac. I once occupied"
Il remember when I first went there.
1t was in q locality where only finely
dressed people came The equipages
were splendid. One evening ! was re-
gal. There came to my apartments
two beings whose happiness was as
complete as that state Of earthly con
tentment can be made There was not
a nook or corner about my apartments
which was not festooned and beauti-
fled by the hand of a woman who was
the perfection Of loneliness. How she
cared for me and talked to me! and in
the nighttime she would sing to me
until the melody seemed the link be-
tween bliss on earth and rapture be-
yond. She was my bride.
II was her shelter and comfort and
his until I saw gathered about them
images Of themselves, and their young
lives were repetitions of the first l had
seen. I heard the first lullaby, and an
other, and another, and another. How
they grew stronger and stronger until
they flooded me with laughter! And
then a stranger would come in. Later
on he took away one of the children /
had seen grow up-the first one. They
tried to make me look joyous and hap
py that night, but it was mockery to
nc. 1 saw, when the bells quit ringing,
her who had been my bride, and I saw
the silken tresses whitening, and heard
the prayer when we were alone.
THAT first one who went away never
| came back. They all went away as
| she had done.
"And then one day a woman strug-
gled to the window. I think it is this
one which they have made SD hidaous
| with rough timbers across it, and
| clutching the curtain she gaZed out
upon the ver;inda where there had
been so many evenings of music, aud
/ where l first heard her sing, and where
1 had seen her children gather about
her, and revel in her glorious beauty,
| for none of them ever approached her
ir. that.
II remember when she planted a
( vine by the window. 1 helped her
nourish it, and it climbed upon me
and bore it's blossoms of perfume which
she gathered and wore in her Won
drous profusion OF hair. No wcndel
| the birds made their toilets among the
tcndrils of that vine.
1.-The light went out Of that window
when she went to it for the last time,
and they carried her away soon after.
And she never came back.
1.-The strong and heroic support
which was shivercd by this atfiEtiOn
went away. 1 coul1 not expect him to
| stay after that. He never came back.
So they all went, like
"Short swallow-figEts of song that dip
Their wings in tears and skip away.
"Strange faces, strange voices and
| strange songs entered. There were
| some reunions, and on one T%hanksgiv-
ing day I saw the skeleton hand OF
| Death pass the goblet. That night
there was naught remaining of any
| thing for which to render thanks.
ACROSS the way, end owe and be-
| yond, great walls arose and ~encrOached
| upon me. I saw and heard the coming
Of q splendid cavalcade. I know there
had been a new generation, and I had
learned, long before, that I was grow
ing decrepit, and that the rustic Of the
garments which had not long before
been the herald, of a season had grown
! dull, and it trailed like something
which is expiring.
'They put up a placard on MY face.
I was deserted for q while and the bats
were my companions. One day they
came, some hardy, honest men, no
doubt, but oh, so rough, and they put
me in chains. They dragged me
through the streets, down the avenues
I had heard mentioned in better days.
At nights they left me alone some
times, and sometimes they kept me
dragging my chains. I was always
thankful for that though. for it saved
me the chagrin Of being pointed out
by people who had known me in bet
ter days. How often I heard them
point me out and say, Just after the
fire that was the finest residence on
Prairie avenue, and was the home OF
-, one Of our rich men,
"And then the chains would clank
and I would move OIL. There is a piece
Of the vine over the doorway. the vine
which my young mistress planted and
which grew for her, and bore blossoms
Of perfume which She gathered and
wore in her wondrous %profusion of
hair. 1t is like a faded ribbon which