Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-07-02

There was thunder in the air What If
she must face it, the storm, the night,
alone in this wild waste! The dread lent
wings to her feet She almost ran
along the path, which was now broader,
better trodden, less encountered with
hindering boughs.
Bats came out and circled low abova
her head. She listened hopefully, but
in vain, for the whippoorwill, whose
crying means no rain. Sunset faded out
in dusk; dusk fell to black darkness
| Still the path stretched endlessly before
her. She had climbed long hill, and
had been for some minutes descending,
when log by the wayside caught her
eye. 1t lay, a mass of fox fire, cleaning
through the dark. Spent and breathless,
she sank down upon it, saying under her
| breath:
81 cannot go much farther in this
darkness. Maybe had better stay here
until morning"
Suddenly she started to her feet. A
wild droning chant was borne upward
! to her ear, the sound of many strong
voices pitched in a minor key. 1t came
from the right, evidently below where
| she sat. After a minute she knew what
| it was-the death song wherewlth ne
groes seek to ease the passing soul. Feel
ing each step in advance, she went for
ward a little way, to find the path dip
sharply in the direction Of the sound
and at last run into the small clearing
about Jincey's cabin.
Door and window stood wide, letting
big blurs of faint light fall outward
athwart the dark. 4 dozen were within,
men and women, standing about the bed
where the old woman lay, her gaspin2
breath coming shorter, shorter, with
each cadence Of the wailing chant. AT
the beds foot stood Jubilee, Jinceye
sole living descendant, his wide, solemn
eyes fixed hard upon her withered face.
As Dare paused for a moment in the
door, she caught the eye of tall, white
haired old man, evidently the leader OF
the watchers, who beckoned her to come
!, forward as though her presence was ex'
pected and said as the rest fell back:
{ "Speak to her, Miss Dare. She's most
gone but l reckon she'll know you.
Seems like the fam bly, S been all day Oh
her min"
, "Granny Jincey, do you know me?'
! Dare asked, taking the withered clammy
fingers within her own. The song had
{ died to brooding hush, broken only by
the far muttering Of thunder, the tick Of
: the deathwatch in the wall.
The old woman stirred uneasily. Hel
+ lips moved, but no word came, and still
the lids lay heavily over her eyes. Dare
bent almost to her car and said clearly:
( Granny ,)incey, can do anything fol
you? Is there any message can take fol-
D your
] The young voice pierced through the
gathering mists of death. Jincey's eyes
! flew wide; her hands clinched; she sal
G convulsively upright, crying aloud:
, "Mistisl Miss Alicel Jincey never
@ meant to hurt you'll
j ''She takes yo' fer her mistis, yo' great
grandmother. Yo' ar lik' her." the ole
man said in Dares ear Jincey's hand
was CROPPING feebly under her pillow
while her lips moaned:
G 1.-The key, the key, find it, find it fol
I Miss Alice!"
= SIS this de one?" Jubilee said, hold
t ing a bit Of brass close to the dimmine
= eyes.
j Yes, yes" painted the old woman.
"Give it ter her. Papers-in chest-at--
D dc bottom, " falling back at the last WORD
0 with the death rattle in her throat
j "Brodren, sisters, sing whites l pray
r fer dis departin SOUL y the old man said,
: dropping on his knees at the bedside
e with rapt appraised eyes and moving
lips from which came only soundless pc
, titions. Low and wild, with ringing
S undernote, the death song swelled out
through the summer night to end only
when the old man, rising from his
l knees, laid the dead hands straight, say.
ing, with simple solcmnity:
| Dust an ashes dow art become. De
silver cord is loosed, de golden bowl is
broken, de soul has gone back ter God
who gave, an blessed be de name er de
l Lord"
Dare eyes We're trimming She knew
how these simple souls interpreted her
appearance. To them it was evident that,
hearing the old woman was dying she
had come us a last kindness to one who
lad been her grandfather slave. twas
no strained Interpretation. She would
not undeceive them. Jubilee would put
her in the road to Ridgeloy, and weary
, as she was it would not take SO very
long to reach it.
AS if obedient to her thought, the boy
came to her elbow and whispered:
Miss Dare, 1 know de box dat key
fits. Hits in de bottom err de big CHS
I'll git it. Den yo' better go home"
Following him in silence, Dare saw
him fling up the lid of huge Golfer that
=
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