Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1894-02-19
Led By Fate.

The train from Dundas stopped in
the midst of the open country while a
gentleman with small gripsack
alighted.
$50 directly across the field over
the hill yonder and you will strike the
Dundas highway. said the conductor,
hastily, in reply to the gentleman's
inquiry. The gentleman addressed
stood for awhile watching the reced-
ing train and then set out as directed
He reached narrow dusty road and
turned westward, casting his eyes
over the country as he walked.
No rain had fallen for weeks and
the dust lay in deep drifts along the
highway and the withered grass by
the side of the road had taken on
pale, sickly hue. From time to time
an eddying gust of wind carried clouds
of powdered earth across the fields
and into the faces of the passcrs by.
"The same desolate region, only
grown worse with age" muttered the
stranger. cit was an insane impulse
that prompted me to leave my desk
and seek this God forsaken country.
I must have been led on by fate.''
With manifest discomfort written
upon his grave features, he pursued
his nominations. Finally he halted
and hesitated whether he had not bet
ter retrace his steps and signal the
next train to Dundas.
For some time he stood, evidently
absorbed in bitter recollections.
''There is the old tree from which
Uncle Zeke tore many a switch to
beat me-" he muttered, "and it has
grown large and thrifty. There is the
old house where 1 spent an unhappy
childhood. The fields where I drove
the oxen still lie waiting for the
plough and I wonder what slave now
holds the handles for the old tyrant.
I have returned to the home of my
boyhood, yet feel no sentiments but
those of bitterness. Uncle Zeke must
be either dead or broken with age by
this time, but I owe him nothing
The scars l wear on my shoulders
make me almost hate him even now.
Yeti have come here"
He sat down by the roadside and
pressed his head between his hands
and unused. And as he unused there
rose before him one kind face, the
only face that ever inspired his boy
ish mind with reverence. It was the
70 Of frf,4 nj oh <11
bound girl Mile. 1t was she who
used to sympathize with him in his
affection; it was she who used to ca
ress his smarting wounds and procure
healing ointments, and now as he sat,
the face of this poor girl, more friend
less in her youth than himself, seem
ed TO smile upon him as of yore. Her
voice resounded again in his ears
Gliding him for his bitter resentment
and urging him to forgive his uncle's
harshness.
After he became a prosperous man
in great city he sometimes wished
that he might learn of her where
abouts, and, if necessary, render her
PSSAhJ S~~o-CcSSAOC, OoO UAO IOUUClS
which he wrote and stamped were al
ways on second thought torn up and
the project postponed indefinitely.
So the years ran by, and he forgot
his good intentions altogether; but
this hot summers day, against his in
clinations, with feelings of revulsion
at his surroundings, he sits and gazes
across the fields which many years
before his weary feet had trodden.
Even the thought that Mile might
still reside in the old farm house did
not lead him TO rise and hurry for
ward On the other hand, he was
about to turn back toward the 1ail-
road when the sudden shrek of To-
comotive and flying train more than
half mile distant told him that his
delay had decided otherwise. Again
he rnuttered: 'sI must have been led
by fate"
He rose and pursued his way until
he came in front of an old dingy farm