The Kosciusko star. (Kosciusko, Miss.) 18??-1898, 1895-03-15

AS BY A rIIRACLE.

to works of mercy.
They gave me no hope that |
should not be blind if | lived, and
from the aching depths of my sad
heart this thought had torn all
that maze life worth the having.
One day had seen more than
any Ct its predecessors, A
comrade had died near me. And
| lived A blackneSs of darkness
was upon me. | even wept, |, q
soldier. Then l prayed to die.
In the midst of that prayer a
strange thing happened to me. l
felt form bend over me. in
hailed the perfume of a breath as
sweet as new-mown hay. Two
lips softer than rose leaves pressed
kiss upon my closed eyelids,
and tear dropped upon my fore
head.
Involuntarily | stretched lortl
my hand; it caught woman's fin
gers. They wrenched themselves
from me, but left in my clasp
ring.
who is this?' l cried. "Come
back. Tell me; who is this?"
| slipped the ring on my finger,
and fell into a reverie. Who could
this have been?
I questioned Sister Agatha after
while as to who had visited the
hospital. "Only the mother Of
Antoine,' she said; but | knew
that those lips, that warm, hutter-
ing little hand, were not those of
any mans mothern
For one or two days | listened
for the return of that gentle mys-
terry.
For one one or two nights |
dreamed of her. Then / stopped
dreaming, Llfe dawned anew for
me.
l opened my eyes one morning
and saw q ray Of light. l opened
them the next to see family and
dimly the outline of the long room.
| was no longer blinr. | should
De myself again!
Five years had passed. | was
in my native land again. / still
wore the ring upon my finger, and
| still hoped, absurdly enough, to
know one day to whom it belong
ed. | was constant to a memory
vague as it was beautiful.
About this time my brother,
Henry, married and brought home
his wife, a lovely girl, who won
our hearts at once. She had but
one living relative, sister who
had been abroad, and who was
coming to visit her very soon. She
was said to be beautiful, and Hen
ry spoke of her often.
1T would be lucky thing for
You if you could win her." he
said. "She is almost an angel.n
! smiled and shook my head.
Not that that would be SO east
y DONE" he SAID. Laura is a
strange girl. She is % now and
has had several offers, but Emma
tells me that she will never marry
until she gets over a queer fancy of
hers. You'll keep it to yourself If
| tell you, Ferdinand?"
| promised.
The girls are orphans" said
Henry, and Laura was educated
in a convent in. Bv some
strange neglect she remained there
DUNG the whole of this last terri
bic war. Well, to cut d long story
short, there was a hospital and it
was filled, of course, with wounded
soldiers. The girl, just seventeen
then, used at times to 90 with the
nuns, and protected by their cos
tune to the hospital.
"One, beautiful young officer.
who had lost his sight, attracted
her attention. She used to watch
him from afar and think of him
when she left him, until she fell in
love with him.
AT last one day when he had
been suffering very much and had.
as She thought, fallen asleep, her
feelings overcamesher and she. crept
up to him and kissed him He
was not asleep, itseems. He caught
her hand, and she in pulling it
away, lost a ring from her finger.
"When she next visited the hos.
pital she looked for him IN vain.
his cot was empty. The nuns told
her that the Madonna had perform.