Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-05-17

1.-THE day O. wrath air upon usr' she
cried In horror Hit air er sign er the
Judgement"
And as If to verify the words of the
superstitious old woman, the earth SEEM
ed to vibrate beneath them. and a wild
blood-eurdiing Shrek resounded through
the valley and far off hills, prolonged for
a moment in hoarse rage, then dying
away in mournful wall in sad unison
with the sobbing autumn wind.
The light was suddenly extinguished,
all was SILENT Night fell from a starless
sky and lowered like bird of iii omen
above the sleeping valley. The old woman
and her children crept back into the
cherries room, where the shadows,
trembling in the freight; gave lugubrf-
Gus aspect to every object.
To Mrs. Weems the Creator was but an
avenging God and the Bible book OF
fearful prophecies. She could not read,
but this was the impression left upon her
mind by the strollfng preachers who from
time to time invaded the mountain, and
she had committed to memory various
extracts from the scriptures, most or
them in reference to the punishment OF
the wicked rather than to the glorious
promises to the righteous. Her recitals
Of these passages to Pinkey Ann and lit
tie Ike, which foreboded an immediate
rain of fire and birthstone on the earth,
were anticipated with fear and misgiv-
ings by her grandchildren.
And now as they sat, downcast and de-
jected, around the hearth in momentary
expectation of a return OF the warning
light, with the accompanying shrek OF
rage and despair, the old woman thought
1t befitted the occasion to give vent to
few scriptural quotations. :.
IAN the Heavens an the yarth shell
PASS away, an the mount'ns shell be
rent in twain she began gRomfly- An
there shell be signs In the nioon an the
starsr'
s-s.T ,ay not up fur yerselves treasures on
the yarth!v she continued irrelevantly,
all the while gazing fixedly on poor,
trembling Pinkey Ann, to whom as yet
no treasure had ever drifted, but who
covered beneath her grandmother .
piercing gaze as II she had been guilty
of boarding up the good things of this
world in an inordinate degree.
However, as the evening wore on, with
no further disturbance in the erstwhile
peaceful valley, Pinkey Ann took heart
enough to begin to pick up a few stitcnes
in pair of wooden suspenders which
she was knitting for Ike. This feeble ef-
fort of hers to resume. her wOnted occu-
patton seemed to impress Mrs. Weems
that her granddaughter was hopelessly
worldly minded, so she brought her de-
pressing dissertations to an abrupt close
with an announcement SO startling and
tragic as to completely overwhelm her
already S0rely STRICKEN usIeueIS.
ssPoornttle Ike!' she exclaimed: The II
soon be. whar he'll hev no need eer gall
luses. Fur one shell be taken an the
luther lefv"
One shall be taken and the other left!
Pinkey construed these words as referr-
ing to Ike and not to the "galluses." al
though they were somewhat vague in
their meaning. The possibility of being
separated from The in the rush and hur-
ry Incidental to the crack of doom was
more than she could bear and the tears
began to roll down her cheeks. while the
boy, overcome by. the thought of his
early taking on. burst into sobs. with his
head Ia HIS good little sisters lap.
But that night, and many another one,
found the distant valley slumbering
peacefully undsr coverlet Of gray mist,
guarded by the purple hills Of the en-
circ1fne range; and In spite of the dire
predictions of old Priscilla Weems, an
other spring found the old world intact,
with every indication Of having taken a
fresh start. for q cycle or more at least.
in ita accustomed orbit.
Another April bloomed and the noun
tain sides were as white with dogwood
blossoms as when their blsakness was
hidden beneath the grand yirginity of
January snowA When the wind blew
from the valley the fragrance Of Wild
crab blooms and yellow jasmine was