The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-02-05
WHOLE NO. 1928.


took it from its resting place, and put
ting ii on the table, sat down once more.
Ii was covered with dust and cobwebs.
He brushed them tenderly off with his
coat sleeve, and a deeper look of mis-
cry came into his eyes as old memo
ries stirred within him. He felt once
again the keen pang of pain which
had shot through him when the baby 5
little life had gone out in darkness; he
saw Luella's dumb grief over the little
coffin; he remembered that moment
of agony, when, standing at the head
of the tiny grave, he had committed
his first born to the earth then the
night when he had awakened from
sleep to find Luella gone from his side,
and, searching, had discovered her in
the next room, alone i'm the darkness,
sobbing out her misery, rs she held
one of the baby's tiny dresses against
her aching heart. He remembered
the loving care with which he had
fashioned this same box, with awk-
ward hands, planning and smoothing
the rough boards into fitting recepta-
Gle for the sacred relics of their child.
There, on the back, was the hole
where a knot in the wood had given
way when all was finished, and Luella
had pasted bit ofpaper over the place
TO keep the dust out. He had never
opened it from the hour, when, hav-
ing Judged and condemned his guilty
wife, he left his home, bringing with
him little else than these relics in
which, to his austere mind, the moth
er had forfeited all right.
The key was fastened to the paddock
by bit of faded blue ribbon. He put
it in the lock, turned it, and lifted the
lid, not to find the little clothes spread
with the neat precision OF woman's
hand, but stained and tumbled, and
cut and ruined by sharp teeth. In
one corner, IA mass of fine cut cloth and
paper showed the use To which these
precious relics had been put. \ bitter
smile swept over the mans face; in
the ruin and desolatiOn which had
come to his life even this could not be
spared him. As he gazed at the stain
ed, ragged little garments, at the mass
of debris in the corner, he felt chat the
crime and wrong-doing of his
wife had like the sharp teeth of this
rat, cut and made havoc of all his sa-
cred memories, and that nothing was
left to him but their stained and dis
hOnored remains.
He picked up the handful of trash,
and bit of paper caught hisey EX-
amining it with a white face, he
searched until one scrap larger than
the others rewarded his efforts. He
seized it with trembling fingers; it
was bit of a greenback and bore, still
uncut, one-half of the y which told lis
denomination.
He sprang from his seat with cry
of horror. He saw the truth now; he
had put the money behind the box, il
had been dragged in by a mouse and
there cut to pieces TO prepare a nest for
its young-and Luella. LIella was in
nocent.
He rushed from the cabin, one
thought uppermost in his min1-tO
find his wife and bring her blch; 10
fling him self before her and beg
for forgiveness. Joy over her innO-
cence was swallowed up in rem1rse
over his own conduct. As a drowning
man is said to review the scenes of his
past, he saw in one quick revelation
his hard, fanatic nature in its true
light saw how he had worshipsd q
God in his own hard unmerciful like
ness, and forgotten his gentle, long
suffering Master; saw that selfish feaI
for his own spiritual welfare and the
salvation of his own soul had -pIadt
that soul little worth saving.
When he reached the fork in the
pathway where LIella had paused
hesitating, but an hour before, he
would have turned toward the road
but a cloud seemed to pass over hi,
vision which blinded him for n sec
ond; then he saw, not the familiar
surroundings of his cabin, but a spOI
somewhere in the dark waters of the
swamp. The trees and underground
were so dense that little light from the
rapidly declining day forced its way
through. In this dim light he saw
Luella, the same look of hopeless de
spair on her weak, childish face which
il had worn when she turned from the
cabin door. She was standing uncer
tainly in the bow of the rocking dug
out, and even as he watched he saw
her release her hold of bush 10y
which she had steadied herself, an,
with one last look at the world SIN
was leaving, plunge swiftly into TIN
muddy depths below.
Then the vision faded, and he stOO,
again at the fork of the path, dowi
which he ran toward the water, witt
an unutterabie fear in his heart. Tn,
dugout was gone. He sprang quickl,
into the bateau and unloosed its moor
ings. He pushed himself from tin
bank and began to paddle wildly. Oh
God, Oh, God which way should h
go. He could see the spot of his vision
but it was so like many other place
in the swamp he could not tell il
which direction to search. ''Luella
Luella ~ he shouted, starting the ech
oes, which came back to him in ghast
ly mockery.
He padded on, from time to tim
calling aloud, only to hear his vote
return II him through the weird :
lence. The shadows deepened unde
the trees, giving an added gloom t
the surroundings. \ huge turtle, di,
turbed by the unusual sounds, slippe
from log close beside him and dropI
ed its great bulk into the muddy wate
This was no unfamiliar sight to Elijal
but the dim light changed all thing
and he shuddered. "Oh, God, Oh
Godr' he prayed, "only let the ligl
last until | can find herr On and o