The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-08-04
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Simpson left enough to maintain her.
They hired a woman to take care of
her at the old farm house, but she
slipped away and came again over here.
They carried her back, but 1t was OF
no use, she came here again, when
they concluded to let her remain, as
she was harmless.
"They fitted her up q few rooms,
where she has aver since lived her
lonely life-and she has crossed
a threshold or entered any door-yard
set out her basket of food, which she
comes and takes, as you saw her last
night. Poor Nell! Hers has been q
hard lot, but she is getting old now,
and will 500 go to the land where sor-
rows never come, and the weary are
! at rest Well, father" looking up, as
my grandfather entered the door. lean
ing on his cane, 81 have been telling
Isabel about poor Nelly Simpson"
But what became OF Nelly's husband
Edward C~arey?" | asked. what
did they do with him ?"
well, he was sentenced to States
prison for ten years." answered my
grandfather; 'put his friends were rich
and powerful, some think they bribed
the jailer and other authorities, for one
day his cell was empty aud the bird
had flown. l suppose they got him off
to foreign parts, as he was never heard
from since that day. Phew, how the
snow blows! l hope cid Nell will keep
close till this storms over, or she'll be
likely to suffer. I'll 60 over there in
the morning, mother, and see If alfs
comfortable. 'Tain't right for her to
be left there alone to herself, to my
mind"
t. ,,,e+ haze hoo, nj, bo,, 1+o, on3
grandma's knittiug-needles and the
storm without had lulled me into u
quiet dOZe, when suddenly the stamp
ing of feet was h ard on the doorstep,
and 1 awoke to behold grandpa hasten
ing to the door with a candle, and Mr..
Saunders and John Armstrong, two Of
the neighbors, lifting a form all cover
cd with snow into the entry.
81 b'lieve, Neighbor Rutledge, we've
got Crazy Nell here stark and stiff!
Stumbled over her on the turnpike,
right in the road, and the snow drift
ing all over her. My horse stopped
stock still, and John and 1 got out to
see what the matter was, for it's so
Jest bring some campfire, Miss Rut-
ledge"
Grandma n | ran to the closet for
restoratives, while they brought poor
Nell to the fire.
Better go after DR.. Kittredge,
neighbour" said my grandfather, look
ing into old Nells white face, from
which grandma had just put away the
tangled gray hair all dripping with
melting snow.
But the message was in vain. All
our rubbing and blankets, and hot
water which grandma brought, could
| not hri pn nnnr Nall hnnly fD IT. AL
when old DR.. Kittredge came, he only
shook his gray head, and said, solemn
1T is all over! Poor Nell-she's got
home at last!'
Then the neighbors came in and the
sad event of the evening was talked
over. One had seen her walking slow
ly along the turnpike at nightfall, APP
p~arently toward her home, the hut by
the riv 4. But, alas for poor Nell
perhaps blinded by the drifting snow,
she had become bewildered and sank
down whore it had woven it's soft,
white mantle around her--that soft,
white mantle underneath which she
calmly Q to sleep. For q smile was
on her aged, wrinkled face; and when
the women lOoscned her battered gown
they found a faded miniature upon her
breast-the beautiful, but false, face of
the bctraycr Of her youth
Perhaps on the threshold of the un-
known land they met again-the be-
trayer and the betrayed-and Edward
Oarey's guilty soul shrank back with
bitter self-accusation, al be turned
away to his W world of darkness,
while up to the white courts of heaven
the Redeemerled, clothed and in her
right mind," one whom we knew on
earth as Crazy Nell.