Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1897-06-10

i IN on CRIED 1Alz6, Ub GET
ting dark r
Such really seemed to be che case.
A kind of Pickering twilight enveloped
the earth, filling the children's hearts
with dismay. The chickens began 70
| fly up into the trees, intending to &c
to roost, as If they thought the even.
| ing had come. Brindle and Spot, the
two gentle milk-cows standing at the
bars of their pasture-feld, began to
low.
" Look, look at the sum- screamed
Liza, growing pale with terror.
Sure enough, the sun had turned
almost red, and-oh oh Ia huge
black sphere was slowly creeping over
its disk and plotting out its light.
The children had often read and
talked about the end of the world and
the Judgment Day, and such thoughts
had always filed them with awe and
terror.
"The worlds coming to an end! The
world's-cOming-to an endw cried
Liza. "Oh! oh! ooh! Come, come,
Katie, let's run over to Shanewalter' s
Panic-stricken, Liza seized the
pole of the wagon, in the box of which
sat Neddie too much frightened to cry,
and then she ran, as fast as her nimble
feet could carry her, down the road in
the direction of the neighboring farm.
She did not wait for her little sister
perched on the fence-post.
Katie was almost paralyzed with
fright as the darkness gathered about
her. She could dimly see Liza and
Neddie and the wagon speeding down
the slope, but the high palings, sharp
ened at the top, made it impossible for
her to climb over into the road. By
the time she had clambered from her
perch into the yard, and had should
cred her way through the bushes, her
brave little sister was scampering far
away.
Her first impulse was to dash out of
the gate and follow; but, with all her
cowardice, Katie was an obedient child,
and even in her intense agitation she
remembered that her mother had bid
den her and Liza in no case to leave
the house.
How she wished she were brave
girl-brave and fearless like Liza, and
not such ''fraidy Still, she
would do as her mother had hidden
her, and if the great Judge came, he
would find her at her post, as the
preacher had said last Sunday in his
sermon. This resolve infused new
courage into her palpitating heart, and
slipping back from the gate, she found
cosy hiding-place among the bushes,
where she sat and tremblingly kept
watch in the shadows. She lisped a
prayer to God to make her brave and
forgive all her wrong-doings.
II believe its getting lighter" she
whispered to herself a few moments
later.
Looking up, she saw that the shadow
on the sun was gradually moving across
it, exposing part of its red disk. A
few more moments of breathless wait
ing, and then the twilight was sue
ceeded by sunlight almost as radiant
as it had been before the eclipse came.
For, of course, it was only an eclipse
of the sun, although Katie did not
know at the time what the strange
phenomenon meant.
Maybe it W asn't the Judgment Day,
for ALL" she thought. ''Well, if
'twasn't, I'm glad / stayed at home,
any way, and didn't run away from the
house. I'm glad / obeyed mamma"
The chickens began to crane their
necks in wonder, and, finding that
daylight had come again, they few
down to the ground, and resumed
their picking and scratching. Katie
was bravely recovering from her fright,
when she saw something that almost
made her pulse stop beating. A rough
looking man in seedy clothing came
stealthily through the front gate, and
looking suspiciously this way and that,
walked along the path to the front
door. Through the aperture in the
screening bushes Katie saw him glance
around narrowly, then turn the door
knob, and slip into the house, closing
the door quietly behind him.
For the timid girl this was the eli
max. What in the world should she
do? The man was, no doubt, a rob-
Der. He might steal something valu-
able from the house-one of the best
suits in the closet, her mothers silver
spoons just bought week ago or her
fathers gold watch, which she had
heard him say he would leave at home
lest it might be broken at the rough
work of the afternoon.
Should she run over to neighbor
Shanewalter's and give the alarm? Be-
fore she could do that, she reflected,
the thief would have ransacked the
house. Couldn't she-her pulses beat
quickly at the thought-in some way
prevent him from carrying out his
thieving purpose? It frightened her
half to death to think of it; and yet if
she could not foil him in some way, no
one else could. Everything depended
on her GOODNESS and courage. She
knew that.
She half started to her feet; then
dropped behind the bushes again, the
prey of the most terrible panic, her
heart leaping into her throat. But
presently she rallied her courage, for
great, heroic resolve had taken posses
sion of her frail frame She would be
''fraidy-cat" no longer. She would
prove herself heroine Now was her
chance.
Ion her hands and knees she crept
along the edge of the bushes. keeping
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