Middletown transcript., 1897-07-10

roly. poly little fellows comieal looks
and conduct.
But suddenly there seemed to be q
change in all their surroundings. A
strange obscnrity was falling over the
landscape, wrapping everything in
gloom.
"Oh oh l'' cried Liza. tits get
ting darkin
Such really seemed to be The Case. A
kind of flickering twilight enveloped
the earth, filing the children's hearts
with dismay. The chickens began to
fly up into the trees, intending to go
to roost, as if they thought the even
ing had come. Brindle and Spot, the
two gentle miIk-cows standing at the
bars of their pasture-feld, began to low.
"Look, look at the sun!'' screamed
Liza, growing pale with terror.
Sure enough, the sun had TUNED
almost red, and-oh oh La huge
black sphere was slowly creeping over
its disk and bIotting out iss light. The
children had often read aud talk 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 endl The
World's-coming-o an end!p cried
Liza. "OhI OIL o oh! Come, come,
Katie, let's run over to Shanewalter's
and find papa and mamma"
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 ia
the direction of the neighb5rng farm.
She did not wait for her little siSt er
gerched on the fence post.
Katie was almost paralyzed with
fright as the darkness gathered about
her. She could dimly sea Liza and
Neddie and the wagon sp eeding 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.
He first impulse was to dash out Of
the gate and follow; but. with all her
Katie was an obedientchild,
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 sha wished she were a brave,
glrl-brave and fearless like Liza, and
not such a "fraidy-catp' Still, she
would do as ber 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
a cosy hiding-place among the bushes,
where she sat and ;remblingly 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
late-.
Looking up she saw that the shadow
on the sun was gradually moving a.
cross it, exposing part Of its red disk.
A few more moments of -brea' bless
waiting ,and then the twilight was sue
eeeded by sunlight almost as radiant
as it had been before the eclipse came.
For, of course, 1t was only an eclipse
of the sun, although Katie did not
know at the time what the strange
meant.
MAYBE it wasn't he Judgment Day,
for all, }" she thought. "Well, If 'twasn't,
Pm glad l 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 day
light had come again, they few down
to the ground. and resumed their pick
ing and scratching. Katie was brayely
recovering from her fright, when s1e
saw something that ALMOST made her
pulse stop beating. A rough-lOoking
man in seedy clothing came stealhiIy
through the front gate, and looking
suspiciously this way and thai. walked
along the path to the front door.
Through the aperture in tue 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 cli-
max. Waht in the world should she
do2 The man was. no doubt, robber.
He might steal something valuable
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 al the rough work of
the afternoon.
Should she run over to neighbor
Shanewalter's andgiye the alarm? Be-
fore she could do that, she tetiected,
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 bis
thieving purposs2 Il frightened her
half to death to think of ii: and yet if
SHE could not foil Lin in some way, no
one else could. Everything depended
on her coolness and courage. She knew
that.
She half started to her feet; then