Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1897-10-01


night. 1 had listened heretofore - ..o..
mons IRON sense of duty, but of his
every word fell straight upon nv soul
ana planted there seed 1t was os
though ne were talking to me. and T
i'stehed spellbound. He was not in the
strict sense handsome man. but when
carried away by his eloquence his ewes
would light up with a wonderful BRIGHT.
ness ana his face almost grow radiant:
ne seemed possessed of beauty scarce
~ earthlike.
The noise of the people r;sinr f,.o,
''elr seats as his voice died away re-
called me to the present, but it was with
an EFFORT L reused myself. I reoched
nome feeling that while such LIVING
words could reach my ear life could not
be barren.
entered my fathers study, treading
so1tly lest should disturb the slumber
INTO which he seemed to have fallen
Drawing near, softly laid nv hand IN
MS 1t was icy cod. stopped to kiss
Ills brow, but its marble Wilderness re-
veaied to me the awful truth. The desc
'atlon which had lowered DER nv spirit
an day had been no idle precursor of ill.
Death had entered my home and
shatcheu from ME the ore being left
me to love. An awful calm fell upon
me. No tears came to relieve my burn
ing llds-Eot even when l heard the
dull thud which gave back to mother
earth it's own.
,'.~l It. Was then that Edward Fearing
came to comfort me. It was long ere
even his words penetrated the outer
crust OF rebellious discontent; but he
probed his way so skillfully, so tender
ly. that ere knew it the he ling waters
OF comfort rushed in, and found their
vent in outward tears.
do not know when I learned to love
my teacher. Does one ever measure
the hour, the moment. when love en-
ters their lives? 1 could see by this pas
sion which awakened in me the mean
ing of true love and false No world
ly glitter, no tickle allurements We're
here. The life we must lead together
would Zoe one devoted to the Masters
sacrifice l shared with him. l had told
him all my past one afternoon, when he
had just left me, and the echo of his
words still was ringing in my ear, when
an impatient tread across the hall,
shadow darkened the door Of the room
in which l sat.
I looked up, wondering if Edward
had returned, with some forgotten word
Of fondness on his lips, when, stand
ing with pale face saw what in that
first agonized moment l believed my
husbands ghost.
l started with a wild cry, and would
have fallen but that his arms caught
and held me, and then L knew that it
was no spirit, but living flesh which
bound me.
Oh, the agony of that awakening, the
torture of the thought which slowly
burned itself upon my brain, that my
love for Edward now was sin, that l
who had so lightly talked of sacrifice
shared with him must meet a greater
sacrifice than any he had pictured, and
meet it alone!
All this endured while lay SEEM
ingly in outward calm, and listened to
my husbands story, how he had been
left, as his friends supposed, dead upon
the field; but how the Indians, strange
]y moved to pity, bound up the wounds
they themselves had caused, and held
him for six months captive. Then, pro-
curing his release, and learning l
thought him dead, he determined to
leave me in that belief, but how his life
had grown purposeless, and he grew
to feel vain yearning for home and
wife.
Had I found you married, Madge,"
he ended, Il would have gone away and
made no sign, but instead you still
wear the outward badge of widowhood,
and though l little dreamed, my dar-
ling, that you should have mourned
my loss. may l not by that sign plead
for pardon? Will you not give me the
hope OF casting some sunshine on the
fife l have So cruelty darkened?"
That night Edward and parted for
ever. l sent for him and told him all.
and watched his face biench while sat
outwardly calm and unmCved.
Goods ways are not our ways he
said at last. ''He has shown us how
purposeless were the sacrifices we had
planned, and He had greater ends in
view. May He give us strength to bear.
The months which followed passedas
in dream, but my hands found plenty
to fill them. My husband had come
home to me Il broken man, and saw
day by day that his strength was fail
ing. Oh, how glad I was III those long
vie'ils by his bedside that l had not
\ love as of mother for her
child! grew in my breast as l watched
his remorseful care, his earnest solicit
tude in my behalf. as his life ebbed
away. 1t was inner as well as outer
mourning I now wore. and for year
l lived on alone in my home, with no
particular event to note the tleetlny
time.
One day letter was put in my hand.