The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1898-06-23
save come poor woman's husband for

DOCTORS INSTRUCTIONS, clothed the
poor delirious patient in clean linen,
which Martha had brought with her;
and the old clothes were burnt. and a
trinket which had been tied about the
strangers neck safely put away by
black Jim's honest hands. And Mar
tha Bruce took up her weary task,
knowing exactly what lay before her
She had left happy home and pleas
ant surrounding, to become sort of
enchanted princess In castle full of
horror to all others. She had taken
upon herself a ban which made
friends fear her Not one Of her com
panions would have approached those
infected walls for any consideration;
nor would she have desired it. Jim
was devoted; but the poor object on
the bed, SO terrible to look upon, had
no gratitude for her. Deliriously he
raved and gabbled, regarding her as
his enemy more than half the time
The disease had closed his eyes al
most from the first, and his imagina
tiOn had its own wild way, unsoftened
by any glimpse of her pretty, sweet
womanly face. 1t would have seemed
a thankless task to any one but a true
Christian.
Jim provided food without leaving
the place, and every how and then a
bowl of cutard or pie or cake was
found upon gate post, at a safe dis
tance, with woeful little notes from
Aunt Emma attached to it. SO the
days glided by, lonely and uncheered;
and, worst of all, the patient was
growing worse. What manner of
man he was in his natural condition
she could not tell His own mother
would not have known HIM now. But
his language was not that of an igno
rant person, though his clothing had
been so poor Martha began to feel
q strange interest in him, to wonder
what his story might have been, and
to think that if he died she should
wish to know who be was, that she
might tell his friends all that there
was to tell about him
"Miss," said Jim one night, as
powerful sleepy. S'pose Miss be
skeered to sit up aloneT
No, JIM" said Martha. Lie down
and sleep upon the kitchen lounge l
will call you If want YOU
Then she took up her watch in the
infected room. She also was sleepy,
but she fought with slumber bravely
Outside the rain beat against the
panes; within the patient babbled in
an awesome sort of way. Hitherto he
had talked of goblins and O fends,
now he seemed addressing real peo
pie.
Il say, Johnny Reb.,- say-just
drop. I'm burning with thirst. A
mouthful of water and piece of
bread. / say, I'd give it to you if
Lord help us, Look at his feet
look! the one that died just now.
Starving! Starving! o for the scraps
the dogs used to have at home! Oh
Alb. An he's crossed the dead line.
and they've shot him down. Lord
help u.s.
The girl was on her feet, and at his
side
HE must have been a soldier" she
said. as she held the cooling drink to
bis lips. "An AndersonvilIe prisoner,
perhaps"
The man swallowed the contents of
the cnp greedily.
''GOOdp' he said.
1t was his first acknowledgment of
any comfort or aIleviation, and it did
the nurses heart good
''Ah, you're not so bad, Johnny Reb.
Get it for me, won't you? 1t was here
You took it. Give it back
What?" said Martha, speaking
slowly. Tell me what"
Her picture" said the man. He
felt about his neck. "Ah, give it
back he mCaned. II want to die
with it here 1t can do you any good
give it back"
The girl remembered that jim had
taken something from the mans neck
when he took off his weather stained
garments, and had placed it in a lit
tie tin box on certain shelf in the
room. Leaving the bedside. she went
to the box and peeped in. There lay
a plain gold locket.
His sweetheart, or his wife, sup
pose," she said to herself, and with
natural curiosity opened the case.
Within it was her own portrait-the
little photograph which she had given
to William Price when they parted.
The poor girl felt that she needed
all her courage. The hope that sud
YNncSnScnI hnr =
ness She crept back to the bedside,
and looked at the face upon the pill
low. There was no possibility of re-
cognizing that. The hair was like
Williams, but there was a bald spot
on the crown, and William had worn
no beard whatever
"Oh. Father in heavenw cried Mar
tina, folding her hands and pressing
them against her heart, teach me
the truth. If this is William lying
here before me. let me know it. If l
am dreaming, cure me of my mad
ness.
Here is the picture" she said, in
calmer tone. few moments after.
"Whose picture is it
Hers" said the man, cropping IN
his blindness.
The locket touched his hand, he
clasped it fervently
i've got it now," he said. "Yon
shall never have it again. 1 told her
it should die with me. 1t shall. Mar
tha dear Martha.
And then Martha knew that it was
the one whom she had mourned as
dead who lay before her; loathsome
to the sight; unconscious of her pre-
sence; doomed, perhaps, to death;
but she had found him. 1t WAS he.
A strange mixture of horror and de-
light possessed her, and she fell upon
her knees and prayed not calmly
now. as she had prayed every plight
for the life of the man she had nurs-
ed SO carefully, bnt as love preys for
love in its hour of greatest peril.
Through the night she watched
through the night she listened TO the
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