Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-07-14


what clear, CHEEKY ringl Ho
could Nathan beat such music wit
banishment for the babe-for both
them, did he but know itl-in h
heart?
Beyond the bridge. Abigail turns
into the woods and followed th
stream westward, for the road ran to
near the meadow where Nathan an
his men were haying. The child fe
to crying, but she nestled it and KEEP
on. Just before sunset she came ou
, OF the woods upon another road an
? followed it southwark. The summe
} dusk began to deepen, yet she met n
. traveller and passed no house. Wha
a lonely country it was, that New
Hampshire mountain valley! Th,
great hills looked down over the
woods like stern-faced giants. The
night air smelled of swamps and piny
glens and deep-buried solitudes. The
voices were all those of wild creatures,
mysterious and hidden. How the
weary, heart-sick woman longed for
the sight of roof chimney, an open
door especially for the face OF one
of her own sex. Only the heart of a
woman understands a woman's heartI
At last, when the freHies began to
drift across her path like sparks from
the crumbling embers of the sunset,
Abigail, turning bend in the road,
came suddenly upon the welcome
glow of a farmhouse window. She
fastened forward and, turning into the
little path between the lilac bushes.
approached the open door. A man
sat upon the doorstep smoking, and, as
he saw the approaching figure, he
rose and called his wife.
| A buxom, sweet-faced woman came
bustling to the door, skewer in hand.
The moment Abigail's eyes rested |
upon her face she cried:
Lucinda Jonesr'
The skewer fell Gathering upon the
floor, and the two women rushed to-
gether, like amicable battering rams,
the arms of the larger embracing
friend and child in their expansive
embrace.
"Abigail Drew! Be you still living
in these parts? / heard, away out in
York state, where we just moved from,
that you and your brother had gone
west 20 years ago. My! and you've
been and married and got baby? |
Come income in! Lorenzo, fetch the
rocker out of the settin' room. How
glad l am to see you again, Abigail. l
thought you and me was parted for
ever"
How straight love had led her wan.
dering feet! Abigail sank down in
the cushioned rocker and marveled at
the cheerful freight playing on the
face of the sleeping babe. Welcome
-refuge-sympathy! All! she had
not obeyed the inward voice in vain.
Sixweeks was Nathan Drew as search
ing for the treasure he had lost. He
drove east, west, north and south,
stopping at every mountain farmhouse
to seek news of his sister. Nobody
had seen her going or coming. The
yawning earth could not have swal-
lowed her more completely.
But at last he found her. She was
sitting, with her baby, on low chair
under the lilac bushes, and he spied
her before he had reached the house,
She saw him at the same moment and,
springing mp like hunted creature,
made as if she would have fed. But
be stopped her with pleading ges-
ture and look on his face such as she
had not seen since they were children
together.
"You don't know how I've missed
you, Abigail" he said, simply, draw
ing rein in front OF the lilac bushes.
The man looked haggard and worn,
and there was pathetic tone in his
voice.
81 can't go home with you, Nathan
said Abigail, firmly; and she pressed
the rosy child closer to her bosom.
Yet there was yearning look in hel
eyes that her brother was not slow to
interpret.
''I've thought it all over sence you
eft, Abigail, he said; 'and it's ben
borne in upon me that, perhaps, was
wrong about the child Come home,
and you shall keep it as long as you
i've. l won't say another word. It's
the only love affair you ever he'd, Abb
gail, and amt a-goin' to stand any
longer between you and your heart
The tears welled to Abigail's eyes as
she came out into the road with hel
.hild. "Put your hand on her head,
Nathan" she said, "and swear to me
that you will never part us. Then ]
will go home with YOU"
Nathan Drew hesitated a moment.
Then he touched the child's head with
the tips of his horny fingers and said:
81 swear it, Abigail"
So they two and the child went
home together. New York Post.
Elephant Lost a Tusk.
Hatnee. the Zoo elephant has