The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-17

ray over an the wide welter of the water,
through ali the dim veil Of the snow. he
felt as If he had gone blind. He lisienei
for the duh blare of the whistllng buoy,
but The snow muffied every sound ana
one wave tossed him sim TO another.
II had grown cold. The snow stung now
like sieet. Rope and saH were stiff with
ice. BY GeOrgei tn be my winding-
sheet!' he exclaimed. And he fell back IN
the boat, and the thought of MS wires
terror and grief struck him 70 the nedrt
like a knife. II was Christmas eve; ana
the children would be caper ng and carry
ing on. opening oysters on top OF the
stove. roasting ches nuts and apples, ana
looking over their shoulders for him 10
be coming in the door. And he Woul1 never
be coming in the door again. What Woulu
become of them o. God what would De
come Of theml He gave a great sob, SOD
of pity for them and for himself; and IN
the next moment he caught his breath IN
az irrepressble alarm. Fer here was mus
ic. Certainly then he would soon be dy-
ing, dying Of the cold and storm Tney
heard music when they ed. Here it came
again-bellsl All, what a great wide surge
of sound, one moment resonant on Inc
b ack air, then repeat ng Itself in WINS
per, sigh. Again IL came, shower OF
tones, skimmering over the water like
flight of gray and silver guls; and now
one strong clash and ring and roll rose
above them all-the Old South b7ll. AMI
with that came iha steely flash OF the
North Church bell. the hum Of the old
Town bell, the quaver of St. Pauls! And
then the wind sung in, blow ng the sweet
alarm all back TO shore ana closing the
lanes Of the mist and snow through whlch
they had sfted. And only a faint eXquls-
tie echo sighed and died away.
But what matter? Now he knew where
he was-Salisbury Sands to the left Of him,
~frrA,f hn1 oh
and mp sail up SAIL for the channel across
the bar, Slowly he brought the boat
round; here was the North Breaker sing
ing like a nest of eagles. off Plum ISL
and; yonder, on the right, rose the
screams of the great South Breaker, suck
ing down the Salisbury shore; here was
the roar of the waves tumblng on the bar.
A spark CLEANS with a wide, lazy halo
through the snow. Plum Island light!
Another-the Bug light, the harbor lights!
He knows every inch of the way now
The channel grows clearer-the Pleasant
is good for it. He steers through foam
and fury, he sweeps by the Humpsands
and Block rocks into stiller water, he
PUSHES straight to the mooring.
The children We're just knocking the
snow off their feet at the door, as he ran
up from the wharf Good was the touch
of solid earth, and sweeter than any
strain of music In his ears was his wifes
Shrek of joy. Didn't l say l allus come
homer" he cried, joyously, catching her
in his arms.
80. Joew she sobbed. ''If we live a
hundred years. we shan't ever have such
a Chris'mas eve as this agin! Come
children, come right in out of the snow
I guess you've had frolic enough tonight
l s-pose it was you rung the BELLS
You bet 1t was'' said Jimmy, unwind
ing his comforter.
wal" said Joe, slamming the door be-
hind them, "'taint often work an play
does the same thing. But your frolic did
a lot of work tonight Fer eff I hadn't
heard them bells, there'd a ben no father
an no Chris mus in this housed Got a
bowl of coffee, wife? Georgei 1 could eat
the hull bean-pot."