The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1899-11-16

ridiCule."
Yes" she said, "but l am willing
to do that. / want to become some
body and to do something with my
life, not just to go out like one little
candle in a lighted ballroom and never
be missed"
Very well, Fanny, so be it. l only
hope you have not undertaken a task
beyond your strength. III you have
not, you are a very remarkable wom-
an, that is ALL.
At that moment our conversation
was disturbed by the sound of person
| falling heavily on the floor of the room
above us, which was occupied by my
wife.
Without another word we both turn
ed and ran upstairs. / knocked at the
door, but, getting no answer, entered,
accompanied by Fanny, to find my dear
wife lying in her dressing gown in a
dead faint before the toilet table. We
lifted her up to the bed, and with great
| difficulty brought her round, but this
| fainting fit was the commencement or
her last illness. Her constitution ap-
peared to have entirely broken up, and
| all we could do was to prolong her life
by few months.
1t was most heart-breaking bust
| ness, and one on which even at this
distance of time | do not care to dwell.
| was deeply attached to my wife; in
deed, she was my first and only love
in the sense in which the word is gener-
ally used; but my love and care avail
ed but little against the forward march
of the Destroyer. For three months We
fought against him, but he came on as
surely and relentlessly as the tide, and
death her mind cleared, as the sun
often does in sinking, and she spoke
to me so sweetly, and yet so hopefully,
that her tender words almost broke
my heart. And yet it was happy
death. | have seen many people die,
but | never remember one who was so
completely borne up across the dark
gulf upon the wings of child-like faith.
All her fears and griefs were for me,
for herself she had none. When at
last she had kissed her boy and babe
him farewell-thank Heaven lie was
not old enough to understand what it
meant-and said her last word to me,
she sent for Fanny and kissed her too.
Goodbye, my love-" she said you
must look after Godfrey and the boy
W i n nd hn, orb
a sudden idea struck her, she took the
girls hand and placed it in mine.
You will just suit each other" she
said, with faint smile, and those were
the last words che spoke
Fanny colored and said nothing. I
remember thinking afterward that
most women would have cried.
And then the end came and left me
broken-hearted.
1t was the night after the funeral,
and l was walking up and down my
little study, struggling against a dis
tress that only seemed to further over
whelm me the more tried to bear up
| against it, and thinking with that help
less bitterness that does come upon
us at such times, wrapping us. as it
were, in mist of regret, of the many
little things might have done to make
| my dear wife happier while she lived,
| and Of the irreparable void her loss
| had left in my life. 1t was well for her,
| | was sure OF that, for what can be
| better than to sleep? But in those
| days that certainty of future in
dividual existence, which l have now
been able through my discoveries 10
reach to, was not present with ne. 1t
only doomed as possibility at the end
| of an untraveled vista. She was
| gone, and no echo came from
where she was. How could Iknow
that / had not lost her forever
Or, even IL she lived in some dim
heaven, that / too should make my
way thither, and find her unchanged;
for remember that change is death
1t has all passed now. / am as sure
as l write these words that at no dis
tant date l shall stand face to face
with her again, as l am that the earth
travels round the sun. The science
that has unalterably demonstrated the
earth's course has also INDICATED that
Unborn instinct of humanity so much
attacked OF late days, and demonstrated
it's truth to me beyond the possibility
of doubt. But l did not know it then.
Il shall never see her again, neverr
I cried in my agony. "and have moth
ing left to live for.'
Perhaps you will not" said quiet
voice at my elbow, "but you have your
child and your work left to live for
And II there is anything in your dis
covery, you will see her through all the
ages"
1t was Fanny, who had come into
the room without my noticing It, and
somehow her presence and her words
brought comfort to me.
| ITO Bs coNrINUED.I