Connecticut western news., 1899-04-06
MIRIAM'S DREAM.

IOu WOh IcdliJ So de bh4o o2A32o o1 the year, will your
 .'Rather I'd go in December if Dick were at the end of the journey. "Well, would not cross the Atlantic in the middle of November for dozen sweethearts
 Miriam laughed gleefully. She and her Dick had been separated for three years, and now he had fallen into a good berth at Toronto and had written to her to decide whether they should both spend their winter in loneliness or whether she would go to him and set tie down at once as his wife
 Miriam did not hesitate a moment She set aside the shortest time possible for winding up her affairs in England and arranged to sail in the Sivonian from Liverpool to Halifax.
 "But you Il have dreadful overland journey after that. It must be long way to Toronto. said her friend Nora "I don't know how you'll get through all by yourself.
 "Ah. but I'm not going to. Dick has been sent by his firm to New York on some business. and he intends to take a berth in the Meldrum. coasting steamer, which will bring him to Hali- fax about the same time that get there.
 Miriam was in fever of joy and was altogether oblivious of such small mat ters as intense cold. a pitching, rolling ship and battened down matches. The good ship fought gayly through a oef a morning broke when the sun shone fair and the waves sank into a com parative calm Passengers swarmed on deck. congratulating each other on their escape from prison, and the anxious captain sighed with relief to think that the worst was over He was upon his bridge, stamping up and down to keep the blood circulating in his feet, when ahead of them he saw a strange speck dancing on the waves. As he drew nearer he found it an ap- parently empty boat, and he sent of one of his boats to tow the stranger to the steamer When it reached the side. however. the limp form of sailor was lifted from it. Under care and good treatment the blood began to run again through his stiff veins. and he was able to tell what had befallen him But be- fore that happened his boat had been landed on deck, and the name upon it. Meldrum-m made known.
 "How funnyr' cried Miriam. "A steamer sailing from New York to Hal flax is named Meldrum.
 "Aye. missie," said a sailor omi. nously, land this is one of her boats "But how can it be2 How could it have got loose out here 2'
 ''If that poor chap lives he can tell us that. and no one else perhaps. After some time the sailors words began to beat into Miriam's stupeied brain. She tried to speak to some one standing near, but her tongue would that she nearly fell Her neighbor drew her to seat
 ''Is the Meldrum wreckedr' Miriam asked, with tragic eyes
 "I do not know but I hope not That poor fellow will tell us. if he lives"
 That evening it was known that the Meldrum had collided with another vessel in the storm, and that. although all the boats had been lowered, they had one after another been swamped The rescued sailor had just jumped into one when its ropes snapped, and he was therefore the only person saved The stewardess took the tidings with a cup of tea to Miriam as she lay inert and despairing on her sofa, and she let the woman gossip out her news without uttering sound. At last the stewardess went away. and Miriam lay still, not thinking. only suffering.
 Later she crawled into her bed, where, through the night visions of Dick. as boy, as youth. as a man. rushed through her mind. Sometimes she saw his face shining through the darkness, but when she clasped him round the neck he was cold as ice and wet with salt water
 Then she was out on the upper deck and not alone By her side stood some one-a huge man, giant. who seemed to reach to the sky. His clothes changed their color from light to dark. from black to brown His great body undu- lated all the time. and when he put his arm round her he seemed to be sur rounded with dry .suffocating warmth Then he pointed a long arm to the northeast. and seemed to slip farther and farther away. though he still stood by her side: the monster heightened into miles: Miriam followed him with straihing eyes. when . flash of light.
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