Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1900-08-16

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was honest and made wealth"
And my mother was n German"
"Mirrie, my darling, kiss me again.
There there, do not weep. There is
something that weighs on my heart, and
which / will tell you before-before we
| part"
.'No crime, father; no wrong, I am
sure" she whispered.
mo, no, my child; no crime, no wrong"
He closed his eyes and went on:
Eighteen years ago the summer that
is pastit was dark, rainy night, and
my wife and 1 were lamenting that we
had no child--when the cry Of a little one
was heard outside our door, as if God
T, had answered our prayer. My wife was
the first one to reach it. and taking it
in her arms, she ran in and kissed it
and strained it to her breast And we
called the child Miriam--my mothers
name
"Then, then" gasped Miriam, II am
not your daughter
Say not so. You are the heaven-sent
child of my soul. Never had father a
daughter such as you have been to me.
1t is that 1 may stand in the presence of
my Maker with no secret that / speak
cling to my hand, my child. Hold me,
for am drifting-drifting out into the
eternal sea-"
With stfled cry she knelt beside the
bed and kept the icy hand pressed to her
heaving breast.
Clay, the nurse, and Mrs. Hope must
have heard her, for they ran in and
stood at the foot of the bed. At first
they thought the struggle was over, so
81 Il hn p,,t bo
began to mutter, at first incoherently, but
gradually he spoke louder, and in the
German language.
He was talking to his mother, who had
died long years before. In that change
that precedes the greater change, the
struggles Of life were looked back on as
vision; and the happy, early, fiowery
days of youth were the only realities of
life and time, now that he stood in the
presence of death, and on the shores Of
that limftless sea from which all have
come on which all must float away again
to the uncharted isles. He called to
friends long dead, and the companions of
acknowledgement for many years-he
called to them across the river; and he
saw them motionng him to come and
join them.
"And my mother is over there; and my
wife is over there. | have not been
dreaming, Nitric. Where is my child
my darling MirNe?" he called out.
"Here, father; here, by your side. Here,
holding your hand" cried Miriam, bath
ing the cold hand with her tears, and
pressing the icy fingers as If she would
force into them her own warm blood and
youthful strength.
He seemed to realize the situation, and
made a visible effort to come back to
life and consciousness; but it was I'M
availng.
"Out on the river; drifting out with
sound of vesper bells, and the winds gone
! to sleep"
| He still spoke in German, but with de-
creasing force and less distinctness. The
labored breathing settled into calm, and
the thin lips remained parted.
A silence-the silence Of death-came
| to the room the dim light burned dim
| mer, and even the storm seemed resting.
"Mirrie--'
eyes, father; yes" she whispered.
"God guart--Mir-rie--"
| He still looked as if asleep-as if the
| breast might heave again with long
| breath and sigh. 1t was some time be-
| fore Miriam could believe him dead.
| When Mrs Hope-herself in tears-tried
| to lead the poor girl away, she still chung
| to the icy Nand; and crying:
my father! oh, my father" she fell
on her knees beside the bed, and the dark
tresses of loosened hair vailed her ashy
face.
The storm died OUT the winds sank to
| wailing cry; and from mourning clouds
the rain fell upon the roof.