Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1900-11-20

LAN A5hllh5aAS . 6ok SuNh "a phStSJ
home, in the warm country where he
lives, that he can't make up his mind to
come here"
"Oh, Sissy, he must come! 1 can't lie
still all the time unless he comes! Do
please ask God to tell the nightingale
how badly l want him. And, Sissy, put
out the night light. Perhaps he doesn't
like to sing till he's sure I'm in bed, and
he couldn't know I've got broken, could
hep
mo, my precious, no. Try to go to
sleep, and Sissy will wake you if he
begins to sing"
But Vynie could not sleep, and by
morning the fever was high. She talked
and moaned and laughed, but always
her cry was for the nightingale.
Master Tom, miss, to inquire"
Rose went down, trembling with
want of sleep, haggard with anxiety.
She took the great basket of roses her
friend had brought, and, holding it, tod
him how the night had passed. ''They
were singing like mad down by the sta
tion," he said. "Confound the brutesi
1 expect your nightingale isn't coming
this year."
Don't" said the girl. 81 believe
Vynie will have no rest if he doesn't.
When she heard the church bells this
morning she told me to send 10 the cler-
gyman and tell him to explain to God
that she couldn't do without the night
ingale. Oh, my own little girl! Oh,
Tom, she's all | haVe.'
Tom was not such a fool as to say,
''You have me-" He only said, ''Yes,
know" ,and pressed her. hand.
'You are good" she said. and went
back to the child.
A little fitful sleep came in the long
night hours of that terrible Sunday, but
it was broken and feverish, and at ev-
cry awakening the little voice, growing
ever weaker, said:
isn't it dark yet? Won't God send
the nightingale? Oh. Sissy, / do want
to hear him."
The old servant, who had been with
the two sisters since Vynie's birth, two
months after the fathers death had
cost the life of the mother, insisted on
sending Rose to rest, and sat by
Vynie's side.
''Nursey," whispered the child, "come
close. Will you do what say?"
Anything, my precious" said the old
woman, holding the hot little hands in
her smooth, withered palms.
well, kneel down and tell God
shall die if l don't have the nightingale.
God will attend to you because you al
ways remember to say your prayers. /
forget mine sometimes, even when I'm
not very sleepy. Oh, nursey, shall
never be sleepy any more. Do tell God
all about it,
! The old woman knelt BY the bedside,
and with faith simple and beautiful
as the child's own told God all about
il,
The dusk was deepening. The child
lay with cheeks scarlet against the
white pillow and shining eyes fixed on
the slowly darkening squares of the
window. She moaned with pain and
the misery of sleeDlessness.
"Open the window, nursey, my DEAR"
she said softly when the night had al
most fallen. 81 think 1 heard some
thing"
When the window was opened Vynie
held her breath and listened to silence
that after a moment was softly broken
by two or three mellow notes.
''Is it-oh, is it? Nursey-Nursey-
Its the nightingale, right enough,
my pet" said the old woman, as Rose
crept into the room like ghost in her
white dressing gown.
"Oh, Sissy, my owni 1t is-it isl Gods
not forgotten me. He's going to let me
go to sleep, and 1 shall hear the night
ingale even when Pm asleep. Listenv'
Again the full notes pierced the soft
darkness.
Rose gathered her little sister in her
arms, and together they listened
Vynie to the song of the nightingale
and Rose with full heart to the
breathing, gradually more even and
tranquil, of the little child she held
against her bosom.
.'She's asleep" said the nurse, softly.
81 won't move" whispered Rose. ''I'H
stay here Oh, thank God, thank Godr'
Tom came every day to inquire, and
it seemed to Rose that he grew paler
and thinner in this anxious time, and
every night the notes of the nightingale
sounded from the dark wood-through
nights radiant with clear moonlight,
and through the black darkness of
night wild with wind and rain. And
Vynie grew stronger and ate and drank
and played dominoes, and was on the
high road to well-being once more.
Then came night when the nightin-
gale did not sing. Vynie did not miss
it; she slept so sound O. nights now.
And on that night followed a day when
Tom did not come. and then another
day, and another. Rose missed him
miserably. On the first day she was
angry at his absence; on the second,
anxious; on the third she sent the old
nurse to see whether he was i'll.
you'd best go round" said the old
woman when she came back from her
mission; "he's more than i'll. Pneu-
monia or something, and he keeps ask
ing for you. Go you; I'll stay with the
child. He's got no one with him but
his landlady, a feckless body, if ever
there was one. Go now, my lamb"
So Rose went
His face showed ghastly in the frame
of his disordered hair and of three
days beard.
She came to him and took his hands.
xyon,an I'm dUinoo h,