Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-21

HdpIIilSSS, WINS pClISNl
above, seems commensurate with eter-
nifty. t
Such were my thoughts. such my feel
inss. when gently descending from one
of the loftier eminences, l came alb
ruptly in sight of one of those primitive
log farm houses whose picturesque ir-
regularity has grown out of the law of
necessity. The low and irregular earth
covered roof was deeply weather stained
and overgrown with patches of velvet
moss, brown and green, with the house
leek and the yellow 'stone-crop'' now
blossomless, but, like all else. g~arlanded
by frostwork that shone in the sun like
flashing Of gems. AS l approached it
more nearly, l sought in vain for traces
of h%usbandry. or of the dairy
farm. Everything about the place
indicated poverty and ~delapidation.
l was now within a few yards of the
premises. The desolate aspect of the
place had already struck a sudden chill
to my heart, when i heard the piercing
sound of infant sorrow issue from that
lonesome dwelling land presently two
little children, apparently brothers, near
~ of an age, he one not exceeding five
years, the other four, their chubby faces
flushed with weeping, rushed out of the
porch. In accents that might a pene-
trated the rocks around their miserable
abode, they cried aloud, Fathers dead
fathers dead, and mammy's away"
Upon which they doubled their piteous
sobs, as if their little hearts would break.
Mine seeemd leaping into my throat as
I followed into the cottage the poor
babes, who had just announced to me
in so pathetic a manner their orphan
state. Alas! the sad spectacle that met
,,,, x.;ov- n>,,E ,.p,n fhA .,,a1ayphn1V It'd
ings. Upon a low and miserable bed,
placed in an obscure corner of the only
habitable room. and hut partially COW
cred by an old and faded WOODEN ug,
lay the body of a man, from which it
was evident-for it was still Warm-the
breath of life had newly departed.
And. o God. what a form was that,
stretched out in utter helplessness before
me. Hardly arrived at the prime of life,
that manly form, whose every limb.
though now attenuated by sickness, was
symmetry whose entire structure might
have furnished the sculptor with a model
for the Meleager or the Gladiator, lay
s%tiffening into all the frightful rightly
of death. The head lay on the extreme
edge Of the pillow, to which posture
it had probably sunk in the act of dying;
the collar. of coarse chequered linen, was
open, and displayed a finely proportional
throat and muscular breast. One arm
hung down by the bedside, the fingers
resting upon the floor. The contour of
the head, from which a spotted red and
white handkerchief hat had been tied
around it had fallen, was remarkably
fine-of that formation we are accus-
toned to call classical, the forehead eX-
p%ansive, though corrugated, the effect,
doubtless. of pain and anxiety, surround
ed with clustering curls of dark hair,
slightly intermixed with grey. The nose
in perfect proportion with the other
features, the lips thin ana compressed,
but firm; the jaw square and fringed by
the thick and curling coal black beard.
The eyes, the sunken eyes! '"Those win
dows of the brain, from whence the soul
looks out" There had death printed his
s%ternest %terrors! CLASSY and meaning
less, my hand intinctively pressed down
upon those lustreless orbs the c!ammy
lids, and shut the fearful secret from
mortal gaze forever.
A species of instinct seemd to have
advertised the children of the presence
Of the King of Terrors. The hapless lit
tie creatures had crept up into the WIN
doW-seat, where their gradually subsid-
ing sobs were still audible. The eldest
had cutting a stick with a
Clumsy MILE, tHe youngest, MloSS lllHo-
cent countenance, with it's clustering and
sunny locks, forcibly reminded me of
Guides cherubs, was playing with a
splendid butterfly in the ~window-sill,
the languid but gorgeous wings of the
insect, crimson, notified with purple, the
warm beams of the midday sun had
caused to expand. / sat in reverie for
some ime There was a vague haunt
ing of memory, that the man lying dead
before me was not an entire stranger;
but where or when had I ever seen him
before I failed to c%onjure.
I had already indicated to the drive
of my conveyance that we should not
depart until the arrival of the mother
or some ~neighbor-if there was a human
being holding such relationship to this
unfortunate family.
I could not, however, be the risk Of
personal inconvenience what it might
have found it in my heart to leave those
helpless orphans in that chamber o.
death.
There was not another habitation
within sight, and the spot was in every
sense lone and OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
to the sight or the accents of strangers
l was but imperfectly understood by the
children, and in reply to my questions
relative to the absence Of their mother
and the probability of it's duration, they
could only tell me that she was gone
to Wilson's store to buy -four, and would
be back before dinner time. AT length
from their station in the w~indow-seat
they deserted their mother approaching
and, vociferously announcing the gla'
! news, darted from the cottage to meet
her.
r Heavily laden with the marketings fol
= her small household. the moor woman on.
l tered her home. Large drops Of per.
, spiration stood on her forehead and
stepped her disheveled hair, but whethe
, they were the effect Of exhaustion, or OF
:, the sudden communication made by the
children, it were difficult to decide. I'm.
like her deceased husband, she, poor
: thing, had little beauty to boast of. The