Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1900-11-28

"Is there room in the house TOR npef'
to show how strong my conviction was
against any such easy explanation Of
crime marked by such contradictory
features"
Two children on the Porchester road
were exchanging boyish condolences.
"Do you know what l think about
it?" asked one.
"Naw. How should I?'
"Wall, think old Mrs Webb got the
likes Of what she sent Don't you know
she had six children once and that she
killed every one Of themT"
"Killed 'em, she"
eyes, heard her tell granny once
all about 1t. She said there was q
blight on her house. don't know what
that Is, but guess It's something big
and heavy. and that it fell on every one
Of her children as fast as they came
and killed 'em."
''Then I'm glad bent her child"
very dlnerent were the recolIecuons
interchanged between two middle aged
Porchester women.
"She was drinking tea at my house
when her sister Sairey came running IN
with the news that the baby she had
left at home wasn't quite right That
was her first child, you know"
Eyes, yes, for I was with her when
that baby came" broke in the other,
and such Joy as she showed when they
told her it was alive and we'll l never
saw. do not know why she didn't ex-
pect it to be alive, but she didn't, and
her happiness was just wonderful to
see."
"Well, she didn't enjoy it long. The
poor little fellow died young. But l
was telling you Of the night when she
first heard he was ailing. Philemon
had been telling a good story, and we
were all laughing when Sairey came
In. can see Agatha now. She always
had the most brilliant eyes in the coun-
ty, but that day they were superbly
dazzling. They changed, though. at
the sight of Sairey's face, and she
Jumped to meet her just as If she knew
what Sairey was going to say before
ever a word left her lips. My baby!
q can hear her YETI Something Is
the matter with the baby! And
though Sairey made haste to tell her
that he was only ailing and not at all
i'll she turned upon Philemon with a
look none of us ever quite understood.
He changed so completely under 1t,
Just as she had under Sairey's. and to
neither did the old happiness ever re-
turn, for the child died within a week,
and when the next came it died also,
and the next, till six small innocents
lay buried in yonder old graveyard"
81 know, and sad enough it was, too,
especially as she and Philemon were
both fond Of children. Well, we'll, the
ways of Providence are past finding
out! And now she Is gone, and Phile-
mon"-
"Ah, he'll follow her soon. He can't
live without Agatha"
Nearer home the old sexton was
chattering about the six gravestones
raised in Porchester churchyard to
those six dead infants. He had been
sent there to choose spot in which
to lay the mother and was full Of the
shock it gave him to see that line OF
little stones. telling Of past with
which the good people Of Sutherland
town found it hard to associate Phile-
mon and Agatha Webb.
"T'm a digger Of graves" he mused,
IT. o.
watching him from the other side OF
the hearthstone. 81 spend a good quar-
ter Of my time in the churchyard, but
when I saw those six little mounds
and read the inscriptions over them
couldn't help feeling queer. Think OF
this! On the first tiny headstone ]
read these words: