Semi-weekly Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1897-1901, 1901-10-11


Il do without lem. Come home nov
r mother, and let him go where he wants
( You've got son left
n "It isn't husband cried the oil
i woman. My poor old man, wherevo
{ have you gone TOT And with that the
@ turned into an alley, and saw them II
: more.
: "As I stood hesitating at the end o
l the street, which was one of cycles
warehouses, with lamps hung on til
walls, and inches in which outcasts wer
( lurking. two women came up the hi
and stopped not far from me. That
what comes of a man that never open
/. his mouth said one angrily. Il,
, sooner have n man that knocks yol
| about bit than one of them that yol
never know what they're thinking of
To leave his lawful wife, and then
married forty years! And she's neve
; shed tear, nor she won't 90 home
; She's wandering in the streets, saying
she'll go after him and find him, ant
she n woman of siXty-fve. Oh, then
wicked Mormons"
at that word, as If l remembered
some sin Of my youth, the thought OF
the bilious stranger of the night circle
startled me, hit me with such sense
of catastrophe that l turned and spoke
to the woman. What Is the matter?
l asked What has happened|, Con
fused by my sudden attack their story
was incoherent and fantastic to de.
gree, but ii amounted to this: Unknown
to all, possibly even unsupported by
himself, some inexplicable and fatal
tenacity of purpose had never ceased
to exist In the brain of the old Scot.
| The passion. which seemed to have
slept for forty years, had been by the
| chance visit of the Mormon missionary
wrought to such n height that without
a word he had gone his way, leaving
home and wife ut the age of seventy
taking with him the savings gathered
so many years before, yoyaging to dis
cover in that America of promise the
fulillment of his youthful dream.
For many days this incident haunt,
ed me, but there was a good deal of
sickness that year, and through the
pressure of other thought and much
work its outline had begun to fade,
when, one day, a bright day with
blue sky | went to the stage to see the
American steamer sail. | amused my.
self for time in the keen, alert atmos.
phere. watching that meeting place of
all nations. The tide was rushing
with the speed of mill sluicc, and the
tniest scrap of sail was visible on
that buoyant path. The huge vessel
hove above the stage bowling slowly
with the action OF the tide like u teth.
cred horse impatient to start. In mid
channel the small river steamers hur
ried painting about their business; a
great liner. with men Mt work in her
rigging. lay n dead weight on the
water, and line of barges, uneasy
with such swell of water beneath |
them, were towed to their quiet dock /
by screaming tug. On the stage itself |
watched the crowd outside the bar
riers, the folk in line on the deck of the
vessel the trim gloved officers, the
porters coming and going along the
gangwny like figures in child's toy;
then, returning on the roadway above
the river, saw the scene from higher
level, catching gllmpses, across a deep
pit of green water. of the crowd NOV
ing to and fro against the hull of the
great steamer.
"A few seconds more, and saw that
the huge vessel had moved n step out
ward and was cautiously feeling her
way like a blind creature moving n
step at time. Then, with two tugs
leading her IN ropes, she went off slow
~, the fail of her great propeller rising
and beating the water, leaving behind
her n writing trail of foam. Present.
ly. finding no check upon her but the
two ropes she stood still for moment
to rid herself of them, and then went
AWAY down the middle stream between
a line Of watching ships and people
AS | Withdrew my eyes from the
beautiful creature they were caught by
a ludicrous figure not many yards from
ne. BY my side. with his eyes fixed on
he lessening steamer, standing on tip
toe so that his chin just appeared
above the iron railing. and holding high
above his head with both hands a two
loot rule with n spotted handkerchief
from the end, was my friend
The huIchbacked coDbler, with tears
'unning down his face, unheeding
but that black steerage deck
~ which it was impossible longer to
distinguish a single figure. Then once
again | remembered that belated emf
grant, and understood, as certainly as
f 1t had been told me, that somewhere {
II the heart of that great vessel which 4
had watched SO carelessly was the Z
orsaken old woman who had never J
et foot outside her native port, jour !
leyinS at the age of siXty-five on an 1
quest over strange and
readed waters. l guessed how it had u
'een. The neighbors, full of pity for !
er madness, and seeing that she could 1
ever rest, had gathered sum of u
money and allowed her to set forth on
er hopeless journey. so that is tn,
nd of it said to myself; and it was
irtually the end. for, though | was at {
one trouble to discover what became !.
f the old couple. no one in the town !.
YER heard of them again. Nor did the !
on, whose poverty kept him behind,
ear: and, when | think of it. how u
hould he, for his mother could not