Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1907-03-14

the embodiment of physical and intel
lectual vigor.
Gazing long and earnestly into the
fire, the past unrolled before him.
Again he was a man young, gay and
heart free. Then came the journey to
Allendale and the discovery of Mary
In the hunters cabin in the woods
How well he remembered the shy
pleading In her eyes when her uncle
invited him to remain with them for
a time. And how the days flew by with
Mary at his side. How he had loved
her, yet he did not mean to claim her
as his own until that last farewell,
when the quivering lips and the sud
den, wild burst of tears told him her
heart was his. Family pl i1e and con-
ventionalties were nothing to him then :.
preconceived resolutions were swept
aside, and love, like a benediction,
rested over them.
And then the years of happy. welded
life: the birth and death of little ones,
and the crystallizing of all that was
highest and best in his nature. Power
and influence such as rarely radiate
save from a home in which husband
and wife are united in the best and
truest sense were his. But now Ben
jamin, their only son, paced the little
room above, hopeless. heartless, ambi-
tionless, the blight of more than grief
on his spirit Bah! He had been too
easily crushed. Such yielding to fate
III became a man. and yet how the boys
high spirit and sensitive. loving nature
appealed to him.
Gently his wife's hand stole into his
and thus they sat for a long time in
silence Outside, the trees tossed and
groaned. the lightning flashed, and the
rain came down in torrents.
Mother, do you remember, 1t was
lust such a night as this we lost Jen-
ME"
The old people looked up, startled
Never before since the hour of their
coming to this place had Bonnie allud-
ed to that fatal night and seldom had
he left his room.
Months ago. ages ii seemed. Jennie
Montgomery mysteriously disappeared
after stormy scene with her husband
but one of many that marred their
short welded life. Jennie was beauti-
full, highstrung and vain, and Bennie's
hasty temper and foolish jealousies
piuued her to open rebellion. On that
wild night when the clashing of the
elements should have taught them bet
ter things, the quarrel was one of more
than ordinary bitterness. Hot words
and threats flew back and forth. and
when Jennie disappeared, suspicion
pointed TO her husband. In vain he
protested his grief and innocence Cir
cumstantial evidence was lacking TO
secure conviction, but everywhere cold
looks and words met him and men
shrank from his approach. The strain
became too great and the father and
mother gave up the old home and came
to this lonely spot TO live. Every effort
20 find some trace of Jennie or her
whereabouts was fruitless. and the
young husband whose life had seemed
so full of promise dragged out an
inert existence, broken in body and
mind
Wilder ragged the storm Suddenly.
above it all rang out the shrili cries of
a woman in distress. Bonnie bent
listening ear.
Did you hear it, father, mother? It
IS Jennie herself out there in the
storm. l must away to her"
mo, no, my son you have long been
unused TO the hardships of the outer
world. James and 1 will co.
And 1 shall go. too. father"
Gone were the old irresolution. the
hopeless, helpless, restless manner of
the past months Benjamin Montgo-n-
cry was man again, and half In hope
and half in fear the old people realized
1t would be useless to oppose him.
Hastily summoning James. the three