Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1907-03-19
e embodiment of physical and intel

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 we'll 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 duivering lips and the sud
den, wild burst of tears told him her
heart was his. Family pride 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 crystallizlng of all that was
highest and best In his nature. Power
and influence such as rarely radi9te
save from q home in which husband
and wife are united in the best and
truest sense were his. But now Ben
1amin, 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
Ill became 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 II was
Just such 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 1t seemed Jennie
Montgomery -nysteriously disappeared
after a stormy scene With her husband.
but one of many that rnarred their
short welded life. Jennie was beauti-
ful hlghstrung and vain, and Bennle's
hasty temper and foolish Jealousies
pidued 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
eumstantiSl 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
10 this lonely spot to live. Every effort
to find some trace OF Jennie or her
whereabouts was fruitless and the
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 shrill cries Of
woman In distress. Bonnie bent a
listening ear.
did you hear II, father. mother? II
IS Jennie herself out there in the
storm. must away TO her"
mo. no, my son: you have long been
amused to the hardships of the outer
world. James and l will co.
And shall so, too, father"
Gone were the old irresolution. the
hopeless, helpless, restless manner of
the past months Benjamin Montgon-
cry was a man again. and half In hope
and half in fear the old people realized
1t would he useless to oppose him.
Hastily summouanS James the three