St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1908-08-29

leading, but now deserted by her for
mer friends and lovers, homeless and
friendless and reduced to the condi-
ton Of slave she no longer was
free to find relief in deeper excuses.
Sh had at last reached the depths,
and now while she waited there was
nothing for her to do but think, think,
think. 1t seemed as though it would
almost drive her to madness. Once
she had been happy wife with chill
dren about her. In mad hour she
had yielded to the temptation which
had come, and step by step she had
been led into the paths of sin, and
now she was drinking to the bitter dregS
the cup which sin had filled for her.
A shudder shook her form at the
contrast between what had once been
hers to possess and enjoy and what
was now her lot, and the first real
pang of repentance which she had
known came to her as she sat there
anu Wo1LSu III DIG hHCW 11OJ WHAT
Hosea and she half whispered the
name as though she feared to speak 1t
has long since forgotten me,
and we'll he might. / did love him.
know it now. But in my insane folly,
my vanity, my love of pleasure, cast
aside all that was worth having in
life. And now, now! Who is there
to remember me? Who is there to care
what becomes of Gomer?" and with
choking sob she ended her soliloquy.
Time was when lover and gay
friends had filled her lap to the full
with gay pleasures, but when beauty
had begun to fade and the spell of her
charm had broken, the lovers had left
her one by one, and now there was
none left to care what became Of her.
'Not even Hosea" she had cried, with
unutterable anguish.
Oh, what penalty does sim exact!
When the sin has come to its full
fruitage with what crushing weight
does it overpower the heart, driving
often to madness and self-destruction.
And so it was to Conner that there
came the promptings to end her mis-
cry in self-infiicted death.
1t is but a step from meditation to
action. One standing on the brink
needs but to lean in the direction
rash impulse draws, and crash!-out
goes the life upon the jagged rocks
below. A voice at the fateful moment
might stay the leap. So with Conner.
Unconscious of all about her, save the
desperate resolve that she would end
her miserable existence, there came q
voice from somewhere she knew not
where, and it stayed the hand that
was at that instant ready to plunge
the slender blade into her heart A
voice that carried her back again
through the years and brought her in
memory to the happy home which
once she could call her own. A voice
that came to her out of the throng
that made her start and look up,
while from her lips there burst the
one word:
"Hosea!"
But none but strange faces were
all about. She saw her owners form
at distance, but he seemed not to
be concerned about her at that mo-
ment But that voice had come to
her, and it stayed her murderous hand,
she knew not why And she waited
almost eagerly, and scanned the faces
all about, but not once again did she
hear that voice, and search as she
might through the throngs that surged
in the market place, she saw not the
face that she knew now she loved. And
when her master came little time
later, and gave her into the hands OF
a stranger indicating with nod OF
the head that she had been sold, her
head sank in detection upon her
breast and 1istlessly she arose and fol.
lowed.
What strange days those were that
followed. She never forgot the voice
she had heard in the market place,
but that voice did not belong to the
stranger into whose hands she had
come, of that she was sure. But she
was conscious that there was some
thing strange about her new condi.
ton The indignities usually shown
towards a slave were wanting in her
case. In seclusion and quiet she was
sheltered, and having little else to do,
she thought, thought, thought. How
the first pang of repentance felt on
that day in the slave market devel-
oped and grew into the food of heart
sorrow over the ruined and wasted
life If only she could see Hosea and
tell him of her repentance and ask his
forgiveness she felt that peace would
be in her heart.
Overwhelmed with this thought one
evening as she rested in the humble
dwelling where her new master had
placed her she burst into a flood OF
weeping, exclaiming over and over
again: "Oh, Hosea, Hosea, that
might tell you how good thou art and
how wicked / have been. Oh, Hosea,
and my children! If l but had thee
now should know how to prize my
treasures
Thou shalt have thy DESIRE" spoke
a. voice at her side. With a startled
cry she looked up into the face OF
Hosea, and when the first paroxysm
of weeping had passed, she whis.
pered:
..rThv love Hosea hath triIImnhad