The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-12-24

Thus driven, II do, indeed" he
averred. Il see great harm in outrag-
Ing the wise opinion"
"Oh, the wise opinionl" came her
| mocking echo. You see, Ii is the opn-
lon OF others that matters to you, Mr.
| Westcott, and not your own"
1T is not, OF course, my affair"
| 1t Is not" she promptly agreed.
Il shall trust" said Westcott stiffiy,
mot only to your better judgment, but
to-to-to-" plainly he did not know
to what to true-"to your valuation of
my good opinion" he concluded i'm
| pressively
Perhaps that is not so great as you
flatter yourself" she flashed back, de-
nantly. "A goodnight to you, Mr..
Westcott"
And you must never, never tell"
solemnly.
Never" echoed the smaller Miles.
Because" went on Zellah, as she
bent over them in the chill dark of the
Christmas morning, because II you
ever tell one word about 1t there will
Observation-Disclosures"
long-drawn "Oh-h-hw came from
them. The tree was a very small one,
and the candles were the green bay
berry wax Of their daily use, and the
scarlet garlands were only the red for
est berries but to their round eyes 1t
was blazing spectacle OF delight.
"A Christmas treew whispered Eliza
beth In awe-struck tones. Miles could
only stare.
Yes, a Christmas tree" repeated
Zellah gayly A joyous sense OF ad-
venture and OF daring, mingled with a
subtle, feminine satisfaction at this de-
hance of cautious Westcott, filled her
with merry excitement. She whisked
"A ha
children up in comforters, sat hugging
them to her while they watched the
candles burn.
So wrapt was she that she did not
hear the step on the stairs. Without
warning the door was flung open and
Uncle stood staring in on them us on
a scene accursed.
Her offense seemed such a trivial
thing to the girl so harmless and child
ish disobedience, that she was total
~ unprepared for the catastrophe IL
brought upon her.
She, Zellah Cotton, to be brought into
court like a common i'll doer, denounced
by her own uncle, stared at by dread
full ring of neighborsl
over her head had ratified the hail of
the magistrates rebuke; she had heard,
toe, as in dream, her uncle's voice,
lamenting this disgrace to his house,
but accepting the Lords will in tones
of fervor and then, cutting into her
like a knife, the sentence
OF punishment She was to stand two
hours in the public square beside the
pillory, bearing about her neck the
placard, "A wayward and contumacious
person"
Beside the house of correction they
halted and Zellah mounted the small |
platform beside the stocks. Justice
Bliss pinned on the paper with its con-
demning description and shook his
in stern sadness over It.
Without turning her rigid head she
was aware OF the faces increasing about
her. Frankly curious, in the fore
ground trooped the children-lured by |
this new spectacle from their mockery |
OF fat old Goody May chained to a post |
at the corner of Prison Lane for hav- |
ing slapped her husbands cheek |
neighbors' children, some OF them, |
whom she knew and played with, star
ing at her with awed horror; others
the children of servants and slaves and |
freedmen. staggering and laughing In |
the ignorant cruelty Of their young
years.
Behind them sauntered the sailors
from the Conrad, gaping and jesting at
her beauty, and all around, crossing
the square in twos and threes, came the
townspeople in the release from work
that lecture day brought them.
She drew her hood further over her |
head, and as she did so she lowered her |
eyes and saw three figures crossing the |
square-Betty Morrison, gay In her new |
London cloak, and her mother, and |
William Westcott. In that moment II |
seemed to Zellah that she tasted all the |
shame that life can hold.
A laugh rose from the children, ever |
pressing closer to the platform foot, |