The Lamar register., 1916-11-29
THESEA'S
GIFT
By Francis Knowles
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Jim Thorpe had been in charge OF
Ipwcstoft light for seven and twenty
vars.
When the young fisherman had TAX
go his young bride there he had been
yry proud and both very happy. Their
honeymoon had lasted seven years, I'M
"a The girl died. She died very sud
Lauly. and there was no time TO sum
on medical aid. II was not until she
lud been laid 10 rest in the church,
ard Of the little village that Thorpe
t..ulized that his life, too. was ended.
For five years he brooded over his
Loss, They had never had II child.
that had been their great sorrow.
thorpe was absolutely alone In the
world. with nothing but his light.
lie tended it through the great
storm Of his fifth lonely year, but 1t
id not save the great liner that was
Enshed to pieces On the Luwestuft
rocks In the morning Thorpe put out
BE the tfeboat The ship had broken
uu the rocks, and there seemed TO be
40 survivors. But on a narrow ledge
IT rock he found baby girl-asleep.
How she had escaped was miracle.
Thorpe took her back to The light
house and fed and tended her, Grudu-
ally as the days passed, fierce love
and Jealousy for her replaced the void
in his heart. She grew up in the
Clubhouse.
Twenty years passed. Emily
Thorpe regarded herself as the keep
RS daughter. He sent her to school
lu the village, but she always came
Lack at nlghtfall. pulling the heavy
Lighthouse boat. Thorpe would watch
during those years every evening for
the sight Of the slender figure, run
ming along the sands toward him.
Then a hand would be waved, "A cry
Of joy would come to him. and pres
emily the big boat would lumber along.
with Emily at the oar.
The thought that she would some
day marry and leave him was the one
black, unbearable fear which he put
buck into the deepest recesses of his
consciousness.
But Emily did not seem TO care for
any OF the fisherboys Of the little
place. Her manners were instructive
ly those Of a lady. She WIS above
them all she had the Inherent grace,
the knowledge of one born in high
rank of life. Thorpe had tried to learn
who her parents had been, hut hc
never discovered.
Every seven years, they say, wild
storm deyustates the Lowestoft coast
There had been two since Emily came
Ia Thorpe The third happened when
She was tweuty-onr; and again biz
liner Went ashore in the same place
on I.uwestoft rocks.
Again the lifeboat was put out. this
time manned by half "a dozen villagers,
and this time the bulk of the pas~cn-
gers were saved one u them was
carried, unconscious, into the light
house. For an hour tn. village doctor
worked over him.
Hell be dead long since, think,
said the old freshman who had brought
three-fourths Of the village to birth
and ushered at least one generation
upon Its way into the unknown.
Just then an eyelid fiickered Emily
Thorpe, kneeling beside the young
man, saw the eyes gradually unclose.
week later Ralph Rentoul was
conyalescent He was a handsome
young fellow Of five and twenty, a sur
yeyor, who had been sent by the gov
eminent to map out some shoals along
the treacherous shore. Emily and he
were Interested in each other from the
first. And Thorpe, at his light in the
tower, watched them stroll along the
sands beneath him.
He had always known that some
time the girls hour would come. Now
that he feared love had awakened IN
her heart, he was conscious Of bit
terness that clouded his mind. He
felt that the girl had come to him in
place of the wife he had lost. and of
the child who should have been theirs
II was on the third day of his con
vRlescence that Ralph Rentoul told
Emily Of his love And she listened
in wonder at the unfolding Of the old.
yet ever new, story.
II shall take you away with me,
dearest" he was saying. I'VE will
have our honeymoon along the coast.
while 1 am mapping out my work for
the government And then we shall
go home"
Home! The word sounded doubt
full to the girl. Home she always as
ISOLATED with those barren rocks.