Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1921-09-14
Aunt Silly Burries Bernice
Mayo in the Boiling Springs.

W1dyO IN the OOllLilS SPiiAASS'
1t was a solemn and awful sight
witnessed alone by God and nature:
the boat which drifted down Silver
Springs in the moonlight, bearing
one weird bent and grotesque; the
other so silent, so white, so pathetic
in its dead loneliness. Not a leaf
was stirring, not a sound heard, but
the splash splash, of the old woman's
oars, as her boat, with its Strange,
beautiful burden, drifted over the
curious, transparent body of water;
drifted until it reached Boiling
Springs then veered about and stood
still.
Gently and easy, as if it had been
a babe, the old woman lifted the
little body. Something of her fear
had departed in the placid smiles of
the dead face. Tears rolled down
her dusky face as she bent forward
in obedience to the girls curious re-
quest. For a moment the body OF
Bernice Mayo rocked to and fro on
the bosom of the water, upon which
its happiest moments had been spent.
The dead face smiled and the wealth
of hair CLEANED in the moonlight
like a sheen of gold. Every pebble
was visible in the depths below.
Suddenly, as if by magic, the body
began sinking. The boiling of the
spring had ceased, showing a pecu-
liar fissure in the roock from which
the strange bodies Of the water came.
The fissure slowly divided, took the
dead body and closed again, shutting
every vestige Of it from view.
Lord, Almighty, dat chile a angel
sho nuf. She muss done talk to de
Lawd. She knowd how all dat gwine
be-" muttered the old lady, as she
rowed back to her cabin in the moon
light. A mocking bird on the opposite
shore sent forth a flood of silvery
melody. "Hear dat now, muttered
Aunt Silly, "dat bird done sendin'
de weddin song fer de bridegroom.
Come on Claire Duglass, yo, little
bride am waitin fo YOU"
The day following the death OF
Bernice Mayo was n never to be
forgotten by the citizens of
Ocala. Claire Duglass had just re-
turned after a years absence. He
found his beautiful Cousin (whom
his father destined to be his wife)
a guest at the home of his father.
Claire, said his father, as they lin
gered over the breakfast table, 81
have a fine skiff at Silver Springs
and 1 wish you to take your cousin
for a row this morning, and by the
permission of you young people l
will be one of the. party"
Delightful, Uncle" cried the girl,
and Claire, while he turned a trifle
pale at the thought of returning to
the spot where all that had given
color to his life had tr~anspired, could
only acquiesce.
Claire Duglass looked unusually
handsome as the party drifted down
Silver Springs in the April sunshine
but there was a curious palor on his
face, and the uncle and niece were
left to carry on all the conversation.
What a contrast the blooming girl
in the April sunshine bore to the
n in the solemn moonlight, who
had drifted over the same water the
evening before. AS the skiff near
ed Boiling Springs the party noted
a little boat lowering over it. The
boat was rowed by Aunt Silly and
other occupant was an old woman
whose eyes were swollen with weep
ing. The skiff paused beside the lit
tie row boat and the occupants t
each gazed into the curious trans
parent depths below. Suddenly the
niece cried out, ooh, see, that looks
like a handw! Palmer and more Wis
ible it grew, the little white hand
with it's gold chain locked about the
slender wrist. "Ah little hand, Claire
Duglass would have known you
among ten thousand hands," said
Claire, his face as white as death and
gasping as though choking. All were
intent upon the scene below when
suddenly the boiling of the water
ceased, and out upon a rock in the