Year: 1874

lduBu dI uu6 WIFI luOSe great Wulbe Ieelu
and say: Husband or child, which 2
Then I quickly replied: Husband, oh !
the husbandp


But it was so queer, for just as soon
as he was with me again, my spirit for
teasing returned and 1 would say


Il think it is the child, after all.


"Then he would take the boy from
my breast and dance him ioyfully up
and down, and say, 'You are rightp


"Then he would give me good kiss,
and thus our little innocent Jars were
never quarrels, and ended in perfect
contentment.


She gazed for moment silently be-
fore her, while Thomas sat nodding his
head silently.


4" You see," she continued, sit is
necessary to tell you all this. If it
does seem foreign to the real subject,
it belongs to it, for it became matter
of most heartrending thoughts to us
afterward. This question asked in joke
became frightful fact"
The woman was so overcome she
could scarcely continue, and her eyes
turned a mute appeal for help toward
her husband, but he only shook his
head mournfully, making motion with
his hand as if to bid her speak on, look
ing into her eyes lovingly, as if to cheer
| her.


"Well, the story we told at the time
of the accident was true in every par
ticular, up to our arrival at the railroad
track. There it was little different,
and we hesitated in giving the exact
manner of the horrid occurrence. We
have never fully understood ourselves
why. Tt would have been better, 1
think, if we had not made secret of
it; much of this weary shadow that has
clouded our lives would have worn away,
had we talked it over with another per-
son. That is why we give you our con-
fidence now, hoping an intelligent,
right-minded man like yourself will ad-
wise and Judge if have erred.


cit happened thus AS my Anton
and [ led father toward the track I inn
agined heard the locomotive, but I
could see nothing, as heavy fog lay
on the ground, and I supposed that the
monster was far away from us, and the
moments were precious. My poor
Thomas was suffering terribly, saying
his foot was burning like caustic, and
it was Only step and we would be over,
and had Thomas not had the misfor-
tune to stumble, we would have crossed
safely.


"They both lay in the middle of the
road, Anton to the right of me and
Thomas to the left, and in that instant
their startled cry. and the shrieking roar
of the iron monster fell on my ear, and,
through the dense fog L saw his burn
ing, greedy eye fastened on my dear
ones, while the fiery sparks were thick
ly scattered about, as if hell itself
hod boon opened to devour them.


"Oh if L live thousand years, the
horror of that moment will remain, as
realized could save one of them, only
one


"Ah sir human nature may be
subject to million different distress
ing heartaches and mental struggles,
but heap them all into a lifetime, it is
as nothing compared to what [ endured
in few seconds.


81 have often wondered since how it
was possible the mind could compre-
hend so much while subject to such in.
tolerable suffering and fright, as now,
thought after thought flashed through
my brain in so short time.


"My mother-heart yearned for my
child, and [ seemed to grasp it, while
the hand of God Himself seemed to
hold me toward Thomas. [ thought,
was he not thine before the child Did
you not swear at the altar never to for
sake him? 1t seemed, then, as [ loved
him best; he was more useful on earth.
Then I thought, oh horrible raven
mother to desert your child But
the thing was upon us. heard mems
voices warning through the mist. 1t
was as if they tried to stop it, but
failed. 1t cut the darkness and rushed
toward us; with one bound I turned
from my child grasped for my husband,
and, with the strenghth of a giantess,
raised him off the track, turned, but
the awful monster had passed, leaving
me the crushed remains of my child"


She stopped short, as if sundenly
frozen in body and soul. Her husband
trembled in every limb, clutching at
his beard as if it could steady him. [
sat a speechless witness of this fearful
grief. My sympathy had no words; my
eyes must have told them how deeply
[ entered with them into this touching
history.


Thomas recovered himself first.
Going to his wife hetenderly placed his
arm around her. She started with the
magnetic touch, looked up at him, and
then at me, as if waiting for me to pass
Judgment.


1 could only take her hand between
my own and say:


Poor, poor mother Noble woman
Righteous wife 7


At this, her eyes beamed as if sud
denly relieved of dark vail; flush of
genuine happiness covered her face; the
whole countenance of the woman
changed from a sluggish horror to an
incompatible relief.


Thomas stretched his hand toward
me; his eyes flashing with Joy, his
head erected with manly pride, and for
the first time in years his broad shining
teeth appeared through a smile once
more.


"God reward your kind heart and
good words, sir" she cried. eft seems
since hearing you as if wedared be hap
py again y


She embraced her husband, looked
lovingly up to him, and softly asked:


"Do you think so, Thomas ?"


" just SO, just so, wife" He could
scarcely articulate the words for the
emotion that conquered him now. Hot
tears fell on his wife's hands and face;
she, too, sobbed and wept with him.
They were the first tears. None were
shed during that horrible time.


" You see what it was that changed