Show X 4 guess' THE PEEP 0’ DAT— A LITER AhV MAGAZINE i ixtr‘T Tirrrr EJOT m rear ntginuJ-'iu-i- ALLpROSS BY E W TOLLIDGE CHAPTER I THB DYING TRAVELER When mellow Summer languishing to death fiighs on the Held her ripe delicious breath ’When oer the Season golden hue is spread And harvest trophies crown her djing head Jtt turning Autumn with her train advance To lav the Summer in her yearly trance K And soft as infant’s breath Autumnal airs Waft the sweet fragrance which the Summer v bears And agitates the sweets with gentle breeze trees Which rustling through the golden-tinte- d Sighs stented music aud each tender wave Bolls peaceful requiem o’er the Summer’s grave: The Author's M S Back into the past till we reacli the car seventeen hundred and ninety-seveIt was September— tlmt month which might not inaptly bd named the Toem of the year The reign of Autumn was fast spreading over the county of Somersetshire England and many a “ sear and yellow leaf” met the eyes of the Dying Traveler as his family chariot wended its way On the road between Bath aud n : He was languidly reclining in tlio spacious and yet tho eye at once took in the fact that lie had been an exceedingly elegant and well-mad- e man of about live feet eleven The sick Traveler's general appearance was that which so peculiarly characterizes the English gentleman of high birth and while he strongly showed the stamp Of their proud caste there could be seen in him coupled with a high-tone- d and generous soul that milddignity and unostentatious maimer which 'have made the hereditary gentleman of England so exalted in the minds of the people above and mouey-ocrae- y of the middlc-claSse- s the land fine Was a Our Dying Traveler specimen of that class whose pride of character and family is not a barren representative of nuked unadorned rank He Was a man of that quality of life and character who would be honored and loved by his tenantry as much as that of some good Won of feudal times In fact in spite of the decline of his family and the transfer of the estates of his ancestors into other liauds the loyal tenantry of his lathers still looked upon Lord Frederick D’Lacy as their hereditary head and tho proper lord of what for generations had been the domains of the D’Laoy family had for several A solitary miles kept pace with the chariot of 1)V Lacy as the horses trod gravely— almost solemnly along like those who were accustomed to the funeral hearse From time to time lie cast stealthily sympathizing glances intotbc carriage upon the dying gentleman wondering what could have so suddenly broken down so fiue a form of one whose age ho mentally calculated at not more than twenty-seve- n years Nor was the Wonder of tho strange for Lord Frederick had possessed a constitution as solid Comparatively as the castle of his ancestors and a frame as finely built but like tho fortunes of his house it had declined and Ho had he was now at life’s last ebb recently conquered a fever yet he was — in dying conquered a fever spite of his will — dying evidently not against his Will ! A thoughtful little boy of about five years of ae sAt at the bottom of the nrrioge with his lit tlo hands clinging as With loving carrefscs to his father’s knee and looking ploidin Cl? into hi parent’ face to catch his glance from time to time The artless motive of the intelligent boy was to engage his sire’s attention for he instinctively understood that he was tho link that chained his father to life § Ever and anon the dying man would arouse from his langhishmeut to death and with sudden energy start from the irrcKistabltf langor that stole upon him ' Though too much exhausted even by the very power that aroused him to caress his child he Would bestow upon him a glance of intense feeling and tenderness which the little fellow would diplomatically answer by taking the opportunity of holding his father for a time with his innocent prattle but Lord Frederick would soon relapse into his languishing statb each time mor exhausted by the efforts put forth in his battle with death ' “ Pupa ! ' Dear papa !” ' The child had grown anxious and frightened by the ' ltqi&th of his father’s last -" V : T relapse “Papa! Dear papa!” the boy persisted to briiig himself ‘to thb: consciousv ness of his father: ' Lord Frederick with another effort again broke the spelfof death vdiifhl’Ur another day would be sealed upon his mortal life and turning his glance of tenderness and yeaming upon his little son and heir to but little more than his father’s name and noble character he said smiling fondly : “ Well what now do you want to prattle about to papa you little chatter-box?- ” “ Mama will come back soon ! Don’t leave Freddy to go for mama! Talk to Freddy papa I’m sure mama will come ! ! back Oh I wish you would get well and play with me like you did before they put mama into the naughty black coffin that frightened Freddy so” That little orphan boy In black told a volume by the side of his dying father with his infantine mystification upon Death and the length of his dominion or'erthosc subject to his reign aud that1 mtitkerless child told the cause of that shadow of anguish which flitted from time to time across Lord Frederick’s pale countenance The dying man knew but tol) well that his little darling mortherlcss sou would soon be 'also fatherless and knew too that neither father or mother could come back to him in mortality from “ that undiscovered country from whose bouhio no traveler returns” The dying gentleman also felt that had his beloved one remained his powerful constitution would have conquered the fever that carried his wife to tho grave but his own loss and yearning for his beloved dead took from him the power to conquer for life aud child Death and life consumed him and his was from his consciousness that liis son would soou bo fatherless because that father had lost the mother — his wife “ Mama i till come back to little Freddy and papa won’t she ?” urgid tho infant pleader with child-lik- e eagerness of tho power of a father to work every wonder The innocent child evidently believed that if papa remained mama would come back again Lord Frederick was greatly moved by the simple faith of his sou that upon tho will of tho father depended the coming back of the mother He was stretched upon the very rack of torture by the realization of how much greater was tho power of the memory of tho dead to draw him to her sphere leaving their child fatherless as well as motherless “Nurse said mama would Come back’' still persisted the artless raotherlcas boy “ I’m jure she will if God up in ImTon will let her! I know mama can’t stay away from little Freddy and papa! God will let her come back won’t He ?” The dying man could endure it no longer With a mighty effort of his every mortal energy— with an intense yearning of his departing soul for his darling son— a yearning of his whole being as strong as though lie had been the possessor of a giant’s bodily strength Lord Frederick caught his boy in liis arms and convulsively pressing him to his breaking heart burst into passionate sobs while the child terrified by his father’s tears clung crying around his neck A week before and this whole heart yearning for his son— this mighty effort ot D’Lacy to remain with his motherless boy would have conquered Death at his very gates But now no mortal prowess could win the battle-- no human affection or yearning could hold him long to earth “ Don’t don’t cry papa !” the child said hushing his own sobs to hush the strong “ Don’t- cry oues of his dying father papa” and he wiped with his infant hands the parent’s tears “Don’t cry papa! and Freddy w ill be a good boy aud let you go and fetch qiama” Thus did the simple unselfish spirit of the little one consent for the first time to his father’s death for he knew that papa was going away because mama had gone before and now without understanding beyond a child’s capacity the loss to liis orphaned life the little hero thus sacrificed himself for his parent — thus mercifully gave up his dying sire “My darling little one — thou child hero !” “ Father of exclaimed his dying parent the fatherless more abundantly be to him in my stead” The child kissed his sire with soothing fondness “God of Mercy” the dying man prayed “ had Thou spared his mother or had I not been struck down too — could I havo borne a life heavy with the great burden of my lost one — full of yearning ‘to bo with her where parting shall be uo more and bursting with impatience to fiud tho ' span of man’s life so long yet for this sweet child’s sake I would have endured without a murmur But O G iver of life and Decrcer of death I had not the power!” “ Freddy won’t cry when you are gono to mama’s new home” the little fellow said “ Papa must go — mama wants him ' You cant stay with little Freddy” The intelligent boy had changed tho direction of his power over his dying father W ith an impulse of inborn honor and truthfulness to his plighted word which bespoke the character of the future man the noble boy tried in his artless simplicl to comfort his parent with the belief tkaii Freddy the orphan could get on very well without him “ Talk to me about the good Sir Richard and baby Alice” the child coaxed diplomatically to draw Ms sire into a summer prospect “01 do lovd so very much Sir Richard and baby AliCLV’ continued the boy with sparkling eyes and pleasure evidently from the memory of some delightful episode in his infant life “Shall I always have baby Alice to play with when you are gone to mama’s new hoirtc up in heaven?” The prospect and delight of the child at having baby Alice tb play with alw ays chased from his natural sunny spirit the' last cloud Thus it is with childhood’s Its heaviest calamideepest impressions ties are like writiug upon tho sand from Which a child tripping along will efface A volume of sorrows and his tiny foot Will danco aWay a record of the direst ovohts &owlj slowly— iolomnhr solemnly |