Show 4 W tl tf jJ JTjJ J W J1J iClIJ 1 j f 4J fi f II I J J r If I J Yi j 4ra 7 DYtI RIFA E UrJH IF rnrson bath appointed n day of Thanksgiving for T thin vlllBKo that tho cruel Mdo of Indian Invasion In i turned bark and our lives i arc spared Bald Mistress I IovoJoy Goodwin bustling Into the warm kitchen whore her sisterinlaw aJc Mistress Prudence Good win sat knitting by the llreplncf and her listless I daughter young = Mistress Patience I Ilalcomb bent languidly over the spin ning wheel Mistress Prudence made a sign for fcllenco but It was too late Tho face of tho pale young widow grow whiter and without a word sue rose and glided away Mistress Lovojoy looked at her sis ter In law Inquiringly Hath she not yet become reconciled recon-ciled to the decree of God 7 she asked Mistress Prudence shook her head Nny she said She salth over that It Is not by tho decree of God she suffers suf-fers but by her own wllfulness If t tILUUW TH I 1 FNY h e YYr11I I Bent Languidly Over the Spinning Wheel she had not come away from her husband hus-band against his desiresso she snlth ever she would at least have died with him That Is wicked repining said tho aunt sententiously 1Sho ought to be dealt with by the meeting She should bo thankful that her life wan spared when her neighbors were taken Doubtless It was n leading of the Spirit that caused her to come hero oer the savages fell upon Wyoming Wy-oming She above all others surely has reason to be thankful You should deal with her sister and check this untoward spirit said Mistress Iovojoy sternly Mistress Prudence sighed I know not rightly how to do It I when she Is In such sorrbw sho said Sho hath ever been a willful and unreasonable un-reasonable child but a very loving one You have ever spoiled her and her husband did tho same Perhaps this Is a punishment to you both said Mistress Lovojoy Mistress Patience a bride of a year hud left l her home In Wyoming valley for i visit with her mother In an older settlement Sho had begged and pleaded to make this visit with a willful will-ful demand that would not bo denied It was an unusual occurrence Tho Journey through the wilderness was too long and toilsome to think of vis Its Most of tho mothers who said farewell to daughters going to pioneer pio-neer homes could hardly expect to see them again But Mistress Patience who was anything but patient In spite of her name would not submit to this state of things Sho begged and pleaded to go until her husbandto whom her lightest wish was law gavo his consent He was tho more ready to do this there as were ugly rumors of alliance between tho British tory forces and tho Indians and the settle meet of Wyoming standing on a disputed dis-puted tract and not so well protected as other regions was peculiarly liable to attack But Mistress Patience did not know this or she would not have gone Site was very much In love with this grave utiddlu aged husband I who treated his young wife like a petted pet-ted child Many of tho settlers had shaken their heads over Mistress Pa tiences going He ought not to let her do it they had said I will only I stay a little while I I will come back soon she had said at tho parting regretful at tho last minute for her action lint the say I aGo Indians hud come down upon tho village of Wyoming and swept It off from tho faro of tho earth The houses wore burnt tho pcoplo massacred or carried away captive Every day brought a fresh story of horror especially espe-cially dreadful had been tho tale of John Hulcomb and 15 companions who had been carried off and sacrificed In a sort of religious ceremony She must bo roused Sho must see people I would make her go to tho Thanksgiving service said Mistress Lovejoy She was a notable manager I and her sisterinlaw with all the vII lage were wont to submit to her sway and Patience went to the Bury ice There can never more bo a day u of thanksgiving = for mo sho thought drearily as slip rat In her widow weeds In HIP square wooden pew The long long prayer was finished Patience liked tho prayer for In It she could hide her face It was never too long for her although a modern churchgoer would be aghast at having to listen to oven a sermon of such a length The iimihns of rejoicing had been sung These had been harder to bear rue preacher had settled Into his discourse Mo had turned his hourglass hour-glass and was already at thirdly God In his providence has exceedingly ex-ceedingly blcsHod tis In delivering us from danger ho was saying Pa tlenco shuddered What good was It to hor to be delivered since John had perished under tho Indian tomahawk A figure appeared In the doorway Such a figure Gaunt tattered wild eyed unkempt barefooted bleeding a mere skeleton covered with ragged shreds of garments It stood In tho doorway quivering and motioning strangely Patience Patience It cried Tis some crazy exhorter such as used to come and hnrrnnguo the con gregatlons in my grandfathers time said Judge Fletcher whose ancestor had been a judge In the days of the persecution of Anabaptists and Quakers The tlthlngman stalked down tho aisle to put out the Intruder Some of the men half rose but sat down again when they saw that the matter was being attended to It was a dreadful thing In those days to disturb dis-turb a meeting But John Halcombs I widow unmindful of disturbance started start-ed up at tho cry and fairly ran down tho aisle It Is John It Is John she cried Never had a religious service In Bethlehem Hill been broken up like this one The minister stopped In tho very middle of his most Important sentence Tho dreaded tithing man himself who boro upon his soul tho awful responsibility of every man and woman boy and girl In tho meeting house forgot It all and cried out like u frightened boy It Is a ghost But it was not a ghost It was John Halcomb himself safe Tho story of the Indian attack on tho village of Wyoming In 1778 Is a story of marvelous escapes as well as of torture and massacre No adventure adven-ture In It seems more marvelous than that of John Halcomb which Is ono of tho well attested stories of history his-tory With 15 other captives John Hal comb had been ranged around a large flat stone while a woman fury called Queen Esther who seemed at tho head of this ceremony of sacrifice of prisoners crushed the heads of ono after the other with a great stono death maul Two of the captives suddenly sud-denly leaped to their feet and dashed into tho forest The Indians pursued them but did not shoot probably because be-cause their plan was to bring them r 1 > 61rw t 1 ii t 1 tri < t-ri J f 1 > a 1 i 1 < I I Ifir tom r fir r I A Figure Appeared at the Doorway back allvo and torture them to death Ono of tho two and 1t was John Hal I comb tripped on a vino and rolled down tho steep river bank Then ho gave himself up for lost But tho I fall Instead of bringing him to death saved his life Ho lodged under the I heavy branches of a fallen tree and I tho pursuers I sure that ho was ahead dashed past It without discovering I him Ho lay concealed In this lucky hiding place until darkness came I Then wounded lame and almost famished fam-ished ho started out on tho Journey of days through tho trackless forest Infested In-fested with hostile Indians that lay between him and Patience A man less bravo of heart would have given up a score of times but there was no givo up to John Halcomb Ho might bo so weakened that ho could only crawl but ho crawled on Tottering I stumbling crawling dragging himself him-self along his painful way by Inches < I and In danger of his lire all the way ho covered the toilsome miles and came to make for his wife Patience I a real Day of Thanksgiving I I Copyright 1907 by Wright A Patterson I I |