THE STORY OF A DESERTED FARM-HOUSE.
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��most of the congregation said without asking themselves
��right as to separate them under such cruel circumstances."
" The excitement continued unabat- ed, and on the following Sunday — it was a custom they had in those days, and which holds good now-a-days in some places — Parson Wiggin, bless the dear old saint's memory, took for his text ' The way of the transgressor is hard.' and spoke his mind pretty freely as bearing on the case of old Steve. He did n't precisely say he believed him guilty of the awful crime charged — though he might just as well have done so as to say what he did — and he did n't lay no stress upon the possibility of his innocence. In truth he gracefully passed over what every body was most anxious to have him say, and came di- rectly to conclusions, namely that old Steve was getting punished because of his heedlessness and lack of interest in the meeting-house and its mission. The
Amen ! ' whether or no they believed it. You must remem- ber, and I mean no disrespect, that fifty years ago the people looked at such things in about that light and was bound to believe it, particularly if the minis- ter said so, without asking any ques- tions. He was the law and gospel and he who doubted was lost. There are a good many good people who do n't believe that doctrine any more. But it is getting pretty late for me to be out ; the woman will be getting uneasy, and therefore I must hurry to the end of my story."
" During the week that followed, the ice went out of the lake and the storm ceased. Then the village folks came round in boats and overland, began a systematic search along the shore and in the woods in hope of finding the body of the missing man. They were not particularly civil to the farming community, and they did n't like it because we did n't turn out and help them. But you see we did n't believe the schoolmaster was dead, and moreover we more than half suspected that if the truth was known he had just run away from trouble and left
��things so that it would go down to posterity that he was murdered. But none of us was right about it as it turned out, for while they were most active and persistent in the search, a boat came over from the island yonder, and behold the first man to land was the missing man. The people could n't have been more surprised if it had been the general resurrection and the sea was giving up the dead. Some of them turned pale as ghosts, and were frightened half out of their wits ; some shouted and every body gathered around Mudgett and began asking all sorts of questions, and telling in the most ex- cited manner what had happened."
" The schoolmaster, too, was a good deal perplexed and excited, and it was sometime before he could get his voice to tell what had happened to him. It appeared that he lingered on the ice on that Saturday afternoon till after dark, and when he got ready to go ashore he was turned around somehow so that he could n't make out east from west. Then, in his bewilderment, he spied a light which he imagined old Steve had hung out for him on the shore. He traveled toward it. He reached it. It proved to be at the farm house on the island, — just about a mile from here, over there where you see that light now — and as he was cold, tirvd and hungry, he accepted an invitation to stay all night. The next morning the ice was n't safe to travel on, and then the storm came on and he was made an unwilling prisoner. That is all there was to his mysterious disappearance."
" But how about the old man ? I will tell you. Special messengers were sent to the shire town to obtain his freedom and bring him home. He came, and oh friends, it was a touching scene when he met his neighbors who had been true to him, and heartrend- ing when he reached his home and discovered the sickness and despair of Polly. I would n't dare to make an effort to tell you about it, for there are sorrowful scenes which belong only to the family, and which the
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