1J
SI0EI1E.
DEVOTED TO TRUTH. REFORM AND PROGRESS.
VOL. 1.
ASHEVILLE, N. C, SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1893.
NO. 2
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Til BUIG0IE1 1
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Edith and Raymond.
HOW
THE WOMAN- IN THE MOON
FOUND HER HUSBAND.
BY ROWLAND HOWARD.
1 ' V " " ' - . ',: ' , '
CHAPTER ' -. 1 "
One month has passed away since
Henry Dupont and his daughter were
landed on the uMoon." The last week
in July, 1861, has arrived. .
'No friendly vessel- has appeared
to carry the father and daughter
-
again to" the habitation of civilized
I . .
people. They have watched in vain
"
for human relief.
The father had been daily declin
ing with that deceitful disease con-
sumption. The affectionate daughter
Edith had nursed him and hone all
in her power to improve his health.
but he grew worse and worse.. He
had several hemorrhages of the lungs
and seemed weaker after each one.
-Miss. Edith began to feel that her
dear father could not live many days,
but she would not whisper it to him,
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but always appeared as cheerful and
hopeful as she could. 1 -
On the last day of July, 1801, Henry
Dupont was suddenly attacked by
sever bleeding, of the lungs which
was followed by ' conjestion of these
organs; and in a few moments vhe
lay, a corpse in his tent. And. there
knelt the heart-broken Edith weep
ing and praying over the cold fof m
h,, - , "
of her dear father.
Who can imagine the deep sorrow
and desolation that overwhelmed the
loving daughter? But she despaired
not. This fearful ordeal brings out
her dormant courage.. She rises to
perform sacred duties. The father is
dead. To bury him from her sight
was an awful thought but it must be
done. Poor Edith. The following
extract from Edith's diary tells the
story in her own words:
"I have done everything. I could to
revive my dear father. I have tried
to get him to open once more his lov
ing eyes and to get him to speak one
more word ; but he is cold and dead."
"Alas I alas! what shall I -do." All
day long I have been feeling his cold
temples and wrist hoping to catch a
new beat of ', his 'heart." "Night has
come, and I am here alone with my
dear father's, lifeless body. O! mer
ciful Father in heaven, pity me."
After passing the dreadful night with
the corpse of her father she prepared
next "morning for the funeral. She
wrote In her diaiy. "I knew there
was no. oth.ercourse for me to take
but to bttrjf mylear father in the best
manner in my power.
Just back of my father's tent meas
ured of! the grave," and with inch
tools as I could find I began to dig
the grave. The soil was easily dog,!
being of a white sandy nature. When
I had got the grave sufficiently deep,
I laid over the bottom of it a thick
blanket. I then dressed my dear" fa
ther's body in the best suit of black
I I then got the prayer book ann read
over his body-the funeral -service,
which was read by the minister at
the funeral of my dear mother, at
San Francisco. ' ' l.
"I then raised
the
cloth
of the
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tent and spread on the ground blank
ets from the tent to grave, and gently
drew the body of my dear father,
who was a small man, to the open
grave, into which I lowered his pre
cious form, I kissed his cold lips,
wrapped the blanket close over him,
and crying, "ashes to ashes," "dust
unto dust," I drew the white sand
over his body, heaping up a mound,
on which I placed across made of
native flowers from the island ; and
all was ended as the sun sank behind
the waves cn the evening of the
first day of August, 1861." How great
must have been the desolation of poor
Edith's heart during the night fol
lowing the burial of her f hther ! But
she bore it nobly; for she wrote in
her diary the day following: "I know
now what the Bible means When it
says "I will be a father to the father
less" "If my father and mother leave
me the. Lord will take me up" The
Lord is my . shephard : I shall not
want" - k
Circumstances have brought to
light the noble traits of Miss Edith
Dupont She is a pious Christian
girl.
She will not continue alone on
'The Moon." .
Angels will will watch over her.
And that is not all. . '
chapter x. j
The next day after Miss Edith Du
pont had buried her father, she be
gan as it were a new problem of life.
There was the poor girl, a lone oJ
phan upon an uninhabited island in
the great Pacific ocean. 1 .
For more than a month after she
a ad her father had been cast on this-
island, "The Moon," she had enjoyed
the loving company of a kind and
doting father. During thirtime no
ship -or human being had made an
appearance in .sight of that island;
and Edith Dupont had not failed to
calculate how slim her chances Were
of being rescued.. - i
Her father had been suddenly
stricken down by cruel death, who
navigates all seas, and takes up his
abode, as the king of terrors, where
ever mortal man wanders over land
or water.
But the noble daughter will not be
frightened to madness by the king of
terrors nor cheated out of that sweet
life which had been given to her by
her Maker.
As mentioned above, Edith Du
pont 'began anew he problem of life
as soon as she rose up from new
made grave of her father.
j The next, morning shearose early
and after preparing herbreakfast,and
putting the tents in order, -she
dressed herself as neatly as ever,
and was soon-out in the flowery
lawn gathering the most lovely, wild
flowers that grew on the island to be
placed as a morning sacrifice on the
grave of her f ather. . -1
And this order of morning service
SheleKU.Iykeptu1,dayan?rday
Of course her private devotions, with
her prayer book in hand, were neVer
neglected. . ,
After this routine of morning du
ties were over, and the fresh flowers
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had been placed upon i the grave of
her father, she would to a favorite
it.' ' ' I .
spot, in a cool shade about two hun
dred paces from the tents, and (there
upon nature's little grassy mound,
Miss Edith would meditate for hours,
and with pencil' and diary in hand,
write ' down her thoughts . and feel
ings. '.- 'X. J"; :
I ; I now have the original diary of
Edith Dupont just as it was written
by aer ow.h! lovely hand, j 'Here are
the pages ihe wrote dyring those
sad dsys in which she freshly mourn-
ed the loss Of her dear father. Those
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lonely days in which she was train
ing herself to accept serenely the sad
situation of a lost orphan girl, cast
off on an uninhabited island.
If these spots and soiled places I
see on the pages of this well i pre
served diary were caused by big
drops of tears, that strayed down her
lovely cheeks and dropped unawares
on the pages whilst she! wrote, who
can wonder at it? Who would not
weep in such a condition. ' y
But these pages of her diary con
tain golden- words, more precious
than gold to her. They are the sen
timents of the young Christian phil
osopher and heroine.
1 1 wish it were so that Ijould pub
lish more or all of this diary. May
be it will be done some day.
I must content myself, and I hope
iny readers -also, with the brief story
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I am writing.
- TO BE CONTINUED.
COMMON SENSE VIEW.
Concerning the probably, success-
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ful workings .of therhew Liquor .law
in South Carolina, the Abbeville
Press and Banner comments as fol-
lows: V.- ;
"It seems that the whisky dealers
of Charleston have concluded to take
a practical commoh sense view of the
dispensary law, and with very few
exceptions the three hundred liquor
dealers of that city have determined
to change their business after the
first of July, or else go elsewhere to
follow the whiskey trade.
-The dealers in other - sections,, it
seems to: us, will gracefully yield -to
the inevitable. . ; -';:"'.iV-'-V'--;'""f-:
, There can be no question that ther' ,
State has as much right to sell t- the -liquor
as it has to forbid its citizens
to sell it, except upon licen
frdrn-
the State. In acknowledging
the-
right to control it by license, the-
wholo principle lis yielded. Even it"
the courts in their wisdom, should!
decree that the bill was passed irreg-
ularly, the Governor could, assemble1
the Legislature, and remedy the de- i
feet, i ' . - ..
As far as the public is concerned" j
we do not believe that three hundred:
men could- be found . in Abbeville-
county who prefer the open bars to
the dispensary. - f
The; fact is, that a vast majority of
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our people want prohibition, purer
and simple, which the dispensary
gives Us, unless, we choose, by pcti-" l
tion, to set aside the prohibition. -guaranteed
to us. . , j s
It is idle for anybody 'to attempt"
to charge prohibitionists with hos
tility to Goverrior Tilman in refusing
tosign a petition for a dispense . v
and we hope the Governor will rec
ognize the condition of affairs, and ,
not use his official power to force the- '
dispensary upon us. " j
With ninety per cent, of our peo I
pie opposed to the re-opening of the
bars, and with perhaps eighty per
cent, in favor of absolute prohibition,
is it Unreasonable-to hope that the
Governor and sixty of the citizens of T '
the town of Abbeville may not unite -
to override the clearly defined wishi y
of four-fifths of our people."
PBOSPECTS brightening:-
With the incomincr1 of the sunshine
and the gentler breezes Of approach
ing spring; with: the inauguration,
to-day, of Grover Cleveland as Presi
dent of our great Republic ; with ihe
growing sentiment now pervading
the air, that - reform must speedily
take place in the management of in
dividual and . corporate business
affairs, Jn our city and the country-
at large ; with the growiiig determi
nation of the progressive: people to
crowd out of the civic hive the trou
blesome drones and monopolies-thatr.
are devouring the life and prosperityr
of the commonwealth ; : with a.
thousand signals ringmg-aaid blazmg
in the atmosphere, tellifrg the wise j
and the patriotic sens of toil to ber
more indnstrious, economical and7
charitable. The good and the watch
fL are becoming inspired with, new
hope and righteous ambition.
What a privilege forr such people-
to live and work in- these- closings
years of the nineteenth century ! .
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