A Legend of the Grave.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1102, 22 October 1883, Page 4

A Legend of the Grave.

LITE II AT UR Ei.

CLADS WEIDIM PIPE;

By D. W. C. Nesfield

‘ So l»c insisted on your being burl d with him, did ho ?’ queried old McilEr Earth one night, of an «I,J ; clay pip-, which was lying by the side of a mouldy skeleton, deep down In a gn.ve, which had iboen made so Inns; ago that nothing remained-of the cofl'in, which had mice held the occupant, hut a few rotted remnants of hoard, hardly distinguishable from the soil around them.

* Yes, Mother .Earth,’ said tins' d! i pipe, 5 * anil I suppose that I wis t|h<* Only thing, except money,’that In* cured for in life. The day lie died he buggH a '.neighbour for some tobacco to pnt-in trie,. although V Iml twE' thousn! gulden, hud tt.iore' buried in the cellar, and wheti he felt tint ho was going fast, he mad.e them promise that I'should he pot in his coffin, with him.’ ,; Did they ever din 1 the treasure hr; bnrihd'? ? queried .oM-Mother Ivirthiuf the old ciny. pipe.' 1 1 T can’t tell,'lilt shre,' ii .'inswireU. ♦ Since I was restoriil to ymij and rested in the clay from which , I w s moulded, I have hvin dormant, and t s'upj.osc th • particles ol which I was .composed, would long ago hayo been seriiterc i again, only that [ was burnt so lord l>v old Claus Wcide.’ ’ '

‘ 11.-hf ‘ hp ; no relatives ?’ queried Mother Earth ; because if he had ap i dfc they are deserving; I , could send liiy faithful 1 TraumbihUr to them in 1 their sleep, and let th-m sec in their dre.-ohs where the old man’s treasure is .concealed/

*He had a - sister, Mother Earth, whose'husbaud di-d, deriving her with a baby boy, but /Qians always thought he could; take his; gold with himtbeyond the grave, and ho living soul knew that he possessed any t hing.’’ Aod the old pipe.iofued round' Wearily in the dark cemctry,. and was soon slumbering with the rpsl of nature. But Mother Earth ns she 'passed on in her travels wi ■ thinking a great deal about what the old pipe had said.

It was hj lovely June morning, and the Viver ’Neckar was looking its best, dotted with little.green islands, and humming a bright summer song, ns it rippled over the shallows near Berg, on its merry way to Hcilbmnn and the Rhine. The villagers in their g.iy Sunday dresses were filing ont of th** church on the hill, int-rchanging greetings, most eases, going for a stroll by;the river before the mid-day meal.

‘ Don’t let ns go to tin? river Elsie, to-day,’ said a bright-eyed young villager to a golden-haired girl, who was just giving ■hi in her prayer-book to carry and smoothing, her snowy (rock pre-

pnratory to taking her nsnal Smrday ' stroll wit It her betrothed-... “ I had such . nn ugly dream last night/he continnod * nnd I want to tell yon nil'about it. Let, ns go across the little bridge, nnd down tne Anlage, where it is quiet. The dream bus altogether upset me.’ Why, Vai/ she replied, looking up info his face with a merry laugh, ‘ have yon .inmod . superstitious ? Do you v mean' to say j’oh have let a dream, nffeet yon ? Yon had b6y, yon .were at the Gcisthaits last tiiglit, and drank too much;-beer/ arid then you had an ugly dream. Aren’t yon ashamed of yonrself?’

1 No, Liscben, I wasn’t at the Gasthnns, -and all the beer I had was the regular ‘gut’ Natch Sclioppin with fnothbV, bnt I did have ri hhrrible dream and I must, tell you.’ :. And so Liscben and Val, looking » little solemn for the first lime since they had‘been betrothed, were missed by tlie river thatmorning, and .went acro>s the little bridge down the Anlage. Valentine Bnraer and Else Koppel were ai very happy young couple. They had grown up togdh-r' in Berg, and while everyono liked Val, Elise was such a favourite that all the village spoke of her as 1, our Mnihiui mch en^” They had been betrothed since Christmas ami were to be married after the Volksfest ” iii September. * And So, Val,’ she was saying as they returned op the bill from their shady stroll under the trees, ‘is that all of the ugly dream that made you feel so badly, to-day? Yon dreamt that . the old, man, your .-uncle, who died,; left a pile ol bnried treasure anti that if yon looked for it next new moon at .midnight, yon would find it. Why, yon silly "fellow, I have heard..grandfather say. that.nll djd Chius had in the world when he died was an old pipe which lie begged them to bury with him. Besides, the parish paid ror his burial, and that must hayo been nigh twenty years ago.” But be answered never a word, ami walked on, looking grave, until they came to Maiblnniichen's door, when ho said; “ Lischcn, ybn are right ; perhaps lam not very well to-day. I will shake off this shadow that is clouding my soul. One 1-ok into your bright eyes ought to do that, and we will never speak of uncle Chins Welde or my ugly dream again. Above all, Lichen, do not say a word to my mother. Tomorrow, when I get to work with the horses in the woods, I, too, shall have fo-gotlen it. ’’ They were standing inside the shady porch, and ns lie stooped down and-held her in his arms, he whispered “ There will be no more clouds after the ‘ Volksfest,’ or, if they must come, we shall bear them together.” (To he continued.)