When the sun rose in the heavens Truth was on her way, while Error,
tossed in feverish dreams upon her bed, thought the Sun was angry with
her, and was sending his fierce rays upon her head to censure or madden
her. But he was only trying to waken her and urge her to go on with
her sister. A sense of relief came when she opened her eyes and found
it was, after all, only a dream. Yet the pleasure was brief; for a sharp
pain shot through her temples, her brow was feverish, and her pulses
throbbed wildly. "Oh, for the pure air and the cool, refreshing grass!"
she cried. "Oh, better the highway with its friendly blossoms than this
couch of down and this stifled atmosphere which I am breathing!" How
she longed for Truth then, to cool her brow with the touch of her gentle
hand. "Come back, oh, come to me, Truth!" she cried, so hard that the
whole household heard and came to her bedside.
"She is ill and delirious!" they cried in one voice. The family physician
was summoned, who pronounced the case fearful and her life fast ebbing.
"For whom shall we send?" said Mrs. Highbred, who was unused to scenes of
distress and now longed to have her guest far from her dwelling.
"For her sister Truth," said one.
"Truth--Truth," said the physician. "Is it possible?" and he gazed
from one to another for revelation.
"Truth is her sister," said one of the younger members, and added, "I
think she is far better and prettier than Error,--"
"Far better, far better," continued the physician, looking only at the
child, and inwardly saying, "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings
come words of wisdom."
"I met her on the hill,--the one you call Truth," he said, in answer to
the searching look of Mrs. Highbred, who by manner and inquiry plainly
manifested her desire to have an end of the unusual state of things.
"I will go for her. She will return with me," continued the doctor,
"and soon we will find some spot to which we can remove Error."
A look of relief came over the face of the lady as he departed.
Truth heard not the sound of the horses, nor the rumbling of wheels
as they approached, so intent were her thoughts on separation from her
sister and her own strange mission to earth; and she scarce sensed
whither she was going, when the kind man courteously lifted her into his
carriage. But when she stood by the fevered, unconscious form of Error,
a few moments later, all her clearness of thought was at her command.
"Carry her to the cottage on the hill-side," she said, as she bound a
cool bandage on her sister's brow.
They bore her there, and, as though in mercy, a dark cloud shut off
the sun's rays, and their fierce glare was obscured during transit from
the home of splendor to the humble cottage.
There for many weeks Truth nursed her sister, while the kind hostess
and kind neighbors aided by words and deeds through the long night
watches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account