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vo been st books there s to regret if you did just a fool yourself at this moment mr s gently sounded from the pulpit and miss sprang to her feet with the of a the box she had forgotten her in of her she hardly knew the minister said in that first prayer for many reasons this was an exciting day a little later our heroine accepted the in of her second cousin mrs to spend the hour or two between morning and afternoon services they had agreed that it seemed like old and took in this custom of the sunday little tom was commented upon as to health and growth and s and family and when he strayed after such an early dinner as only a growing boy can make vanish with the s of his the two women indulged in a good talk i don t know how you viewed it this morning began cousin but to my eyes the minister looked as if he felt as a there i never was one o his you well know to speak plain i was really concerned at one time for fear you would be over persuaded i said one word to your m promotion ment bat i did feel as if be a i bat miss was not yet to join the op and she interrupted at once in an amiable but decided tone we u let bj be by it s just as well and a good deal better mr always treated me the best he knew how and i knew he wa n t perfect bat t was full as bis misfortune as his fault i declare i don t know what else there was he could ha done if be had n t taken to preaching and he has kind feelings specially if any one s in trouble talk of leading about silly women there are some where we te got to turn round and say it right the other way t is the silly women that do the and i tell you concluded miss with apparent i was glad last night to hare s good honest look at a yellow sunset if i do go and set my mind on a minister i m going to hunt for one that s well settled ia a kill parish i used to feel as if i was shut right in there at the it s s good enough if it stood where you see anything out of the windows i t carry out my plans o life in any situation i expect to hear that you ve blown right off the top o your hill some o these windy days said mrs without resentment though she was dependent herself upon seeing the passing the church bell began to ring and our friends rose to put ou their and answer its summons s practical mind the possibility of there been a decent meal at the age maria she said with intensity mark what i m goin to say it ain t i that s goin to reap the it s your the mr of the first parish miss s tne time of year was april s town in now r from railroad one by one the bad been blown out in tlie scattered homes near miss s but as her neighbors took a last look oat of doors their eyes turned with instinctive curiosity toward the old where a lamp burned steadily they gave a little sigh poor miss said more than one for the good woman lay dead in her north chamber and the light was a watch er s light the funeral was set for the next day at one o clock the were two of the oldest friends mrs and ann they were sitting in the kitchen because it seemed less than the best room and they the long hours by conversation one would think that watch neither topics nor opinions would hold out at that rate all through the long spring night but there was a certain degree of excitement just then and the two women had risen to an unusual level of and confidence each had already told tlie other one fact tliat she to keep secret wore ami again into that would have found by daylight mrs was knitting a blue for her husband the foot was already so long that it l as if must have forgotten to narrow it at the pro er time mrs knew exactly what she was about however she was of a much cooler disposition than sister who futile attempts at some sewing only to drop her work into her lap whenever the talk was most engaging their faces were of the dry shrewd quick new england type with thin hair twisted neatly back of the way mrs could look vague and b ami miss was to quote her neighbors a little too sharp set but the world knew that she had to be with the load she must carry of supporting an sister and six and unwilling and the eldest was at last placed with a good to learn the s trade ann for all her sharp anxious aspect never defended herself when her sister and f she was told every week of her life that the poor children never would have bad to lift a finger if their father had lived aad jet she had kept her steadfast way with the little farm and patiently taught the young people many useful things for which as everybody said they would live to thank ber however her life appeared to outward view it was of pleasure to herself mrs on the contrary was well to do her husband being a rich farmer and an easy going man she was a woman but for all that she looked kindly and when she gave away anything or	40
lifted a finger to anybody it was thought a great piece of and a compliment indeed which the accepted with twice as much gratitude as double the gift that came from a poorer and more generous everybody liked to be on good terms mrs she stood much tf higher than ann they both old m and of hail one day not long before i if they would not come together and look after the and manage when she was gone she may have had some hope they might become closer friends in this period of mate that richer woman might understand tiie burdens of tliey hail not kept the tbe night before they were too weary witli tbe care of their old friend whom they bad not left until all was over there was a brook which ran down tbe very near the house and tbe sound of it was much louder than usual when there was silence in the kitchen the busy stream had a strange in its wild voice as if it tried to make the understand that related to tbe past i i can t begin to sorrow for yet i am so to bar al rest whispered mrs it is strange to set here without her but i t make it clear that she has gone i feel as if she bad got easy and dropped off to sleep aad i n more scared waking her up than ing any other feeling said it just like i t it but i tell you we are goin ber worse than we expect he s me through with many a trial has i ain t the only one who says e neither i words were spoken as if there were person somebody beside the could not rid of the feeling that they were themselves the spring wind i in the window crack now and then the little house in a way d a sort of effect the whole it was a very still night spoke in a half whisper i was the handed woman thai knew said mrs decidedly to her means she gave away anybody i used to tell her right i used really to be afraid i without too much for we bare o r looked up in a half amused way and then recollected her met her look with a serious ii t so easy for me to give as it mi ra is for some she said simply but with aa effort which was made possible only by the o i should like to say while is laying here yet in her own house thai has been a lesson to me folks are too kind and shame me with thanks for i do i ain t such a generous aa poor was for all she had lo do with as one may say was much moved at thia confession and was even pained and touched by the unexpected humility you have a good many calls on you she began and then left her kind half yes yea but i ve got means my disposition s more of a to me aa i grow older and i made up my mind morning that s example be my pattern henceforth she began lo faster ever t l ao to s lo say herself said after a minute s silence l il to say used aad choked a uttle she never did lo hear folks goin t was only because they re to do tt er folks will my t n t so mn up replied mrs t ain l object wa n l a set herself to work at she could do to please it one s folks had been stopping lie from was all little and they broke it of toys and left em when they g away come right up rode by to see if she could b t nt the house to rights and she i just as i was going to fling some into the stove i was kind of starting em in season h i says she real pleading and ed em up and took em home with she went and she mended em up en together and made some happy with every blessed one might i d done the biggest o thanks to me i ha says i of vm came to our house i d miss she d take a to please a child stead o it oat o the way like the rest of s re mi b i can tell you the biggest thing she gave and i don t know s there s anybody left but me to tell it i don t want it forgot went on looking up al the clock to see how the night was going was that pretty girl who the corners school and so well afterwards out in new york state you remember her i dare say certain said mn with an air f interest she was a splendid scholar folks and give the a start but d herself getting her education and working to pay for it and she all broke down one spring and made her and stop with her a yon re member that well she had an uncle her mother s brother out in who was well off and friendly and used to write to and i dare say make her presents but he was a lively driving and did n t take time to stop and think his folks he had n t seen her she was a little girl poor was so pale and weakly thai she got through the o she as if she was g off in a decline she watch mu up a and then next thing w the was round d gone to tee her and meant falls on the and stop t now i happened	40
other old friend who also dreaded the great change i d never like to almost those last words spoke plain to me she gently like the she truly was he looked up at me or twice thai after i to set by lier and i go borne and i can i to ease you and tbe to my eyes so i couldn t sea i nod give me no i dear says and again and says look u i m only a tbat s all is smiled op at me kind of ber eyes i knew well she d been oat for ell me and i don know s b afterwards re was not knitting bad f too eagerly yes be think of that sometimes bat old dr prince said that he d by r bed as we well knew and sick folks bad been scared o lives through but when tbe last be d never seen one n and most were glad to go as bein bom or on on t know what bad moved him t night you know be wa n t mi s s in tbe habit of it and t was the monthly concert of for foreign ways ann but t was a great stay to the mind to listen to bis words of there never was a better man re mrs in a really tone had recovered from her feeling of dread the kitchen was so witli and and just the old clock be ran to tell the of twelve with leisurely strokes sister laid aside ber work and rose quickly and went to tbe cupboard we d better uke a little to eat the night will go fast after this i want to know if you went and some o your nice while you was home asked in a pleased tone and mrs a gratifying piece of for this friend who denied herself all ann a cup of and tbe drew their ap to tbe presently and their witb good country sister bin son pot a spoon into a small old glass ef tv ed and il to she most familiar with and played part of ad some o this on bread and said to ne to uie some three or four never felt to know the d like lo la comfortable now and would urge a good poor dear hat excellent the did mourned none of got her light hand at she made the o the only had that one old mn in the far comer of the piece but go oat in the and tend to it k at it to and kind of ex le old thing into e just the same with ann and the d never more n o but the d have o out o and up her room to t wa n t but a week ago row i fetched her a little in a and the took it an the minute the it up at me at worried at could h i don t want to eat t i n i keep that m o you re goin to hare the good o one i i d like to know who t now if you ain t i an n t help i t up to dear me how i shall miss over with ber i she always and got just the p int you meant didn t b n to age until two or three years ago did the i never anybody keep ber at she looked young after i begun to feel like an the doctor to i ber young heart and i don t know but what be right how the did do for other there one the n t at home a day to a fortnight she got meet of ber to and that made her own and ber through none o the young could get married without and all the ou ones disappointed if the wa n t round when they down with and bad to go an or for or rug there but what the could do aa handy tt i do love to work ain t yon beard her that twenty a weak ss ann nodded and began to away the empty plates we may want a taste o more towards she said there s in the here and in case some comes from a distance to the funeral we hare a little table spread after we get back to the house yes i was busy all the i te up a sight o things to bring over aid mrs i felt t was the last i ould do for her they drew their chairs near the store again and took up their work sister bin s rocking chair as she rocked the brook sounded louder than it was lonely when nobody spoke and presently mrs returned to her thoughts of growing old yes aged all of a sudden i i asked her if felt as well as one day and she laughed at me good there when dan el begun to look id i could n t help feeling as if him and like as not t was m was goin to right over and i for it half of one summer how many things we shall be wanting la exclaimed ann ss s t after a long pause i can t make up my mind to without her i wish folks could come back just once and tell as how ti where gone seems then we could do without cm better the brook hurried on the wind blew about the now and the itself was a silent place and the supper the warm fire and an of any new for conversation made the sister closed her eyes first to them for a minute and	40
mm at her with a new sympathy for the hard worked little woman made up her mind to let ann a good rest while kept watch alone bat in a few minutes her own knitting dropped and she too fell asleep bead the pale shape of body of that generous simple soul slept on also ia its white perhaps stood near and saw her own life aad ill surroundings with new understanding fi she herself was the only later by some hours woke with a start there was a ol dawn um the lamp mn too i d ba tha first to t was just as well wa both had ha said not a guilty feeling her companion went to the outer door and opened it wide the air waa none too cold and the brook waa not nearly to loud at it had been in the midnight she tea tha of tha and tha great that lay the lower the east waa growing bright ba a beautiful day for tha the and turned again with a to follow mrs up the tha world more and more empty without tha kind face and ci i a village shop i madam in her later years sat at one of her front parlor windows the winter one day many years ago she was not there and missed greeting or tha nod of invitation with which was apt lo her intimate acquaintances one not help being uneasy at her absence sha was an older woman her years and a piece of her own frail china sha had seen much trouble but there was a heart as by the fl ti the si r i r i if m f lee i all s a village wm afternoon the two are sitting in an a together and suffering the first pangs of a great disappointment all knows tlie story of and the cheerful sacrifice of their own and that these hare been reckoned mm in their pride and joy at the interests of the only on and last hope of hb house and name perhaps if the good women had known the increased expense of a college as with the figures in ancient family account books they would courage for even thb darling project of their hearts but from the time rf the boy s there had been question of his being sent to the men had all been famous old the first of them in the colonies was mm oxford student his s w a new world enterprise and though grew as the last of his grand grew older the to the wh n ir be i a village they thought of s as if it wore a bank of distinctions and in which he had a noble account if he could not represent tho wealth of old for this in their poverty might have been most ho could at least the shade of his grandfather great or failing him there had well and devout hie own father had chosen this career and died young but already famous in the branches of the family tree plenty of ri fruit but it ap sometimes as if had d not from these but from some less worthy of sap some heedless al which had been quickly overlooked and ignored had yet left its and influence in the blood this young scholar was a very to look at you make up hat face from the of the family portraits a nose here an eye brow there a lock of waving brown hair from ms wistful eyed father in gown and bands he had not the spirit of the who was last of and il a only in sad and that hit later forced to if bad l i the often said to herself with a urging thrill of pride and daring if the had been the bow tlie work and win her way and not be the least of who had borne the name i but she waa only a woman and the were more than tbey used to be a of not lead public in directions she waa not a but fiercely at heart she bad denied herself that could be denied but treated her mother like a queen in and so with sinking and hopes tbey came at last to this day when a letter had arrived from to say that he had finally forsaken intention of hb profession general studies would more than fill time and he had conscientious scruples preaching the of the faith in he had been reared and trained and two women knew that there was to be thing as persuading him to change the had always ir by their power of ij i a ard had said i will not and hang back with all the stead with which his h u said will i and forward to their now the acknowledgment must be made that he had disappointed all hopes from the first from the day that miss with eager elder had through tlie list of hb and rejoiced to find a a a or a and planned for the of family and only to find her brother and even reluctant from the day when she sadly that saw the world through strange eyes and was indifferent to the ou home standards she bad been back inch by inch to ery of her opinions she only held to her own and the code all the more fiercely because there was a traitor on the throne something be allowed for the natural rebellion ol a young man to but the fact remained that was to honor careless ol tbe world s needs or in no and bird a to hare been in the f nest fortunately the already aged and fading mother was not forced to long in this world to the of her hopes and	40
make futile excuses for her boy by the time he came from his school with a collection of miscellaneous for which he must hare only second in severity to those which had kept him a student at all madam had but time to see him once or twice in her darkened room to whisper that she him her disappointment and respected his understood those but her death touched him deeply let us hope that he regretted his inability to win either gain or glory to at her feet nd saw at hut in one swift flash of light hit own and the burden he had let thia patient mother carry he was only de more silent by tlie loss and change in his home and there was a more barrier than set between him nd his sister she was the eldest ef a large family of children of whom all had died but and ami s a village shop t wm unequal not that of brother and t r who have life from near um angle he waa only too well aware of noble and loyalty and uncommon of mind of her good which to instead of with the march of years but be felt her generosity like a chain of steel and memory of her and her opinion his course burnt him like living p r he thought it wiser not to undertake career in which he foresaw perhaps it was simply that the and love of a book life bit whole he went away after his mother s funeral for ho bear neither the sight of the empty rooms nor the weight of hb s stately which only that sullen himself that lay beneath dot to be was stiu a and he meeting hu eyes she wm able to speak of him serenely to her and to acknowledge tion that he intended to lead the ufe of student henceforth and instead of to a s a b p she liked to nt the won a man of letter was a and had a right but knew the household beat their brains to know by what means it was to be sustained the y had to the of the om garden and a strip of wharf by the the fortune had been spent almost to the last in of the s welfare here he was in the old house with as much energy as a looking already close upon middle ge from im lack of physical activity the most man of letters in new with no apparent value either social or com a step farther and he would only became what the a minister a ers were enough of the old people twenty or thirty years ago to offer an acute attack of pain and when the news was whispered to and der the elms that miss a intended to keep a ladies shop the reason for it was so that a great of unkind comment flew the indignant town was an unusual from to house and some of miss s own friends were beard to say sorrowfully that it would be more than they bear to see her stand to them behind the counter her grandfather the judge s office her grand uncle s study her own father s and tho place that knew his hopes tho writing of his famous and and the burning of much oil what a degradation seemed to put the ou room to this new use besides this had il not been the counting room of the great be had kept the papers of those two too ships which had earned his for tune here he lived his long and noted and wind and weather time and as be pushed forward his bold through half a score of distant the small windows be look down the broad tide river which se s o its waters toward tho ocean and draw them back again a m a in deference to his fleet of and gun deep with their out bound or those were rich and days for but nobody had made any money since not only the merchant s own descendants but everybody else had on the remains of their ancient fortunes except for the yearly produce of the farms and a barely sufficient local system of petty commerce the farms the few large houses in the the high church itself had been paid for with money that had come in the ships bnt it is long since anybody had chosen tlie business of sailor there are only a few slippery old of oak timber left in the river and the fortunes have all away the gave a killing blow to the prosperity of and and foolish men and women and the wear of tame hare been the once ever since worst punishment fell upon the town s pride when no had the news been told of a certain mary giving np her business in wares than it was aim known that miss had made definite to become her miss a s like s miss had become reduced to the keeping of a shop the of social safety broken down and public opinion was ready to reproach tlie former owner of tlie business since it was vaguely believed that if mary had not planned to go westward to live with a married sister this would have been averted her good sense in making the was loudly there was a general feeling as if had somehow involved s ruin that she ought to have remained in her own lot aad place ul since we looked in at parlor windows many things have happened bnt there is no apparent difference in the room itself that madam has	40
gone away it is two weeks now since she died and they been two bitterly anxious weeks to the lonely daughter who has seen tiie small hours of nearly every night has wondered her future could be until her brain has been fairly and her eyes fixed wide in a that seemed to drain her very of its strength nobody know a ber sorrows now herself there was bo longer for them back lest some else might sorrow the more she had to keep cheerful for dow her mother died loyal the one maid servant was dim and dull of wits except in her own and she and miss their way together with little conscious thought of each other s hero was mr and yet she was taught by instinct to be silent about him before her younger mistress in the days when madam took joy in telling of his poor triumphs and that noble future apparently now more remote than had been a great resource to the boy s ther saw no reason why the most improbable might not come to pass the house seemed very much too large nowadays and it was a poor mockery when it was set in order as if for guests during the summer some of tlie were already but the old were and the long of its lier had shaped it with the and best wood and fabric of their day little need be spent on it for years to come was a and sorry life a s with the earlier abundance the luxury the company the busy maids and men of an earlier time when the need of getting into debt came now like a crouching tiger into s well trodden the was there a melancholy alternative but welcomed by her with all a s pride in independence and self respect it was indeed sad to think of shop keeping at her age and the of her family tree but it bo much to no shop to keep no way to look for from her poverty before the good people of had gasping and had half l tjie resources of friends and fitting which surely belonged to their leader the goods of mary had become those of and the small projecting room neat the sunny parlor which had been and study by turns thb room which opened to the street insulted by a stained wood counter and show cases with boxes of thread and needles and and e and all the minor wares that home keeping women need in their daily work of mending and making miss s shop i it r s s a right to say it could one ever mention its or to suggest better mary was a cheerful gossip and a bom had gone away contented with the of an ancient set diamond ring safely pinned into her pocket and yet miss had not ceased to be a lady because she bad to keep a shop as one woman after another ventured in to make a necessary purchase after the first awed week they found her more friendly and than ever she was ready to talk across the to take a bit of her prices when she heard a lofty hint of the article being too expensive she only listened with wistful eagerness when a story was told that a former resident of had given the old town a vast sum of money for a public library the day was almost over bat no of any new seemed to be in her generous heart in fact miss now first became really known to some of the people who had wished envy and conscious inferiority to lake out of her high they could not help being pleased with b bearing and her ao a m of her altered fortunes and so the enterprise of her later life began with the sympathy and of all who knew hit the familiar white red black boxes of ships papers that hail to rich old were still perched in line on a hi up shelf that the room all his had been proud to keep there ship ship ship how well miss knew the long row they were almost like that the ashes of ber ancestors during the second week after the shop was l mr came he had already sent some of his books aad dimly expected to find them neatly on the shelves now he brought more and as he drew near the old house he eagerness at the study windows as if there must be his true home henceforth he had already the of his with rare enthusiasm but he was aware of strange shapes aad colors behind small panes have let the room to a stranger he grew for a moment with s a then he was let us hope with regret when the trunks were earned into the wide hall and he stood what to do feeling for once the weak man be was from his lack of force and strange miss made her appearance she was singularly gentle toward him indeed was not she his protector and had not she solved the problem of their being clothed and fed and tlie sister and brother kissed each other with a softening remembrance of the mother who had them both and been patient with them and from that day forward the shop was discussed or in any way iv it sometimes appeared as if nature had destined i for a of learning he was absolutely without any thoughts or gifts he was from the beginning yet with appetite he devoured the wisdom and imagination that were stored between his book hm at last a perfectly a village u treasury of other people s knowledge like some lake that has no outlet yet there surely have an invisible of his to i to the lake s not speech for he grew silent and withdrew more	40
and more into as years went by miss was much the by her increased for intercourse with all sorts ami conditions of women but the brother seemed to have let bis individuality out to the dry pages of hia books as if tliey were a species of ous and in time to completely him he never asked hia sister for money but she spared him she was not that one cause of shop he looked at her very wistfully as be put the price of her self slowly into his pocket and vaguely up a feeble ghost of his purpose to more make things op to her by and by but his pockets clung together for very and some longed for pile of dusty was slipping out of his grasp with every hour he even found himself at the shining silver tea service of which ba and miss were the sole away in tbe useless a and he was quite ble of the whole of the plate in these of anguish and he was a book at last it was a mercy that he in for the vicinity of and ragged of on comer of the great towns would either have made him mad or a hardened against justice as tiie years slipped by he gained some little as a quite for he was too firmly into his position as idle and reader to exercise his powers of thought he was only a memory with no gift at combination and association an a very rag bag of true and worthless knowledge and the easy life which made no demands upon him seemed to bold no inspiration in any of lights or the library slowly grow the man himself really yet he was thought a much wiser and more person than the resolute and gentle sister who kept her petty shop as intently as that famous grandfather had managed his shipping she was glad to spend what energy she the business and tried to a t t that she was by nature a business woman yet she at first insisted upon the ou family custom of reading aloud and so upon sharing as much of her brother s evenings as possible sometimes she was but as a rule her own evening leisure was respected and the solitary lamp on the shop counter hinted that no errands except of necessity were expected or pi for h the brother was glad that their bad not lived to be wounded by the sound of the shop bell miss was rejoiced she had never been forced to surrender all hope of her son s gaining die but and good breeding kept a harmonious atmosphere in the ou house and on summer sundays when were strangers in the village neighbors still pointed out mr and as tho interesting figures is the congregation for a long time there was little is tlie quiet old but there came a day when everybody acknowledged that was waking up it has already been thai a large sum of money was left in for the of a library the a village old well endowed and along line of its earlier history seemed to take a now lease of life and as in days of the past a successful teacher drew round him the brightest boys and girls of the neighboring towns there were more and more people too who discovered the beauties of the wide river and its wooded banks and from tlie neighboring on the near by increasing numbers of summer came inland like birds of passage to linger for a while in the shade of the great elms the time honored repose of tlie village seemed permanently broken and not tlie least attractive figure was this stately miss who had achieved the dignity of self sacrifice in supporting her learned brother it was considered a true romance when the village people discovered this aspect of the through tlie help of others tbey were delightfully eager to upon the old time majesty of the and the low succession of its could only guess at the self denial which made it possible for the dear lady to do her part in giving for the good of or hale or to carry forward even in a s fashion the old time and of the house what gave gave and with that which lord him loves tlie bright young people were a great to dignified as tliey went flitting about the in gay gowns or lingered in her with sweet looks some found their way into the parlor and learned to know tlie rest of the fine old house and were even graciously en at tea to their hearts delight aad admiration more than one el the house s old acquaintances away to a glowing description of this fine in lier nobly equipped ling and the pathetic unworthy of her life the brother did not charm from the fact that he was seldom seen and was still in middle life with the manly beauty of the painted on the walls but as winter took the place of summer and these gay guests disappeared like the village seemed more familiar again and as if it had turned over for another nap the walls of the new library were rising miss liked to bear the of tlie and one day s a that she was growing old and was no to follow herself and in tbe house there was one comfort he had not gathered his books for nothing she would urge him to decide to leave them to the town by and bj when death him away for his sins to a world he herself had not been worthy tlie name of there was no reason why anybody should remember her but she had kept her generously and her honestly perhaps i had to be punished for my pride she thought at the wistful of a proud and hopeful	40
the elder ladies of were fond of saying to each other with gentle you know miss understands what ladies for i this was the gift of her then a delicate power of selecting linen or soft ribbons was there a trained capacity and force which some persons of less illustrious found without she was tbe chief literary authority of the town though it was acknowledged that her brother was mom for serious questioning tbe old fashioned book club had iu tbe shop and tbe talk and a best influence b resided under s in truth own little head dress it in yet alas were some new shops now in the new part of the town miss had a mere trifle of money for the rainy days of her fast approaching age and yet she had been careful and wise and self denying all the way she was almost proud of the overhead instead of being indignant with him she never reproached ber brother it would have broken her heart if be had gone to yes is a man of letters used to say with smiling indulgence one cannot expect business in him with all the rest she began to dream now of his making a proper marriage it was partly for this that she l ber summer tea parties that winter brought new was really and for the first tame in her life fell ill miss herself and had to tbe shop many days together and at last hired an young girl to tend it in ber in order to serve herself but was only enraged al and a um shop put into dire disorder miss was in real for a tame but after a the clouds blew and was left with a miserable fear of the repetition of such dark days several of her heat and most rained friends bad died time was fast her as a business woman what had she to look forward to but dependent poverty the sorrow that old age bring to a woman of her nature yet did not these anxieties he ate his breakfast and took his walk and made his accurate notes in a hand and his books and l his peaceful life sometimes he noticed that his sister had in outward looks but it never oo to him to ask the reason they walked into church on sunday with widely different feelings the woman s heart for help and for the second time driven to despair the man comfortable and ready to with the about the emphasis of a greek word or quotation from one of the early fathers miss climbed to the garret to at a of heavy ma a m chairs if worst came to worst she would write presently to a summer friend who had delicately suggested her ardent desire to buy such fine old not miss tiie chairs as they sat opposite each at tea time being also a silent sufferer for more books the tea urn winked and at first one and then the other as if of its solid worth it was secure is the belief that its owners were capable of starving before their empty plates than sell it to a stranger v one winter day a man driving slowly up the wide street under tlie branches of the elms for some time before there had been no other by and the people who sat at their windows looked out with mingled relief and curiosity at the small old fashioned and heavy slow stepping horse it was certainly very dull in in winter and in a cold clear day like this when the snow on the house roofs refused to melt as every one said b the eye of the sun there was little a several house women for new lo think about bed their the panes to tee where john grant ing he was a rich farmer from a home of his own two or three below on the river shore a years and well known in the o ie s up bj miss s said one observer i hope he s to her out i m sure time was all the farmer s folks used to with her but thej ve been off to vm stores down by the factory and she find it dreadful poor hard it but then she might make some ef keep up with the times and get some fancy wares is herself was sitting in her parlor trying to busy herself with mending there was little making to do year round she gladly saw john stop and fasten his horse then a w her eyes as she laid down and went toward the shop to meet there was no there for three ihe had done almost n b a she not waste the brief errands could be done in spite of the cold she would trust to the forbearance of her customers and she had just been almost herself that no one had yet appeared in mild weather the place of business could easily be warmed by the parlor but john grant might be chilled after his drive with ready hospitality she only waited until he bad knocked the last lump of snow off his sturdy boots and shut the shop door behind him before she asked him to come into the parlor to warm him the kindly heart of the man grew very sad as he looked at his hostess standing before her half empty shelves he hesitated a minute as if it might be kinder to the cold then he saw how thin and gray she looked for the quaint three shawl round her thin shoulders was not preventing one shiver after another he her somewhat into the room and bis speaking though he bowed with dignity as placed a chair for him the it was quite another in every r e t from that in the	40
s a b f hop while the eyes of the and the presence of a were trying at first to hb composure tliey quickly him in his secret purpose i called to see you on a little private business miss said good sensible john grant after they had considered the weather i am going to ask a great favor at your hands miss anxious at first then relieved the liked to grant better than to receive them and she felt strangely at the world s mercy in these days i shall be very glad if i can do anything to serve you she said simply i hope you will not think i mean to pi too far the plain man said with grave deference and almost courtesy entirely differ nt from his cheerful farmer s manner yoa know that i have only one girl at home she was the baby when her mother died a little child following me about hardly above my knee and i could n t seem to do without her for long at a time so i have n t taken the thought i should about her education till here she is a young woman she has taken she could get in our district aad she s a great hand for story books reads a everything she can get and i see all too plain that she shows some lack of woman s care i m well off to send her to some o the smart boarding schools but i can t seem to make up my mind to it some young fellow be picking her off this with a wise twinkle of his eye at miss but i mean to keep her while i can now there s this good teacher at the and all the chance she really needs if you could see your way to taking her and giving her a little good advice and letting her have the profit of seeing bow a lady like you herself i should be well more obliged to you than i ve got words to say there was a moment of silence before miss gave her answer the speaker grew a little anxious and feared that he had been as he first suggested there had long been cordial relations between the and the farm by the river it was hie s pride to tell bow the madam of her day brought gay parties la eat and cream and had done the gracious favor of showing all her own treasures of china to the admiring farmer s wife courtesy and mutual regard and there bad always s a mb of this of and yet the hop and the flood of and anxiety remained the had truly meant a kindness to miss as well as a favor to himself his pretty was good for any household miss from the half moon where she had been her sewing work in an fashion i should be very glad to have her come if you think she will be contented we are a sober pair my brother and i but m will be able to aid with her studies i will not try to conceal from you that it will be a great help to me i hare been anxious lately about but the sentence was never she has a sweet young face the father s heart was quickly touched he hardly have told why the simple affected him so much he had already noticed that the fire was made of chilly bits of the old trees which had been broken by winter winds and determined to send an honest load of his own rock wood for s benefit as well as the the of the ou s poverty and an empty cellar him warmly resolve to a sion it as for a siege all hb generous should work its will miss a grandfather the judge hail saved his own grandfather from ruin and he ought to have been seeing what he l for this poor lady in pinched it was l to come down from a delightful level of talk about s needs and prospects and u on paying a g od price for board in view of her rare advantages but at last when tlie interview ended john grant bought s entire stock of fine handkerchiefs by way of a gift for hb daughter it was such bleak weather in the shop that he tried to the process of sale by into hb deep but miss upon them with proper precision and their i on a bit of paper which she would have him with care her own fingers all too easily at the least could it be possible that miss went hungry now and then to make her scanty hold out the longer oh good grant you were aa angel that day in di guise of your worn fur cap and warn faded old coat with its big buttons i and miss sat in the winter sunshine and cried a old bells away again bearing now she had sorely seen day and things could bo i and trying again the twilight brother came unusually because his lamp lo and he had been obliged to lay work told mo that we had re but i could not send for any said i have a little money mr grant has been a good er do not see any objection j gave kind assurance after the new lad been detailed with not a little grant has a pretty face spring flower he added with i sentiment this elderly nobody suspected of knowing one from another in the old church ty alone was at the prospect re s do knowing what work she and will make through the the bent old woman grumbled i t was time to end this of i shop she added to herself later all have	40
pretty soon a village t f a nest of frozen an see if i don l hint round an spy if they ain t got some o them big apples at the farm dow that old madam used to be without they do make proper and vi mr stood behind a upper window one rainy april day himself in a fit of complete idleness hb sister him as a man but he had long since passed tho time when one could justly call him anything but middle aged there was a becoming lustre of looks against the original dark of his hair and bis was like a girl s in its freshness aod of any traces of exposure to wind and weather student life bad agreed with hb of body as well as mind lie smiled placidly as he looked out across the trees aod noted the hour on the of the academy in the might be reminded of their ancestors for the needs of and state had always g a of been liberally ts long as there any money to give judge had endowed the ancient parish and had the dock itself to which his great now listened as it three it seemed a fitting return of on the part of the family that a poor boy who had grown rich in tlie western should have chosen a public library aa his monument as a town was especially dependent upon literature but when the last of the to be m scholar public notice was naturally taken off it and the old time would now bo returned but the last of tlie the question no definite thought as he cast a glance at the new library s tool and contemptuously reminded himself that there would probably never be a of books under it which would afford him much interest trivial modem volumes of transient worth were all that his might be expected to select it not naturally occur to this learned that his own duty in the direction wise and devoted interest to him he affairs of life or any sense of obligation were as foreign as the a m op problems of to a blind man through the recent struggles of his own family life through years and years while miss l crept painfully along the narrow between want and tolerable he had been as unconscious of her and anxieties as if he bad been an indian brave whose round existed for nothing but to carry poles on her back and to provide their food yet he was con owe of much tenderness of heart and proper in in the human race his world a book world not with material shapes while he stood at the window one help being struck by the neatness and ness of his attire for the clothes be wore s pr d a who belonged to aa earlier generation he might have been the despair of a fashionable tailor with thai process of his garments to tlie f date spirit there was an of old leather books his when he stood meekly ia the or drifted with the toward the of on town days as one about the room which his back s a termed thai cloudy af it presented a appearance and it was impossible act to be reminded of certain fish whose with age no wonder that a suggestion of brown leather followed him in his rare into the outer for here there were hundreds in crowded lines piled in small against the walls and in sliding here and there on the floor himself could find his way among in the dark like a soft eat the noise of a fallen book was the that roused his anger there was apparent danger for a stray visitor as if in time this floor and walls of experienced volumes would suddenly close in and the room s the was furnished with a wooden draped with faded blue and of books for which there was other been away on m top neat tlie ceiling the of reaching them at such an was by hi r mahogany posts it i fancy the dig d i i a s carefully down to the floor after a season of reference and of hb celestial authors a eye might have noticed one dis work had slip out from its pile on tlie tc until it seemed to be just holding itself back until it could drop upon mr s head just as be intended to retire for the night waa truly something evil in tlie way it bravely held its dangerous weight hi h in air or risked the possibility of the scholar at the window leaned against the as if something attracted his attention were quick to look over his shoulder have a glimpse of a young girl went with flitting step along the the old fence was unfortunately of solid and was far from being even after many years of necessary wear and growing at the top it was in points and the girlish face moved quickly past in full view the drew back into tlie of the window but his face bad bright as he went back to his seal hem the table held his writing s a village shop a village shop t it was impossible to resist the suspicion that this was not the first time that he had seen grant on her way home from her afternoon lessons at the academy a few moments later there was heard the familiar groaning of the old front door and the noise of its decided closing mr half rose from his wooden arm chair which was made altogether of serviceable slender then he sank back again with an almost look upon his face he waited listening intently but he was not gratified by the sound of approaching footsteps it seemed as if the mist which had followed an	40
earlier were making the old bedroom library almost too dark and dismal to l e borne and he on the table with his familiar miss greeted her young with a cordial smile of welcome as she came in rosy and smiling from the street was very much of a little lady and with the help of numerous visits to the farm had managed to be perfectly happy in the imposing house she inquired now whether her father had made his appearance while she had been at school and heard that nothing had been seen of him with hardly a shade of disappointment i told him to stop for me if ho came over thb afternoon she explained but i don t believe he cares about bringing me kick so early in the morning in tliis rainy she was kneeling on the window and looking eagerly up and down tlie street you must go and take off your damp advise l miss quietly i don t want to send you with a cold but healthy country girl only laughed and made no other reply wliat do the school girls want with so much of that narrow asked the elder woman timidly for had fallen into a deep as she still knelt in the window oh it s a notion about a kind of stiff little they it together in pointed patterns i m sure i never should have patience to do it why have they been here for some asked tho young with eager interest for she had already learned to share in the that followed a day of good yes they came like a flock of an hour or two ago answered miss happened to have a box full of f a narrow put aside of the very best quality too and they upon them gladly i think i have had those little ever since i kept the shop at all she added by way of dear dear i how many years it has now yet i somehow always think of it as a new thing and the bell always me a little i suppose it has been a good deal of company to you replied with a in her tone that implied her intention of changing the subject i m so confused about my mental philosophy miss she announced with sudden bravery i wonder if mr would explain it a little perhaps you would do as well to wail until the evening now the mistress an respectfully he never likes to be interrupted i must study my latin then said the girl with something like a he always says that i may come up at any time and if he is too busy he will say so i don t see any sense in mental philosophy any way i like things that belong to out of doors i dare say you are right about asking um now said miss after a mo a ment s pause her brother s learned of the philosophy the evening before in that pleasant parlor had been to her very dull and but she was only a plain woman whose choice of reading ranged through the level of fiction rather than among the of tlie philosophers the young girl gathered her books with alacrity and went up the wide hall staircase there was one step that announced her coming by a peculiar creaking and when heard it he fairly ran to open door miss was possessed by an unusual spirit of when she was again alone life had been so much easier for them all since grant became a member of the household they all seemed by her fresh young life she was a child surely and had been so considerate about making extra trouble and forcing her own companions and personal concerns into undue it was good for to have this new interest to draw him away from his books ha really had seemed in excellent spirits of aad lost the elderly look that be had a village to what an advantage his u to that girl who knows nothing of the world i thought the admiring sister as site down the edges of a had really for once noticed that he a new article of and had even a slight change in the old collar pattern dear miss where were woman s wits i in spite of and from his s ideal of the last of the she still looked forward to some less and less possible change in one of the great wood packing lay a silk gown of which the folds grew cr and the texture more limp year by year but miss touched it tenderly every spring and fall in her careful housekeeping as if the day might still come when would deck himself in the garment but the gown had long ago been too narrow for his plump back it was cut for a dutiful sometimes miss folded her hands in her lap and looked at her brother with wonder at his vast she tried to make it real to herself that be a village read greek and hebrew and waa way wise in the by of ancient history she was blessed with the gift of reverence was miss like many another woman of her generation she have found it if have his feeble muscles enough to drive a nail straight or with a screw but she never him and learned to use a hammer herself instead with grant s veneration for the scholar her own pride pleasure afresh she was to have her brother get a glimpse of fresh it was in every way desirable to give him a little change from his books and pen it was that mr himself was by no means averse to i he became able and a good deal of the of countenance and of motion which were the result of a good and dangerous of	40
aa the spring days grew and and the snow and the early and dear in her ao s s a to take a walk after tea down the river road she wanted to talk about her she said and she hated to be shut up in the house all the time now that the pleasant weather had it was such tiresome work studying but she liked to hare people tell her things that one ought to know and mr her invitation and took a walking stick from behind the hall door smiling all the time at s girlish opinions of life somebody the shop door bell impatiently for the second time and her feet about on the dean floor and miss obeyed the summons as if she were in a dream she had watched the two depart up the street under the elms with a strange feeling of as if the air she breathed there at the par lor window held a kind of dull she was vaguely afraid that poor little might grow over fond of her stately companion but tlie fear was driven away during an interview with a customer would gravely any silly feeling that a young girl might have miss smiled for herself she d would as soon fall in love with her s great dictionary as with himself with all his worth he was not her idea of a lover and tiie dear soul as if she were as young at heart as herself besides the as high as the moon over tlie head of society in general and did not even belong to society dear fresh faced little girl the shop bell again and again all feminine seemed to be in need ol pins and needles one or two of the women who lived along the street said that they had seen miss s brother go by a little while before but responded with very little interest as she counted out change or buttons for her curious customers at tliat moment the scholar and his young admirer were strolling in the beside a long row of made shadowy by the twilight i get into a hurry for the to come at thb time of the year said the girl to my thought there aa no flower so sweet as n youthful face said mr you have a spring in onr quiet lives and as bright as any rose of the jt lor which she was waiting t a a of eager all the shadow and ghosts from the in that bright may weather the girls of the flitted in and of the doorway at first awed by the atmosphere of and fading grandeur o foreign to their more modem was popular among her and had a way of asking them to the farm by and to spend the and holidays of term time they felt much more at their ease in such surroundings and secretly admired their hostess because she was so completely and at home with severe miss and her brother miss was patient and in her place of business but it was quite another matter when she rose to you in her parlor witli that grand manner and simple welcome the old house was always pleasant in the spring and its mistress now found herself unusually and hopeful she hardly dared to look forward to the time when her young must disappear not only with her gay young train but with her generous to the slender of the house keeping there was a delightful a s of the past in all the with the farm john grant himself had been reared in all the ancient spirit of respect and even for the and ceased to show it or to acknowledge miss s kindness and to but he had a great respect for the too and looked npon them ae people who never need be ashamed of selves or their forefathers in any company being who paid their debts and did their duty in the to which it had pleased god to call them and john the rich and honest of was as proud of his pretty girl as if she were a he gave himself great credit for having hit on the best of all plane for bringing her social gain and ia her year at school he was as fond of the old place as any man be of home and hated the thought of i for a night but in the early the were under cover he meant to a journey to new york perhaps to washington and mount thai of every once he was for a possessed of a gk thought that it s a b to to d of party but bis good judgment tbat would bo taking a social liberty witb of kindness miss would be sure to instantly decline it was not john grant s to ask tbat must be refused but be was none tbe less loyal to tbe first lady of vii spring came to like an young guest into a dull and surprises tbe witb a and laughing with a litter of fresh flowers and all about the bare rooms herself might bare in ad tbe welcome change of and nobody greeted the of spring with more joy than the young girl went singing up and down the and brought in and until miss seriously announced thai there was no longer an empty or flower glass in the new england people are a village hop t tbat they may not have another snow storm until a certain day of when the sun and the dry ground settles itself with a determination not to be mistaken this day usually early in may and gives evidence thai winter is fairly gone it is not a day one can comfortably exert one s self it is too much like summer only j tlie east wind may have been full of but now	40
miss and were busy in the upper art of suffering more or less from the heat and from the cares of spring tlie fragrant air was the rooms even mr had his window a little way and propped it by a too thin book that was slowly bending together under tbe of the heavy the beat did not end witb the close of day but a summer like evening followed lighted by a full moon everybody was out of doors and though miss was tired after her busy she was kept in tbe shop until long after eight tbe academy girls were weaving a fine romance her of late and liked to come to buy her wares in june would ba s a the great day and their were already more concerned about their white gowns and their outward than about the improvement of their minds they hushed their chat ter and put on a more and manner as they came into miss s presence but they smiled at each other and understood a great many things without speech the elder and the gay girls miss was very glad when her were all collected the long street was empty at lost and silent the young people had all gone home and when tlie last neighbor had disappeared it was a great satisfaction to step from behind uie counter and close the shop door and put the strong cross bar in the when the light was out and the two or three chairs were pushed back against the wall miss gave a deep sigh and thought that she would just look at the evening pa er and then go to bed she was really very tired almost always when there was a busy evening took pleasure in coming in to help her to be their nearest approach to a had followed a gentle a s that the parlor not the shop was the for to receive and entertain her friends and been a subsequent day or two of cloudy weather the shop was much loss demanding in a social way the rest of house one must but was busy witli her lessons and quite solemn and cheerful by turns about the approaching end of her school life mr was obliged to render a vast deal of assistance either was stupid with her book or he was beginning to his time miss felt a sense of uneasiness as into the parlor there was no light there yet though it was so in the evening and she stumbled against a strayed the glass door that led into the old was wide open somebody had taken the trouble to force back the heavy inner that was always drawn across the lower part of it in cold weather miss went to the door ill and looked out it was in the girl to behave as if were already here she take the there was wonderful beauty in the and a young m the herself yielded to the the air was oft and warm was a caressing sweetness in the fragrance of the old trees which were standing like white ghosts of themselves all in full bloom in the moonlight the box was sending up iu heavy quaint the lines of its winter faded straight down the old where the mistress of the house had walked to and fro on many nights like this stepped outside the house and stood under the first t michael s tree and drew a long breath close to iu lowest branch how the old things keep on blooming i she thought with a rush of feeling at the of her own faded youth two figures leaning close together came out of the shadows beyond a high thicket miss s heart stood still they were lovers they were whispering to each other and the man held uie woman to his heart and kissed her and grant i the moonlight made them look the same age s late was in full glory of and delight what does mean cried a in a voice that seemed strange to her own oars you must go in at once i are you beside yourself somebody dearer than myself answered with a famous burst of sentiment and you must be first to know how happy i am but miss turned away and followed into the house with stately s had and the sister for her brother to come in it seemed as if they see tlie indignant eyes of the family portraits through the dark go to your room i am tired out i leave you to think what you been doing in your must leave us at said miss la the same hard voice and the us meekly obeyed seemed use in tlie doors of the old house now its pride and honor had fallen but the mistress went her nightly round and was careful to follow all her time honored customs of care taking b fore she wearily climbed the stairs in three rooms that night were three awake and persons cried s j b p bitterly for a half hour at the ending of her new joy in the moonlight still and pale at if she were made of wood mr fell long before the first hour of the was past but he was enough alive to the gravity of the occasion not to go to bed he sat in the study chair by the it might have been that the volume on his bed s could not refrain from letting itself be the instrument of capital punishment it seemed very late in the night when the scholar was roused from pleasant dreams by a rap at his door ik ho could fairly open his eyes miss entered the last end of her candle in a tall silver and she placed this on the table and stood looking at him while he his	40
eyes and tried to remember what was the matter and then to appear heroic on the whole it was a gratification to find that be was disturbed enough not to go to bed but his sister sufficiently to say that be might as well have been there it was very foolish to run the risk of getting at his age we are only as old as our hearts are a village said still looking upon himself as the lover but his voice sounded like that of a boy be still i cried the over wrought woman her own life cried out suddenly fired as it was by a jealousy that was hard to bear she saw her brother at last without the least of sentiment no hope was there any longer of or pulpit she had her pride and starved and forbidden the hopes of her own life for this i thought that we must talk about as soon as possible she said presently in a stumbling weak way i as if we have broken tlie trust of having her here and john grant will be free to blame ne both said the leaving his chair somewhat y i am engaged to marry bis daughter i do not see why think our k each so the dim and herself by the we put all that by what right have you la ask that young girl to marry have you to give her are you going to a john grant support yon he is right minded man and you have not a cent unless i give it you we have been nearer in our lives than you have ever known it would not be like you to think what john grant will say i shall stand before him as an honest man and a gentleman i wish you would go to bed and let things take their course we are no poorer than we ever have been i wonder that loves me but she does and she loves you i have some work very valuable and tliat sort of thing which i mean to prepare for publication there may be duties in connection with the academy murmured mr with some confidence there is the shop replied his sister looking gray and old i have very few dollars laid aside after all these years you must go to john grant s to live she said savagely as if she meant it for a no doubt he will remember that you are a it would be too far from the post office said the placid literal man taking a step or two toward the door which was slowly open released as if for a s entrance a by its worn and then and shivering with the room without another word she was powerless with all her clever energy and loyal before this creature of indolent drifting and ah well she had often tortured her self in past years by wondering what would become of him if she died first his was secure now even would take hie part and rejoice in the thai would make permanent the trees opened their au night the and likes and swelled their and showed fresh tips of green by morning there were and at work in the and singing high b the elms all along the street it was a terrible ordeal for the three members of the family to meet each al time but high tragedy is by daylight however suitable it may appear at night grant k fright ned and heavy eyed and a little s a a s thin and old bat appealing with that won um young girl a heart au again the looked and appeared exactly a mid and held oat her hand to the girl i hare been very much grieved and worried but i do not mean to be unkind you are young a great deal younger than my brother ad me and yon must not think of any more until your father ha heard of it my brother wiu talk with him aa aa and you be reasonable j there are w many which make me think it would be and then the good woman turned to the and tried to behave aa if nothing had it was not a which waa afterward remembered as having been cheerful or bat it was brief and things were at least made no worse helped miss wash the china and silver afterward she noticed curiously for the first the handsome that was engraved oo the and looked ap to find her s eyes fixed upon her with the crest did not mean ao to as one might or wished and was not in the connected with her simple how b heart was aching i she had never been ashamed before as she was ashamed now the were to be john grant s unless he was sensible enough to east them off and accuse them of lack of care for his daughter and her best interests alas alas i if would go to school it would be more possible to think what should be done but it was a long hour from eight to nine and not even go to his and take himself out of the way if miss had understood that the ers were hoping to have a few words alone together i do not that she was in a frame of mind to have granted the there came a loud knock at the door just as ij was coming down with her school books she looked when she saw her father and was startled into a fear that miss had already summoned him and that aw was lo be served upon her love but the other of the town were with him and she waited on the stairs while they solemnly i a bo of a	40
tt deposited their on the straight mahogany chair by the parlor door and die appeared then she flew out to school without a greeting to her father who started to call her back and then remembered the important business in hand we have come to see your brother on business this morning said the turning to miss though the brother was also in the you are acquainted with the fact that the selection of a for the new library built under our together with that of the committee rests in our hands we hare said nothing of the time of decision for fear that outside influence would be brought to bear wo don t feel as if we had any right to pass by such a distinguished lover of learning and a member of our most noted family and now request mr to consider and accept there will be work in selecting the books and getting the thing going said the from the effort of his previously composed speech and beginning to grow red in the face and damp as to his skin but i can tell you there s money enough to pay the bills and for clerk hire loo if be wants it tbe regular salary al besides expenses will be a thousand dollars a year and her brother at each other he at least was triumphant i accept this mark of with profound thanks said bowing handsomely to the i shall feel that my long years of study have been in the providence of god a special training for the miss was dizzy and she bade the good morning for they were in haste with morning calls at that season of tbe year being busy farmers new ushered them out with great politeness and the hall door gently then he stopped a moment to reflect and presently hurried back on with a smile miss still stood where be had left her i am very glad and proud she said with effort and the great man was a little chilled he answered as if m had something to forgive her i have al ways had confidence that tbe would come when i should be able to repay your kindness yoa must be done with tbe shop now we s a mud the b of her heart felt curiously light at that moment the shop and miss went in at a to wait upon an r french of to hare strayed away from its companions and lost itself in the interminable wilderness that lies between the of the eastern states and the st country for many years the was self and the nearest town too far to be of consequence a an castle frenchman who took the trouble lo his own eh u except to taste the joys of paris had sent out a colony to this new possession but it away and did not flourish the was proved a cheat at last and the old count shrugged his shoulders smiled and resigned himself some of the disappointed the trail to the great but a few re they had their gardens and their pigs and chickens life might be far elsewhere the bj and bj with long the old timber made rich other men than bit while flourished for a with new prosperity the rough road which the great log were hauled to a distant stream a permanent and now and then a stranger and the sent a to teach and pray among these neglected children and a sharp spire in glistening of tin rose the later growth of and ma that had hastened to the great of the pines the first log huts were one by one replaced by the houses of shape and which one may see in in in a hundred other of the french this was a small town this but it itself more than was necessary in later years the hereditary owners of the petty estates were apt to look with suspicion upon any new and when it was that a man called joseph from the neighborhood of had the house and land with a of forest there was a bitter of proceed i mire who kept the shop in her front room was particularly angry thou ch one would hare her ready to welcome a new customer some crime has forced him to abandon his she exclaimed and glared round upon the startled company but joseph himself a good fellow enough quickly the neighborhood especially as he died of fever within a year or two af ter his appearance in his funeral was a satisfactory one but mire had already drawn down upon her self the dislike of her associates she was pr ud and independent a who cared only to grow rich and when she went by the with her baby in her arms she no compassion for she asked none and all were on the the that old had not in a good bargain with widow for her was not lost sight of for had not stranger the of aa under her e at last there was another change one day the with their and and take time to fairly the new railroad was ly northward through the and ki now the piece of waste li would not tell to was sold to the an excellent price it was all a of luck but the indignant chorus of shop could not such an out as time went on ed to repay her for her her child made an unfortunate match with though it was well known that i meant to buy the a rich ud then she was presently an orphan and the chorus and sing their satisfaction ok a character to keep its own with almost an aspect of serenity there do light task in facing the dislike and of one s though as i grew richer and if the truth be	40
tou and more powerful bj year her neighbors were civil enough it and the worst ben they might have said in r behind her back she had lied all her energies to i one for her daughter the mistaken liad disregarded this provision had her mother s wishes and had enough god knows i now po s in life was the ordering of the little and when by and by she was settled in life the by might say what they this noble worldly ambition made mire to early and late and to toil and save she would put her where all the her a career of pride and happiness should be put into little s future the neighbors wore apt to look at little the as she went by their with quick li footsteps she was of race at any father was a young engineer from the states who had this old s handsome daughter and they had held their too high the fools i and shaken the dust of the little off their feet ii was ihe way of the one april day their ribbons were flying and they together and never cared to behind them at ou the ind the lend it to the widow that bar was dead presently the young engineer broken nod spent by and and bard came creeping back with a cough and a white scared ace and an baby to the cottage old blessed herself and waved her hands in dismay she rolled her eyes and and became eloquent in sentences which her son in law did not try to for himself then she to her garret and came down with the dusty cradle the wailing was and tumbled and smothered in seemed to have been waiting for it and the fire in the square stove was though the sun shone in the young less often for a hour sank into an chair at the chimney and hid his face in his hands and silently the little house had seemed as full of as a scene at a play the year be he had not concerned himself with the of the of they only the stage crowd that id in while the hero and heroine suffer real pains and true jo s just behind tlie now the sentiment and tiie had faded out entirely the of his life liad aud been by the of it was late hero in old s plain house she was a stout old french and at he had from the rail i ay tired to death with his long journey and finding even the baby a heavy burden he had not been blind or deaf to the and curious which were ready for him at almost every house he had once been a hero in his petty fashion the men of the village had been obliged to obey him for a short three months he had the women all except the pretty creature who had become his wife whether he had regretted his marriage nobody would ever know it was a dangerous experiment to carry her among young whose training and bad been of a better sort but now there nothing sweeter or to think of than the days when they hail been deep in love poor i her grave left alone in an western he not see even thai i f again and now that he had in dr begged and borrowed way ing little to her grandmother he the great of death would be plain to him the few men remembered him on this new railroad tory kind and for a few hours to a semblance of former on and relationship had brought back king of hb old good and he the of the which had been done since he went and it with an acquaintance nm now an official of the company and to the at w a kind hearted woman had helped take care of the baby he had seen fill with tears at hb it the night before but he not cry himself he had i al the little of the baby s for a half hour at a time he well the tune hb wife had sung as wed it on and held and shaped it with months ago it seemed like already though the baby s ufe linked that time to this sm the fire in the the little child was sound asleep in the great die old the grandmother stepped heavily to and fro and now and then put a bowl or a plate on the kitchen table she muttered something about her poor little one and her hands and seemed to consider the question of prayer but gave a glance at the poor son in law instead and went on her slow rounds about the room he noticed that she looked ten years older than she had the year before but it hardly surprised him all the rest of the world was so changed and he k al the plump bed in the comer and to lie there and hb weariness in sleep he and had run away to be married her mother not hear to the because this be n aw was not a he up at the mantel shelf r us own that tou the stem the house of her s death di beside the brass and the little of t had been by the after au was il not to have a sea b the next house and um beyond neighbors were talking and watching turns the door which the had i entered it is well that po te has made the round of the blessed of the cross morning these years said the fierce who sat ber little shop across the way tbe ti warned her she will be poor indeed incapable without their help to bring a infant of no gifts a perfectly my friends and she looked	40
one to while a her eyes and groaned loudly it a great while since anything so had happened in he has been robbed of his haughty continued the first speaker a d pride indeed but an rf return to an insulted house he will loss now to good who has indeed a safe but da nothing for fine clothes threw them at his face said sharply she had reason i treated he now has hie she had an appearance a and the her she had not the look of a child whom one may believe either good or beautiful and al her acquaintances for this was too far l was known to the to be a thief and a liar and she feigned not to notice a smile ef while she took her basket of potatoes and went her way she had her at the moment she cl d the door and began to a re beckoned and called her eagerly from across the way the audience within the little shop watched her from the window with eyes was one her own secrets she never had one ef the chosen company of bat this most be a dire em er for presently without her basket somebody must go for father david the son in law had a few moments before slipped from his chair and become a dead of the floor had borne him lo the bed who whether he might be dead already e her fool and her m if her were nothing bnt while one hurried to find hie the rest followed her to the kitchen in few hours more the excitement over end night had fallen the young man s was and white and his body was lying at its slender length thin and forsaken of the poor warmth that life had lately kept was sitting by his side rocking to and fro and keeping watch by herself she had lighted some sacred candles which she had been and they were burning at the s head in the brass sticks the priest had in time f k god i the despised son in had opened his eyes and looked around bewildered for n moment he had assented to and welcomed the offices of the church they must hare been to him a hut and only against the evils that might be waiting for him and his the baby was too the father had already whispered with an appealing look that she was i te in the night a moon rose solemnly the line of the and at the few with their hi she shone into the eastern windows all along the row the whole flat country was lying shadow this faded moon at last looked into one window that was apart from the rest as if she had an errand there l was old and tired she would have no bnt she had ceased her prayers and fallen and the dead man s face wore a look of peace the candles were almost burnt out the poor baby cried sometimes in a faint way and the moon hid herself under the edge of n great il out of thb of sorrow and misfortune like a plant that best in a hard cold soil grew little her childhood was not a pleasant one in its sur indeed a less nature would have been by the narrow life and lack of sympathy was a selfish parish in spite of the lovely of the old priest father who worn out with his to a stolid flock at length lay down his body to rest in the burying ground while his j went to its own inheritance the new priest bad come to the parish half it was a poor cure and his house and church were plain and they give him no of worldly pride and power the new part of the village grew steadily over at the other side of the railroad there were repair shops and applies of wood for tlie trains and in that quarter expanded itself the new were a somewhat lawless set and distinct from the old the little priest was not man enough to control them or to lift them up in the arms of his faith he moved about among them conscious of the dignity of the church bland and double but an creature in the main who wished things were better but also wished other people to take the of making them so s house was still the last one at that end of the row she owned a good bit of land just beyond it and if you that you came to a swamp the house stood a good deal higher and overlooked the wide country that away lo hm westward behind it was all the and the low ridge there was also a grand view of the railroad that carried idle people to and fro on the of the earth to s mind the railroad was quite unnecessary except for carrying her wares and her neighbors to the as for the passengers they seemed the same who went to and fro in the ing trains for some foolish she never went into a car herself the saints defend it no i she had duties in life and a with a piece of land far too large for an old woman to till and be side there was the who grew like a young fowl with an and impossible ap into the bargain the mother had been no care at a l she had seemed to take care of herself entirely when one compared her with this one who was a terrible child of desires and au s against the young people had long ago it was fate that had been hard upon her not they and the good had taken them lo poor old had a for them in the bleak	40
of a winter morning and had appeased her hj the number of masses she had father david and father o mj for the good of such innocent yet ae she leaned on the heavy to take a minute s rest as she worked among the old adam in her nature got the better of pious views of her affliction and she grumbled to herself about that foolish infant that ungrateful child daughter or that worthless her son in law but she wooden crosses in good order in the arch yard and their memories came lo her like pale ghosts beside the actual and constant demands of her was made up of and the old peasant woman was more and more distressed and gratified by them day by day she was glad to have the neighbors see that her was better than theirs in fact she had always a social advantage in corresponding to her residence on the highest point of the ridge she overlooked and and in more ways than one but she was exasperated all the same by little s and differences from her own standard the child was devoted to going she cried when she was very young to go with her grandmother to mass and her eyes grew large and her face grew grave when she sat or knelt before the altar and at its poor of and and the of faded flowers and work that were arranged upon a smaller altar at the side poor child it was not because she was with this cheap splendor but rather that she caught the hint ii gave of better that she liked to be in she gave it no thought as a bird sings in a cage and praises the bit of sunshine at the garret window when it has never in all its life spread wings to the current of a great wind or gone swiftly through the bright air to a nest the a nd m ot h er who knew the human nature of the and women of her urn existence who tell al once the value of a sheep or even a horse and the of a pig who was shrewd at and at who knew when the was lied to or when her dearest friend cheated her at a bargain ou who was to the priest or at her who thought herself entirely acquainted with things of this world and of a high seat in heaven beside this same old was baffled at last and confessed herself unable to understand her the only thing to be said was that the less was made of different stuff sometimes it seemed to the priest who knew the story of the child s only through the medium of the villagers that the vigor of the young father and mother had been transferred to little that their lives had been checked nod to this one he was given to a little was father the priest and he felt a great lack of excitement of tlie best sort in sometimes he told himself that he would see to it that little had she should go to the ci the sacred heart she might surely have a year or two first with the good gray she must not be left to her own devices m thb hole of a place nobody seemed to know much of the child s father he had old mire that he had neither brothers nor sisters but father soon discovered that the good woman did not like to he questioned about her son in aw she had felt a certain contempt for him because be came from the states besides it was indeed a monstrous cowardice tliat he should have died so miserably and so yoimg and have made neither place nor fortune for himself in the world waited for my consent old assured herself i not properly hold out always against them if he had been a good man he was a perfectly stupid pig not to make sure of the wardrobe and bo might have been certain i would give to what was my wealth for if not for my one daughter she would sadly pulling hard and fast at the weeds hot now it would not be long before young the little would be finding self a man if all the of heaven would aid at least should have a respectable wedding before the high altar and should drive with her ml b and the wedding as far the country as the season would allow old ma don was herself reared in and her bard brown face grew and tender for one moment as she thought of the train of ca that followed her on her the tall the shouts of tlie the l soldiers who stopped in the narrow streets to see them pass the miles of houses and the tall of the road the thought of it all came back with a greater glory year by year we was a good man to me from that day the widow to herself be might hare done better than to bring me to this rat and leave me here but it was a good bit of land and of an enormous and be knew that well if the lord had pleased to let os remain together and work in the same world and watch each other grow old like the rest of the neighbors i it was best so if be have one of us a woman can on the land but a man is a in bis joseph and mary aid me with these innocent that they may bold their heads the lord send us for poor bones will fail me to bring water to the crops a day and to bless herself as she knelt at her work little was of no great use in tlie garden and she was frequently	40
because she had not been a instead of a she was apt not to be very in the house but it was not for lack of power or of site was idle and and liked the fresh air and the sunshine she was food of the priest s housekeeper of an afternoon and sometimes father himself beckoned her into bis own parlor and gave her of sugar or well dried from the drawer of his writing table she had her mother s beauty and ber father s ways but when she was in pain or ber grand mother her little grew pale ami pinched and looked as ber father did that night be came back defeated and dying to old m was particularly when she this painful surprising and began to talk about ber own sorrows in a pe tone thai sent the girl from the to seek elsewhere for i iv is where the days dragged ao the years had a way of vanishing old had never getting her establishment quite to after the intrusion of the young r and hb baby she had made up that certain changes and be necessary and she was an person as everybody suddenly one became aware that anon was grown up and that there of a lover she was not old nor wise enough to think of such but elderly people always say that of s if they themselves had waited for until the year before unexpected in her choice her other was so conscious of her mass of strange rich and foreigners who belonged that she had vaguely looked to the appearance of a hero who claim s idle hand a man r who had wealth and power and aid bo a son in law indeed i bat om spring night the silly girl had come home later than usual softly and chattering like a swallow with young charles of whom no one could say anything good a terror to the a rebel at home and abroad a youth who liked nothing but leading his dog b the world or about the railroad station to see the roaring engines and the strangers s indeed i and s was promptly by a vigorous box of her pretty ears as soon as she had entered the house these beans the ou woman am i to die of toil f you would starve like the beasts if i were not o earn the bread for your foolish and in that moment a fierce in s heart for the bid whistle could even then be as if be were waiting longing o defend her in her that the crops were bad and all canada was poor and the lumber yards were i the rain spoiled the grain the were in and was to be sent to them in the gulf ones in a while some enter family gone to the and indefinite of their prosperity had back along the straight shining lines of the railroad but soon it became a common and the old women in their and saw the neighbors go proudly away to seek their fortunes the older was more it is all one here or there she said to the priest s housekeeper the good for nothing expect to and a country where go to the and cook and a fall from the trees she the paltry possessions of the with pity and wished their owners good luck with compassion i am one who remains behind she said stiffly and shook her head until her flat black hat shuddered from a sense of its the autumn shut down dark and rainy few days some sisters of mercy or of charity in their quaint out garb went flitting from house to of the settlement begging for the lore of mary and of for some u ff or for the church remote were in danger of ine it was the worst ever known and in spite of reports that work was to find in the states the trains were fuller than ever of was any great distress in common with most of the railway but some of its inhabitants thought they were miserable because other people were and at best life was too rich nor too comfortable in western states there were whole farms away in the e ut there were mills the could earn great wages the little place was in a the quiet been so excited and restless tlie old women they were some persons for going and others for staying father laid dot n his mass books and tried to calm his people but those who his spoke often of the presence of father and openly reminded each other of his to the parish the fiery french began to show itself and were divided against the gloomy weather continued the winter drew near little and old went separate for the was and not listen to her mother s objections and commands he and charles each other and were only wondering how could manage to marry he also was an orphan and the aunt with whom he had was but a poor woman and lately had gone away with her thin children to the states of late years he had helped to support the household for he earned a bit of am now and then but now he was growing older and he would work his fingers to the bones for if there were anything to do he was full of hope he would have gone away long ago if it had not been for the grandmother had talked a great deal in these last days about sending her to school at a in and the young girl knew what it meant she knew too that while else was poor were loose bricks in their chimney that shining money sometimes she wondered if it would be wrong to steal some of it to to charles so that be might go	40
way to make a home where they could together father had liked young the lad s shrewd eyes had seen than was necessary aod lately p c had stayed away from mass as for the housekeeper she was on s and her s side and sometimes when the priest sat with her grandmother slipped to the great and took in confiding her dear secrets to so kind a friend as old s little room was like a s with its bare boards and its worn and pictures of suffering saints the good soul had once cherished a that she had a and told father tiiat she must join a of great benevolence but the priest bad persuaded himself and her that she was wrong he could not imagine where he should supply her place sorely this also was a and was a most careful cook life in must not become any more difficult but in the face of at home and distress abroad the people fairly their contentment and happiness they were sore that charles get to the and that be soon be come able to send for or to for her the om tyrant is charles said she knows i should be able to take care of you and so i indeed but she might some in me and be stamped his foot and the of his red belt v the sweet sad day came at length out note or warning herself after scores of prayers and bad to charles a liberal assistance from her slender and be was off like a after a few hurried kisses and promises to his sweetheart he ran to the next station five miles away to catch an express train which did not stop at and the girl with eyes went down to the village to the place where the street crossed the track to catch a last of her lover she wished thai charles had been able to say a prayer in the but she would do that for him her woman s heart shrank from the strangeness and dangers which be might meet but she to go with him she would have sorrow and want if she could have gone with him to the states it se em ed very lonely in the old cottage when she re she passed her grandmother who le doorway looking si ly and dismal a word the sky was covered with low lying gray and silver white clouds the woods stretched away cold and thin to the level it was almost winter weather and she was alone and felt in that great flat landscape with its coat she hoped that she need not go down to the station again for a long time to come she had not seen charles on the train there was such a roar and as the train rushed by and a crowd of young men one of with the red must have been charles himself had shouted adieu or sung she felt as if every one of them were laughing at her own secret and hated the strange that at ber for one miserable moment before they were swept out of sight charles was a thousand more than the other lads of he could surely make his way but to what might be mt yield and only yesterday they had been together and separation had see m e d at that hour the had ns heaven vi now that heart had gone away from canada seemed more a foreigner than ever all her thoughts and hopes had gone to the states with her and the short days seemed long and dreary in the she tried to her grandmother well she hardly cared to go out of doors at all and sat near the fire sewing or picking beans with a far away look in her eyes thai made her companion more and more angry they had said nothing to each other about since their first fierce battles earlier in the year the life was very dull at best one has only to look at the of the french child and full of traditions and from their ancient to this wilderness only to think of their being carried by a sort of social over the of their changed conditions to understand the of life in the remote by the time was grown there were um and but little and i of any description the young men soon hardened into stolid farmers who the politics of the and the of their english rulers with more or less tliey grew stupid and they drank gin and bad beer some of the wives had a time of it and one would hardly their relationship to the merry vine and soldiers who had been their ancestors old preserved many of the customs she was more a french peasant and ms a than her neighbors bat young who had been seeing life of late a and of happiness sat in the clean bare cottage and wished herself away there was a colored print of a saint with a bleeding heart which the grandmother had bought from a had hated it once with look but now she looked to h often for sympathy and companionship the brass still decorated the hi h shelf above the stove the same chairs and which joseph had made stood in order the room the chief thing to be hoped for was a none came from young v i the be im train bad and be bad ha bad to send a letter to s care m priest s bnt presently i day in tears and ber bead when asked tbe often tbe girl s eyes die md tbat some enemy bad guessed ber p plot and went away to not for k but for vengeance later as she tbe she found old by tbe stove tbe p doors and tbe girl came in in her	40
a rich husband there for a certainty of a description and with such amiable qualities she herself would indeed like to see tlie old city again and those of her friends who were left would think no more of that foolish handsome beggar who had forgotten her after all bad nothing else but him to think of in but in she would quickly console herself for what hare i myself all these the old wo would demand angrily of i hare a right to forbid lier marriage with a ud and i only step in to keep her from her mother s fate my good who was thrown away to a but when the early spring came little had lost her strength and her youthful spirit altogether she cared nothing for the stories about which were al last desperately she sat all day ia the doorway watching the long across the plain and go away into the distance of the north the clouds of spring hung low and band of light was left the western horizon she grew hopeful and at it at if blessed vision might appear there for her it seemed as if the child of misfortune and sorrow have x for her inheritance the neighbors to each other about old s vast wealth and repeated their conviction over and over that would soon only have herself to board it for if did not take care one night there came a summons to the grandmother that father tlie new priest desired her to remain at the after early mass next morning po obeyed somewhat unwillingly she was shy of this stranger and angry that indulgent had been s he had carried am re than one of her out of t way that was a comfort and the did not mean to take another adviser to into her she left her and a little at the by the looking at the face of the ei e who after all the thing ia ike or twice the hid her mind that the first thing to be thought of in was a good doctor more than one girl had away and faded out of this world like the april snow for nothing but lore s sake while if young s presence would cure little nobody knew where to find him perhaps father would remember but where was he early mass was tlie sun was well above the horizon and began to shine warmly into the bare church and the finery of the altar glittered and looked quite splendid it might be that the new priest meant to beg for a great sum of money for the restoration of the church some one had aid he had this much at heart and s face was black for a moment with re she was tory anxious now about the sick girl at home as she knelt at her prayers her thoughts kept wandering homeward instead of to a vague heaven and great throne to which the altar was a what would life be worth if little die such an would make her own prayers and good works worse than useless for it was her own that had brought this grief there were only a few old people left in the church who had nothing else to do and uke their time at the altar boys had in the and gone away leaving their tumbled and torn on the father had flushed angrily when he caught sight of them and opened the door to the young back but a moment afterward he gently it and came out into the church tall and slender with a grave sweet face stopping to kneel before the m he passed before it to where ou seemed to be diligently praying she was watching him through a narrow of her eyelids but she bowed her head as ho and pressed the small worn to her breast the slender broke the beads separated and witli like upon the floor do not gather them now said father hurriedly but somehow the old woman did not dare to k higher than the hem of his long black gown it was a d made of poor material she observed and the thought seemed uke a thai she make him a present of a new one at late that year and there would still be time j would know the pro er meant to uie and the coal of such a benevolence she rose to her feet and followed the good man they made side by side as they crossed to the door the old regarded this with interest and wondered what was going to happen taking counsel of other in loud whispers as the door was shut m re s heart was she watched the priest while he picked up the small and half smiled as he heard the owners merry then be turned nd took a letter from his pocket bring good news to you and yours be said courteously and the elder who bad feared some dire calamity the loss of her or the d h of young for a certainty found herself growing faint and sit down my child the you are no i will read this letter once to hear such would hare a fancied of now beard it without excitement almost with her poor father bad been one of a family and now a turn of money equal to the old t own fortune bad fallen to the poor girl at home the lawyer bad been at some trouble to trace the father volunteered to the and with at the manner in which it bad been received be turned away he bad much on band that day there was a visit to be made to a dying person away down one of the long muddy of but old bad fallen upon ber the weeping and begging	40
for a she bad the and the good god ber already with the paint of bell and taking her one treasure to himself father with i am by wealth the groaned and upon the floor at hit feet he knew that the young iu but in bleak country one learnt to take without the tender are kindly gathered to the dear and taken np from and evil at last i j and be j ii js yoa t i ii tor me this charles before late i cannot let this my child die with hatred in her heart toward me i am an old woman i hare had my way long enough and it brings me only sorrow and shame i will send him money i will treat him as my own son i will tell him all for i burnt the letters that he wrote to long ago if be has taken another in her place the punishment will be mine was this the woman who bad looked in father oe he closed bis eyes and said a prayer as he stood before her and raised his hands as if to call down mercy upon the stricken gray head i will talk with yon this he promised and they parted silently little bad and arisen and presently she crept feebly to the window to watch for her grandmother she wondered kept her so long away the big of the neighbors had reappeared in the and the day was begun as usual w men were off to their work and the children were gathering v und the school the sun was and dear and girl felt strengthened by it she beard the cars presently perhaps might yet come back though she liad almost ceased to look for such a happiness be grew hungry she became tired with the of crossing the room she was so weak that the tears began to flow down her thin cheeks my grandmother cares nothing for me nothing she mourned she is with old the year she is less but at that moment mire was kneeling in passionate grief at father s feet in the at last she approached and little was filled with wonder at her look you must get well in this good weather she said we will go soon to and yon shall the one yon lore best for com me at last my child but the sick girl could not comprehend the full meaning of words though the stood there appealing the square sensible who could be by no one and now little rose and pat her arms close the m m only yesterday had announced thai deck should in the name of justice be by a tbe train from tbe states was just out of tbat its long of bad drifted away in tbe dear air before a young man came up the street he did not stop at any of tbe drinking shops near the station as most men did but he hurried toward tbe older on tbe ridge the straight uniform row of ancient french houses and from of these eager eyes followed him to tbe end of the settlement then the rushed out to confer with each other upon the astonishing event of young charles incomprehensible return it was like ou to bare sent for him without anybody the pleasure of knowing it but at tbat moment she was thanking blessed mary and her patron saints for this miracle from the it was seldom at mj rate tbat an returned so soon had a prosperous air already and the whole was in commotion that ling while father was called to t a feast tbe be returned from bis errand of consolation tbe young who still wore red with looked at their former neighbor s fine clothes with admiration he was earning good wages with prospect of but he had become too miserable at the strange silence he was not so very far away and had taken his first chance to see little again he bad sent letters to prudent father but tbat worthy bad kept silence being at any rate at a great distance from seas so s strength came back again in this sunshine of happiness and tbe presently were married and lived their sim pie lives together the world was a comfortable place enough without going to bee but tbe occasion of f re s s wedding be marked by nothing less than such a journey and she saw her children lend their procession of with immense complacency living her own youthful joys over again in their behalf as one returns in autumn to tlie meadows where one has gathered the flowers of spring old bore a vast she to and took from it a handsome for father the good man was at his but she gave it to and lingered for a few moments to liave a friendly talk she bad brought herself a of less value he is a blessed saint this father the at home said he speaks no harsh word but goes before os like a holy shepherd i and the housekeeper blessed herself as devoutly as she have blessed the priest himself the ancient holiday maker could not linger her shrewd eyes had detected a grievous neglect of her young on the part of their guardian old he had not ex her home so soon tlie pig presently the round black hat made its appearance among the weeds a new and imposing great black bonnet having been laid aside and one would find it hard to believe that mere had taken so great a journey the neighbors came one by one ut or reproach and over the railing of the garden they were all very good for had not one of their own lads secured the old s money after all the high white house was lonely t night the r were	40
fine bow of deference to miss he looked much pleased and a little excited and the teacher said certainly step right in won t you sir in quite another tone from that in which she had just addressed the school the boys and girls were sitting straight and silent in their places in something like a fit of apprehension and at a native of such a great emergency the guest represented a type of person previously unknown in district number four everything about him spoke of wealth and authority the old dog returned to the and after a careful look at the approached him with a funny grin and a desperate wag of the tail to beg for recognition the teacher gave her chair on the platform to the guest and stood beside him with very red cheeks her hair again once or twice and keeping the hard wood ruler fast in hand like a of office class may now retire she said firmly although the lesson was not more than half through and the class promptly escaped to their seats and stumbling until they all came up behind their face foremost and added themselves to the number of staring young countenances after this there was a silence which grew more and more embarrassing perhaps you would be pleased to hear our first class in geography sir asked the fair recovering her presence of mind and the guest kindly assented the young teacher was by no means willing to give up a certainty for an uncertainty a native of yesterday s lesson had been well learned she turned back to the questions about the state of and at the first sentence the mysterious visitor s dignity melted into an unconscious smile he listened intently for a minute and then seemed to himself with his own thoughts and purposes looking eagerly about the old school house and sometimes gazing steadily at the children the lesson went on finely and when it was finished miss asked the girl at the head of the class to name the states and which she instantly did nearly all the names of the latter then others stated boundaries and and the resources of the new england states passing on finally to the names of the miss glowed with pride she had worked hard over the geography class in the winter term and it did not fail her on this great occasion when she turned bravely to see if the gentleman would like to ask any questions she found that he was apparently lost in a deep reverie so she repeated her own question more distinctly they have done very well very well indeed he answered kindly and then to every one s surprise he rose went up the a native of aisle pushed gently along his bench and sat down beside him the space was cramped and the stranger looked huge and uncomfortable so that everybody laughed except one of the big girls who turned pale with fright and thought he must be crazy when this girl gave a faint miss recovered herself and twice with the ruler to restore order then became entirely tranquil there had been talk of the and worn old school with patent and chairs this was probably an agent connected with that business at once she was resolute and self and said no whispering in a firm tone that showed she did not mean to be with the geography class was dismissed but the elderly gentleman in his handsome overcoat still sat there in at s side i presume sir that you are for new said miss with dignity you will have to see the and the there did not seem to be any need of his lingering but she had an ardent desire to be pleasing to a person of such evident distinction we always tell strangers i thought sir you might be a native of win by gratified to know that this is the where the honorable joseph k first attended school all do not know that he was born in this town and went west very young it is only about a mile from here where his folks used to live at this moment the visitor s eyes fell he did not look at pretty any more but opened s and seeing the imaginary portrait of the great general laughed a little a very deep down comfortable laugh it was while himself turned cold with alarm he could not have told why it was very still in the school room the bee was and at the pane again the moment was one of intense expectation the stranger looked at the children right and left the fact is this young people said he in a tone that was half pride and half apology i am joseph k myself he tried to himself from the narrow quarters of the desk but for an embarrassing moment found that he was stuck fast instinctively gave him an assisting push and once free the great soldier and took a few a native of steps forward to the open floor then after hesitating a moment he mounted the little platform and stood in the teacher s place was as pale as ashes i have thought many times the great guest began that some day i should come back to visit this place which is so closely with the memories of my childhood in my counting room on the fields of war in the halls of and most of all in my western home my thoughts have flown back to the hills and of and to this little old school house i could shut my eyes and call back the of voices and fear my teacher s fi own and feel my boyish waking and stirring in my breast on that bench where i just sat i saw some that i cut with my first fifty eight years ago	40
this very spring i remember the faces of the boys and girls who went t with me and i see their before me i know that one is a and another a by the old family look one generation goes and another comes there are many things that i might say to you i meant even in those early days to make my name known and a native of i dare say that you too have ambition be careful what you wish for in this world for if you wish hard enough you are sure to get it i once heard a very wise man say this and the longer i live the more firmly i believe it to be true but wishing hard means working hard for what you want and the world s wait for the men and women who ready to take pains to win them be careful and set your minds on the best things i meant to be a rich man when i was a boy here and i stand before you a rich man knowing the care and anxiety and responsibility of wealth i meant to go to and i am one of the from i say this as humbly as i say it proudly i used to read of the and patriotism of the old and with my youthful blood leaping along my veins and it came to pass that my own country was in danger and that i could help to fight her battles perhaps some one of these little lads has before him a more life than i have lived and is looking forward to activity and honor and the pride of fame i wish him all the joy that i have had all the toil that i have had and all the bitter disappointments even for leads a a native of man to depend upon that which is above him and the path of glory is a lonely path beset by temptations and a bitter sense of the weakness and of man i see my life spread out like a great picture as i stand here in my boyhood s place i regret my failures i thank god for what in his kind providence has been honest and right i am glad to come back but i feel as i look in your young faces that i am an old man while your lives are just beginning when you remember in years to come that i came here to see the old school house remember that i said wish for the best things and work hard to win them try to be good men and women for the honor of the school and the town and the noble young country that gave you birth be kind at home and generous abroad that i an old man who had seen much of life begged you to be brave and good the honorable mr lane way had rarely felt himself so moved in any of his public speeches but he was obliged to notice that for once he could not hold his audience the class especially had begun to flag in attention but one or two faces among the elder scholars fairly shone with vital a native of and a lovely of their future their eyes met his as if they struck a flash of light there was a sturdy boy who half rose in his place unconsciously the color coming and going in his cheeks something in mr s words lit the altar flame in his heart was pleased and a little dazed she could not have repeated what her illustrious visitor had said but she longed to tell everybody the news that he was in town and had come to school to make an address she had never seen a great man before and really needed time to reflect upon him and to consider what she ought to say she was just quivering with the attempt to make a proper reply and thank mr for the honor of his visit to the school when he asked her which of the boys could be trusted to drive back his hired horse to the four corners eight boys large and small nearly every boy in the school rose at once and snapped fingers but alone was desirous not to attract attention to himself the s intellectual with the portrait had been well between his tight jacket and his shirt miss selected a a native of win by person in long trousers who was half way to the door in an instant and was heard almost immediately to shout loudly at the quiet horse then the hero of district number four made his to the teacher i fear that i have interrupted you too long he said with pleasing deference replied that it was of no consequence she hoped he would call again she may have spoken but her pretty eyes said everything that her lips forgot my grandmother will want to see you sir she ventured to say i guess you will remember her mis she that was she has often told me how you used to get your lessons out o the same book s mr looked at her again with fresh interest yes i wish to see her more than any one else tell her that i am coming to see her before i go away and give her my love thank you my dear as offered his missing hat good by boys and girls he stopped and looked at them once more from the boys entry and turned again to look back from the v ry a native of good by sir good by two or three of the young voices but most of the children only stared and neither spoke nor moved we will omit the class in fourth reader this afternoon the class in grammar may said miss in her most contained and official manner	40
the grammar class sighed like a single pupil and obeyed she was very stern with the grammar class but every one in school had an inner sense that it was a great day in the history of district number four ii the honorable mr found the air very fresh and sweet after the of the school house it had just that same in his boyhood and as he escaped he had a delightful sense of playing or of having an unexpected holiday it was easier to think of himself as a boy and to slip back into boyish thoughts than to bear the familiar burden of his manhood he climbed the tumble down stone wall across the road and went along a narrow a native of path to the spring that up clear and cold under a great red oak how many times he had longed for a drink of that water and now here it was and the thirst of that warm spring day was hard to again and again he stopped to fill the which the school children had made just as his own comrades made theirs years before the oak tree was dying at the top the pine woods beyond had been cut and had grown again since his boyhood and looked much as he remembered them beyond the spring and away from the woods the path led across overgrown pastures to another road perhaps three quarters of a mile away and near this road was the small farm which had been his former home as he walked slowly along he was met again and again by some of his youthful days he had always liked to refer to his early life in new england in his political addresses and had spoken more than once of going to find the cows at nightfall in the autumn evenings and being glad to warm his bare feet in the places where the sleepy beasts had lain before he followed their slow steps homeward through bush and the honorable mr had a touch of true sentiment a native of win by which added much to his really stirring and effective campaign speeches he had often been called the king of the platform in his adopted state he had long ago grown used to saying go to one man and come to another like the ruler of old but all his natural power of and habit of authority disappeared at once as he trod the pasture slopes calling back the remembrance of his childhood here was the place where two lads older than himself had killed a terrible at bay in the angle of a great rock and just beyond was the sunny spot where he had picked a bunch of pink and white under a thicket to give to in morning school she had put them into her desk and let them wilt there but she was pleased when she took them the little teacher s grandmother was a year older than he and had the earliest thought of love in his youthful breast it was almost time to catch the first sight of his from the just ahead he had often seen the light of his mother s lamp as he came home from school on winter but when he reached the the old house was gone and so was a native of the great tree that grew beside it and a pang of disappointment shot through this devout pilgrim s heart he never had doubted that the old farm was somebody s home still and had counted upon the pleasure of spending a night there and sleeping again in that room under the roof where the rain sounded loud and the branches brushed to and fro when the wind blew as if they were the claws of he hurried across the worn out fields long ago turned into sheep pastures where the last year s tall grass and golden rod stood gray and tracing the old walls and fences and astonished to see how small the fields had been the prosperous owner of western farming lands could not help remembering those luxuriant acres and the broad of his western home it was difficult at first to find exactly where the house had stood even the tions had disappeared at last in the long faded grass he discovered the and near by was a little mound where the great tree stump had been the cellar was a mere in the sloping ground it had been filled in by the growing grass and slow processes of summer and winter weather a native of but just at the pilgrim s right were some twigs of an old a sudden brightening of memory brought to mind the love that his mother dead since his year had kept f oi this how often she had wished that she had brought it to her new home so much had changed in the world so many had gone into the world of light and here the faithful blooming thing was yet alive there was one slender branch where green were starting and getting ready to flower in the new year the afternoon wore late and still the man lingered he might have laughed at some one else who gave himself up to sad thoughts and found fault with himself with no to plead his cause at the bar of conscience it was an altogether lonely hour he had dreamed all his life in a sentimental self satisfied fashion of this return to it had always appeared to be a grand affair but so far he was himself the only interested spectator at his poor occasion there was even a dismal consciousness that he had been perhaps even a little and silly in the old school house the picture of himself on the war path in a native of s was the only tribute that this longed for day had held but he laughed	40
aloud at the remembrance and really liked that solemn little boy who sat at his own old desk there was another older lad who sat at the back of the room who reminded mr lane way of himself in his eager youth there was a spark of light in that fellow s eyes once or twice in the earlier afternoon as he drove along he had asked people in the road if there were a family in that neighborhood but everybody had said no in indifferent fashion somehow he had been expecting that every one would know him and greet him and give him credit for what he had tried to do but old had her own affairs to look after and did very well without any of his help mr acknowledged to himself at this point that he was weak and there must be some old friends who would remember him and give him as hearty a welcome as the greeting he had brought for them so he rose and went his way westward toward the sunset the air was growing damp and cold and it was time to make sure of shelter this was hardly like the visit he had meant to pay to his a native of win by he wished with all his heart that he had never come back but he walked briskly away intent upon wider thoughts as the fresh evening breeze quickened his steps he did not consider where he was going but was for a time the busy man of affairs stimulated by the unconscious influence of his surroundings the slender gray and pitch pines of that neglected pasture had never before seen a hat and coat exactly in the fashion they may have been abashed by the presence of a united states and western though a piece of new england ground that had often felt the tread of his bare feet was not likely to because a pair of smart shoes stepped hastily along the school house path hi there was an imperative knock at the side door of the just after dark the young school mistress had come home late because she had stopped all the way along to give people the news of her afternoon s experience was not and speechless any longer but sat by the a native of kitchen stove telling her eager grandmother everything she could remember or could imagine who s that knocking at the door interrupted mrs no i go myself i m nearest the man outside was cold and foot weary he was not used to spending a whole day and after being first amused and even enjoying a sense of freedom at escaping his just of consideration and respect he had begun to feel as if he were old and forgotten and was hardly sure of a friend in the world old mrs came to the door with her eyes shining with delight in great haste to dismiss whoever had knocked so that she might hear the rest of s story she opened the door wide to whoever might have come on some country errand and looked the tired and faint hearted mr full in the face dear heart come in she exclaimed reaching out and taking him by the shoulder as he stood humbly on a lower step come right in joe why i should know you anywhere why joe you same a native of in they went to the warm bright country kitchen the delight and kindness of an old friend s welcome and her instant sympathy seemed the loveliest thing in the world they sat down in two old straight backed kitchen chairs they still held each other by the hand and looked in each other s face the plain old room was with heat and cheerfulness the tea kettle was singing a drowsy cat sat on the wood box with her tucked in and the house dog came forward in a friendly way his tail and laid his head on their clasped hands and to think i have n t seen you since your folks moved out west the next spring after you were thirteen in the winter said the good woman but i s pose there ain t been anybody that has followed your career closer than i have to their opportunities you ve done a great work for your country joe i m proud of you clean through sometimes folks has said there there mis what be you goin to say now but i ve always told em to wait i knew you saw your reasons you was always an honest boy the tears started and shone in her kind eyes her face showed that she had a bitter war with poverty and a native of sorrow but the look of affection that it wore and the warm touch of her hard hand and worn with toil touched her old friend in his inmost heart and for a minute neither could speak they do say that women folks have got no natural head for but i always could seem to sense what was goin on in washington if there was any sense to it said grandmother at last nobody could puzzle you at school i remember answered mr and they both laughed heartily but surely this does not make your household you have sons two beside her father he died but they re both away up toward canada buying cattle we are getting along considerable well these last few years since they got a o capital together but the old farm was n t really able to maintain us with the heavy expenses that fell on us unexpected year by year i ve seen a great sight of trouble joe my boy john s father and his nice wife i lost em both early when was but a child john was the flower o my family he would have made a name for himself you	40
would have taken to john a native of win by i was sorry to hear of your loss said mr lane way he was a brave man i know what he did at you remember that i lost my wife and my only son there was a silence between the friends who had no need for words now they understood each other s heart only too well who sat near them rose and went out of the room yes yes daughter said mrs render calling her back we ought to be about supper i was going to light a little fire in the parlor explained with a slight tone of rebuke in her clear girlish voice oh no you ain t not now at least protested the elder woman decidedly now joseph what should you like to have for supper i wish to my heart i had some like those you used to come after when you was a boy i can make em just about the same as mother did i be bound you ve thought of some old fashioned dish that you d relish for your supper drop cakes then if they would n t give you too much trouble answered the honorable joseph with prompt seriousness a native of and don t forget some cheese he looked up at his old as she stood beside him eager with hospitality you ve no idea what a comfort s been she stooped to whisper always took right hold and helped me when she was a baby she s as good as made up already to me for my having no daughter i want you to get acquainted with the was still awed and anxious about the entertainment of so distinguished a guest when her grandmother appeared at last in the i ain t goin to let you do no such a thing said render when spoke of making something that she called fairy gems for tea after a new and essentially feminine you just let me get supper to night the gen has enough to eat he wants a good hearty old fashioned supper the same country cooking he remembers when he was a boy he went so far himself as to speak of drop cakes an there ain t one in a hundred nowadays knows how to make the kind he means you go an lay the table just as we always have it except you can get out them old big cups o my a native of wins mother s don t put on none o the parlor things went off and she had a noble desire to show mr that they knew how to have things as well as anybody and was sure that he would consider it more polite to be asked into the best room and to sit there alone until tea was ready but the illustrious mr was allowed to stay in the kitchen in apparent happiness and to watch the proceedings from beginning to end the two old friends talked but he saw his drop cakes go into the oven and come out and his tea made and his piece of salt fish and a broad piece of set on to match some delightful thick of brown loaf bread and all the simple feast prepared there was a sufficient piece of render s best cheese it must be confessed that there were also some baked beans and as one thing after another appeared the honorable joseph k grew and until he fairly looked pale with anticipation and delay and was at that very moment to draw up his chair and make himself a supper if he could a native of what cups of tea what went to the making of that successful supper how gay the two old friends became and of what old stories they reminded each other and how late the dark spring evening grew before the feast was over and the straight backed chairs were set against the kitchen wall listened for a time with more or less interest but at last she took one of her school books with slight and went over to study by the lamp mrs had brought her knitting work a blue out of a drawer and sat down serene and prepared to keep awake as late as possible she was a woman who had kept her youthful looks through the difficulties of farm life as few women can and this added to her guest s sense of and pleasure there was something that he felt to be and comfortable in her strong figure he even noticed the little shawl that she wore about her shoulders dear heart of the appealing friendliness of the good woman made no demands except to be allowed to help and to serve everybody who came in her way a native of now began in good earnest the talk of old times and what had become of this and that old how one family had come to want and another to wealth the changes and losses and of good fortune in that rural neighborhood were made tragedy and comedy by turns in render s dramatic speech she grew younger and more entertaining hour by hour and the grave into confidential talk of national affairs he had much to say to which she listened with rare sympathy and intelligence she astonished him by her comprehension of questions of the day and by her simple good sense grew hopelessly sleepy and departed but neither of them turned to notice her as she lingered a moment at the door to say good night when the immediate subjects of conversation were fully discussed however there was an unexpected interval of silence and after making sure that her knitting counted exactly right cast a questioning glance at the to see if he had it in mind to go to bed she was reluctant to end her evening so soon but determined to	40
hold what it ought and filled it up again oh joe to think that i see you at last after all these years she said how rich i shall feel with this evening to live over i i ve always wanted to see somebody that i d read about and now i ve got a native of win by that to remember but i ve always known i should see you again and i believe t was the lord s will early the next morning they said good by the early breakfast had to be hurried and was to drive mr to the station three miles away it was saturday morning and she was free from school mr strolled down the lane before breakfast was ready and came back with a little bunch of pink in his hand thought that he meant to give them to her but he laid them beside her grandmother s plate you must n t put those in your desk he said with a smile and blushed like a girl i ve got those others now dried and put away somewhere in one of my books she said quietly and wondered what they meant the two old friends shook hands warmly at parting i wish you could have stayed another day so i could have had the minister come and see you urged mrs you couldn t have done any more for me i have had the best visit in the world a native of he answered a little shaken and holding her hand a moment longer while sat young and impatient in the high wagon you re a dear good woman sometimes when things have gone wrong i ve been sorry that i ever had to leave the woman s clear eyes looked straight into his then fell you wouldn t have done everything you have for the country she said give me a kiss we re getting to be old folks now said the general and they kissed each other gravely a moment later stood alone in her watching and waving her hand again and again while the wagon rattled away down the lane and turned into the two hours after returned from the station rushed into the kitchen she exclaimed you never did see such a crowd in as there was at the everybody in town had got word about general and they were pushing up to shake hands and cheering same as at election and the cars waited much as ten minutes and all the folks was a native of win by out of the windows and came out on the when they heard who it was folk say that he d been to see the yesterday before he came to school and he s goin to build an elegant town hall and have the names put up in it of all the men that went to the war sank into a chair flushed with excitement everybody was asking me about his being here last night and what he said to the school i wished that you d gone down to the instead of me i had the best part of anybody said mrs smiling and going on with her saturday morning work i m real glad they showed him proper respect she added a moment afterward but her voice faltered why you ain t been asked the girl i guess you re tired you had a real good time now did n t you yes dear heart said t ain t pleasant to be old that s all i could n t help his age as he rode away i ve always been forward to him again an now it s all over day i a week before the of may three friends john and henry and brown happened to meet on saturday evening at s store at the plains they were ready to enjoy this idle hour after a busy week after long rains the sun had at last come out bright and clear and all the farmers had been planting there was even a good deal of plough ing left to be done the season was so backward the three middle aged men were old friends they had been school fellows and when they were hardly out of their boyhood the war came on and they in the same company on the same day and happened to march away elbow to elbow then came the great experience of a great war and the years that followed their return from the south bad come to each almost alike day these men might have been members of the same rustic household they knew each other s history so well they were sitting on a low wooden bench at the left of the store door as you went in people were coming and going on their saturday night errands the post office was in s store but the friends talked on eagerly without being interrupted except by an occasional nod of recognition they appeared to take no notice at all of the neighbors whom they saw it was a most beautiful evening the two great elms were almost half in leaf over the blacksmith s shop which stood across the wide road farther along were two small houses and the old white church with its pretty of four arched sides and a tiny dome at the top the large on the was pointing a little south of west and there was still light enough to make it shine bravely against the deep blue eastern sky on the western side of the road near the store were the and the s modern house which had a french roof and some attempt at which the long established people called work and regarded with day mingled pride and disdain these buildings made the tiny village called plains they stood in the middle of a long narrow strip of level ground	40
places an when we come back we felt dreadful behind the times grumbled brown i remember how t was they begun to call us heroes an old stick in the mud just about the same time resumed with a chuckle we wa n t no hand for nor even them first few years i don know why t was we were so beat out the best most on us could do was to on to the old folks father he never wanted me to go to the war twas partly his day breed an he used to be dreadful with the way i hung round down here to the store an round a about when i was out south an with folks that did n t know about what the done there i see me now just as he see me then but after i had my out i took o the old farm long o father an i ve made it look at them old meadows an see the herd s grass that come off of em last year i ain t ashamed o my place now if i did go to the war it all looks a sight bigger to me now than it did then said henry our goin to the war i refer to we did n t sense it no more than other folks did i used to be sick o their stuff about patriotism and your country an them pieces o poetry women folks wrote for the papers on the old flag an our fallen heroes an them things they did n t seem to strike me in the right place but i tell ye it kind o starts me now every time i come on the flag sudden it does so a spell ago long in the fall i guess it was i was over to an there was a fire company they d got the prize at a fair an had just home on the cars an i heard the band so i stepped to the front o the store where me an my woman was an the company felt well an was along the street most as good as troops i see the old flag a kind of back an it went all over me worked round in my throat i vow i come near i was glad nobody see me i d go to war again in a minute declared after an expressive pause but i expect we should know better what we was about i don know but we ve got too many rooted opinions now to make us the best o soldiers martin an john was considerable older than the rest and they done well answered henry quickly we three was the youngest of any but we did think at the time we knew the most well whatever you may say that war give the country a great start said brown i tell ye we just begin to see the scope on t there was my cousin you know that stopped with us last winter he was me that one o his he was into the port o lo din with pine an he into an day old ground there is there an he see a stone that had on it some young southern fellow s name that was killed in the war an under it was he died for his country dan l how i used to feel about them south car on an i did feel kind o red an ugly for a minute an then come over me an i says well i don know but what the poor chap did dan when you come to view it all round the other men made no answer le s see what we can do this year i don t care if we be a poor han ful urged henry the young folks ought to have the good of it i d like to have my boys see different le s get together what men there is how many s left anyhow i know there was thirty seven went from old three months men an all there can t be over eight now out martin he can t march said no t ain t worth while but the others did not notice his there s nine in all announced brown after pondering and counting two or three times on his fingers i can t make us no more i never could s in my head day i make nine said we have martin ride an dean too if he will he s awful lively on them o his an there s jo with his he s for a short distance but we can t let em go far they re men we ll make em all put on what they ve got left o their an we scratch round an have us a an drum an make the best show we can why martin s boy the next to the oldest is an excellent hand to play the said john suddenly growing enthusiastic if you two are set on it let s have a word with the minister to morrow an see what he says perhaps he give out some kind of a notice you have to have a good many o flowers i guess we d better call a some few on us an talk it over first o the week t would n t be no great of a range for us to take to march from the old ground at the house here up to the poor farm an round by s lane so s to notice them two stones he set up for his boys that was sunk on the man o war i expect they notice stones same s if the folks laid there don t they day he spoke wistfully the others knew that was thinking	40
of the stone he had set up to the memory of his only brother whose nameless grave had been made somewhere in the wilderness i don t know but what they be mad if we don t go by every house in town he added anxiously as they rose to go home t is a terrible scattered population in to favor with a procession it was a mild night the three friends took their separate ways presently leaving the plains road and crossing the fields by foot paths toward their farms the week went by and the next saturday morning brought fair weather it was a busy morning on the farms like any other but long before noon the of horses and oxen were seen going home from work in the fields and everybody got ready in haste for the great event of the afternoon it was so seldom that any occasion roused public interest in that there was an unexpected response and the green before the old white meeting house was covered with country and groups of people whole families together who had come on foot the old soldiers were to meet in the church at half past one the procession was to start and on its return the minister was to make an address in the old burying ground john had been first lieutenant in the war so he was made captain of the day a man from the next town had offered to drum for them and martin s proud boy was present with his he had a great longing strange enough in that peaceful neighborhood to go into the army but he and his elder brother were the of their crippled father and he could not be spared from the large household until a younger brother could take his place so that all his fire and military zeal went for the present into martial tunes and the was a safety for his enthusiasm the army men were used to seeing each other everybody knew everybody in the little country town of but when one comrade after another appeared in what remained of his they felt the day to be greater than they had planned and the simple ceremony proved more solemn than day any one expected they could make no use of their every day jokes and friendly greetings their old blue coats and army caps looked faded and enough one of the men had nothing left but his rusty and rifle but these he carried like sacred he had worn out all his army clothes long ago because he was too poor when he was discharged to buy any others when the door of the church opened the were not abashed by the size and silence of the crowd they came walking two by two down the steps and took their places in line as if there were nobody looking on their brief were like a mystic the two lame men refused to do anything but march as best they could but poor martin more than they was brought out and lifted into henry s best wagon where he sat up straight and with his boy for driver there was a little flag in the whip before him which in the breeze it was such a long time since he had been seen doors that everybody found him a great object of interest and paid him much attention even those who were tired of being day asked to contribute to his support who resented the fact of his having a helpless wife and great family who always insisted that with his little and hopeless his left hand and failing sight he could support himself and his household if he chose even those persons came forward now to greet him handsomely and with large approval to be sure he enjoyed the conversation of and his wife had a complaining way that was the same as begging especially since her boys began to grow up and be of some use and there were one or two near neighbors who never let them really want so other people who had cares enough of their own could excuse themselves for forgetting him the year round and even call him but there were none to look at u on day as he sat in the wagon with his face like a captive s and his thin afflicted body he stretched out his whole hand to those who had remembered and those who had forgotten both his courage at and his sorry need in henry had secured the engine company s large flag in and now carried it proudly there were eight men in line day two by two and marching a good bit apart to make their line the longer the and drum struck up gallantly together and the little procession moved away slowly along the country road it gave an unwonted touch of color to the landscape the scarlet the blue between the new fields and roadside between the wide dim of the mountains under the great white clouds of the spring sky such grow more pathetic year by year it will not be so long now before wondering children will have seen the last the faces of the men the renewed the quick beat of the hearts that remember the tenderness of those who think upon old sorrows all these make the day a and a festival so men s hearts were stirred they knew not why when they heard the shrill and the incessant drum along the quiet road and saw the handful of old soldiers marching by nobody thought of them as familiar men and neighbors alone they were a part of that army which had saved its country they had taken their lives in their hands and gone out to fight for their country plain john and dean and the rest no matter if every other day in	40
the year they counted for little or much they were lame footed and whether their farms were of poor soil or rich the little troop went in slender line along the road the crowded country and all the people who went followed martin s wagon as if it were a great gathering at a country funeral the route was short and the long straggling line marched slowly it could go no faster than the lame men could walk in one of the houses by the roadside an old woman sat by a window in an old fashioned black gown and clean white cap with a border which bound her thin sharp features closely she had been for a long time looking out eagerly over the and rose bushes her face was pressed close to the pane and presently she caught sight of the great flag as it came down the road let me see em i ve got to see em go by she pleaded trying to rise from her chair alone when she heard the and the women helped her to the door and held her so that she could stand and wait she had been an old woman when the war began she had day sent sons and to the field they were all gone now as the men came by she straightened her bent figure with all the vigor of youth the and drum stopped suddenly the colors lowered she did not heed that but her old eyes and then filled with tears to see the flag going to salute the soldiers graves thank ye boys thank ye she cried in her voice and they all cheered her the cheer went back along the straggling line for old grandmother standing there in her front door between the it was one of the great moments of the day the few old people at the poor house too were waiting to see the show the keeper s young son knowing that it was a day of and not understanding exactly why had put his toy flag out of the window and there it showed against the gray like a gay flower it was the only bit of along the way and they stopped and saluted it before they broke ranks and went out to the field corner beyond the poor farm barn to the bit of ground that held the graves there was a solemn silence while brown went to the back of s wagon where such light freight was and brought two flags and he and john planted them straight in the green sod they knew well enough where the right graves were for these had been made in a comer by themselves with unwonted sentiment and so and john were honored like the rest both by their flags and by great and unexpected of spring flowers and and red which lay on the graves already john and his comrade glanced at each other curiously while they stood singing and then laid their own of down and came away then something happened that almost none of the people in the understood martin s boy who played the had studied well his part and on his poor short instrument now sounded as well as he could he had heard it done once in at a soldier s funeral the plaintive notes called sadly over the fields and echoed back from the hills the few could not look at each other their eyes up with tears they could not have spoken nothing called back old army days like that they had a sudden vision of the day camp the dotted white with tents the twinkling lights in other and far away the glow of fires they heard the call from post to post they remembered the chilly winter night the wind in the pines the laughter of the men lights out martin s boy sounded it again sharply it seemed as if poor and john must hear it too in their narrow graves the procession went on and stopped here and there at the little on the farms leaving their bright flags to flutter through summer and winter rains and and to in the wind and sunshine when they returned to the church the minister made an address about the war and every one listened with new ears most of what he said was familiar enough to his listeners they were used to reading those phrases about the results of the war the glorious future of the south in their weekly newspapers but there never had been such a spirit of patriotism and loyalty in as was that day by the poor parade of the remnant of the soldiers they sent flags to all the distant graves and proud were those who claimed day with and could drive or walk away with their flags held up so that others could see that they too were of the elect ni it is well that the days are long in the last of may but john had to hurry more than usual with his evening work and then having the longest distance to walk he was much the latest comer to the plains store where his two triumphant friends were waiting for him impatiently on the bench they also had made excuse of going to the and doing an unnecessary errand for their wives and were talking together so busily that they had gathered a group about them before the store when they saw coming they rose hastily and crossed the road to meet him as if they were a committee in special they leaned against the post and board fence after they had shaken hands with each other well we ve had a great day ain t we john asked henry you did lead splendid we ve done a grand thing now i tell you all the folks say day we ve got to keep it up every year everybody	40
on wheels so many of us felt kind o stiff there s one thing folks won t never say again that we can t show no public here in old jim s little woman i there was laughter in the lanes of st when jim returned from a northern voyage with a northern wife he had sailed on the dawn of day one and ninety two tons burden with a full cargo of yellow pine and shells not that the shells were mentioned in the bill of any more than five handsome shells that were securely lashed to the beams in the captain s cabin these were a private venture of the captain s and jim s the dawn of day did a great deal of trading with the islands and it was only when the season of northern was over that her owners found it more profitable to her in the lumber business it was too hot for bringing any more from the last were half spoiled in the hold and those who came excitedly after and jim little woman nuts and baskets who would gladly pay thirty cents apiece for the best of the shells brought by way of those enthusiastic money had all flown homeward at the first hints of unmistakable heat and market was over for that spring st is a city of bright sunshine and of cool sea winds a different place from the steaming hot southern ports which jim knew well and and the rest he had sailed between the islands and st and and made trading voyages round into the gulf ever since he ran away to sea on an ancient bound for in his early youth jim s grandfather was a northern man by birth a new who had married a woman and settled down in st to spend the rest of his days their old house near the sea wall faced one of the narrow lanes that ran up from the water but it had a wide window in the end and here jim remembered that the old sailor sat and watched the harbor and the of vessels and defended his pet orange tree from the of boys jim s little woman his wife died long before he did and the daughter jim s mother was married and her husband ran away and never was heard from and jim himself was ten years old when he walked at the head of the funeral procession dimly imagining that the old man had gone up north and that he was to live again there among the scenes of his youth there were a few old walking two by two who had known the captain in his active life but they held no definite views about his permanent in high still there was a long procession and a handsome funeral and after a few years jim s mother died too a friendly little creature whom everybody lamented jim into port one day after a long absence expecting to be kissed and cried over and to church and mended up to find the old house locked and empty he gloomily there was nothing for him to do ashore and that year the boys took all the and people said that the old captain s ghost lived in the house the bishop stopped jim one day on the and told him that he must come to church sometimes for his mother s sake she was a good little woman and had jim s little woman said many a prayer for her boy did jim ever say a prayer for himself it was a hard life going to sea and he must not let it be too hard for his soul marry you a good wife soon said the kind bishop be a good man in your own town you will be tired of and wiu want a home god have pity on you my boy jim took off his hat reverently and his frank bold eyes met the bishop s sad kind eyes and fell he had never really thought what a shocking sort of fellow he was until that moment he had grown used to his mother s crying but it was two or three years now since she died the fellows on board ship were afraid of him when he was surly and owned him for king when he was pleased to turn life into a joke he was northern and southern by turns this southern bom young sailor he could talk in yankee fashion like his grandfather until the crew shook the ship s with their laughter but in all his sea life he had never been to the coast of this story begins the dawn of day was a slow and what wind she had was only a light breeze every other day was a jim little woman dead calm and so they drifted up the northern coast as if the gulf stream alone impelled them making for the island of mount desert with their yellow pine for and somewhere near harbor their provisions got low and the drinking water was too bad altogether and there was nothing else left to drink so the captain put in for supplies they could not get up to the inner harbor next the town but came to anchor near a little village when the wind fell at there were some houses in sight dotted along the shore and a long low building at the water s edge close to the little bay jim and the captain and another man pulled ashore to see what could be done about the water and the old water which had been rusty was and good for nothing when they first put to sea jim went ashore and presently put his head into a window of the long low building there were a dozen young people there and two or three men with heaps of shells and	40
long rows of shining it was a establishment and work was going on after hours somebody screamed when jim s shaggy head and broad jim little woman shoulders shut out the little daylight that was left and a of girls laughed but one of them jim thought she was a child until she came quite close to him asked what he wanted and listened with intelligent patience until he had quite explained his errand it proved easy to get somebody to up the water and in spite of the other girls this little white faced creature caught her hat from a nail by the door and went off with jim to find the who lived a quarter of a mile down the shore jim thought of the old bishop many times as he walked decently along by the little woman s side he thought of his mother too and how she used to cry over him he never pitied her for it before he remembered his cross old grandfather and those stories about the north and by a strange turn of memory he mentally cursed the boys who came to steal the old man s there in the garden of his own empty little house what a thing to have a good little warm hearted wife of his own jim felt as if he had been set on fire as if something him from ever feeling like himself again as if he must forever belong to this jim s little woman little bit of a woman who almost ran trying to keep up with his great rolling sea strides along the road she had a clear pleasant little voice and kept looking up at him asking now and then something about the voyage as if she were used to voyages and seemed pleased with his shy answers he heaved a great sigh when they came to the s door the came out and walked back with them saying that his tools were all at the factory he told jim that there was the best cold spring on the coast convenient to the just beyond the factory and a good store near by there was no reason for going up to harbor and losing all that time in the morning and jim s heart grew light at the news he sent the off to the and stayed ashore himself the captain had already heard about the and had gone there the grumbling member of the crew who was left in the boat looked back with heart felt astonishment to see jim sit down on apiece of ship timber beside that strange little woman and begin to talk with her as if they were old friends it was a clear june the sky was pale yellow in the west jim s little woman and on the land above the shore a small bell rang in its white a salt breath of sea wind ruffled the smooth water the lights went out in the factory and with bright reflections from the the finished his work on board and was put ashore close to his own house as for the captain he remained with some new made friends at the they wondered on the deck of the dawn of day what had come over jim they laughed and and thought that he might have found one of his relations about whom he had told the yankee stories as long as there was any light to see there he sat an erect great fellow with the little woman like a child by his side the captain came off late and in a state the laws of and jim came with him sober pleasant but holding his head in that high proud way which forbade any soul from putting an unwelcome question the next morning when the wind rose the dawn of day put out to sea again somebody besides jim may have noticed that a white handkerchief fluttered at one of jim little woman the factory windows but nobody knew that it meant so much to jim as this the little woman was going to marry him and promised by that signal to come to mount desert to meet him they had no more time for courtship it was now or never with the quick tempered fellow little did not dare to promise until she had thought it over that night but she was a lonely orphan and had no ties to keep her there jim had told her about his home and his orange tree in the south and when came she had thou it over and said yes and then even cried a little to see the old go out to sea she said yes because she loved him because she had never thought that anybody would fall in love with her she was so small and queer and not like the rest of the girls jim had certainly waved his handkerchief in reply and as remembered that she felt in her pocket for a queer smooth shell to make hei self sure that she was not dreaming jim had carried this shell in his pocket for good luck as his strange old grandfather had done before him and by it he his faith and before they sighted far out to catch the j m s little woman wind he told the that he was going to be married and expected to carry his wife down to st in the dawn of day the swore but jim was the man aboard and had been that voyage as first mate they were and he was in jim s power in many ways there was a wedding before the week was out at a minister s house and jim gave the minister s wife a pretty basket of shells besides what considered to be a generous wedding fee he had bought a suit of ready made clothes before he went to the cousin s	40
house where the little woman had promised to wait for him did not explain to this cousin that she had only seen her lover once in the twilight she wondered if people would think jim rough and strange that was all but jim for once was in possession of small and when he came so tall and dark shaven and and dressed like other people she fell to crying with joy and excitement and had much difficulty in explaining to her lover that it was nothing but happiness and love that had brought such tears and after the yellow pine was on the wharf and the sold at unexpected to a dealer in jim s little woman at bar harbor who got news of them and after much gave but a meagre price for the also the dawn of day set forth again southward with dried fish and flour from where with his share of th shell gains jim had given his wife such a as he thought a lord who had an at his back might give his fair lady when the crew first caught sight of jim s small red headed and pale faced wife the in the size of the happy couple was more than could be silently borne jim always spoke of her as his little woman and jim s little woman she was to the world in general she was as proud spirited as he she seldom but she could grow pale iu the face and keep silence if things went wrong the was a different place on that return voyage they had the captain s cabin and she made it look pretty with her girlish arts she mended everybody s clothes and took care of the s boy when he was sick with a fever turn a hard faced little chap who had run about from ship to ship just as jim had and though the wind failed them most of the time going south they were all sorry when jim s little woman they reached st bar the last sunday night of all jim s little woman got out her moody and song book for the last time and sang every tune she knew in her sweet old fashioned voice she was rough in her way but the crew of the dawn of day kept to the level of its best manners in her hearing all the time she was on board as they lay out beyond the bar waiting for enough water to get in she strained her eyes to see her future home there was the queer striped with its pattern of black and white and far beyond were the tall slender towers of a town that looked beautiful against the sunset and a long low shore white with sand and green here and there with a new which she believed to be orange trees she may have had a pang of for the high pasture shores at home but nobody ever guessed it if ever anybody in this world married for love it was jim s little woman s little woman ii it was not long before the dismal little up house was as clean as a whistle with new glass windows and fresh inside and yellow wash outside with curtains and and cushions and a shining cooking stove on which such meals were as jim never dreamed of having for his own the little woman had a small inheritance of housekeeping goods which had been packed into the s hold luckily these had been in charge of the harbor cousin as jim said they had to get married for everything came right and there was nothing else to do he seemed as happy as the day was long and for once was glad to be ashore they went together to do their and he showed her the gray old fort one afternoon and the great hotels with the towers in narrow st george street under the high flower lined everybody seemed to know jim and they had to spend much time in doing a trifling errand go into st george street when she would the narrow was filled with jim a little woman pie and dark eyed men and women leaned from the and talked to by in a strange which jim seemed to know people laughed a good deal as they passed and the little woman feared that they might think that she was queer looking she hated to be so little when jim himself was so big but somehow the laughter all stopped after one day when a man with an evil face said something in a mocking voice and jim blazing with wrath caught him by the waist and threw him over the fence into a garden they laugh to think o me getting so small a wife said jim frankly one day in one of his best moods one o the boys thought i d raised me a f while we was gone and said i d done well for a little but where was the old lady i promised i d bring him round to supper some night too he s a good fellow added jim we have some o your and near about stuff him to death the summer days flew by and to everybody s surprise jim lived the life of a sober man he went to work on one of the new harbor at his wife s recommendation and did good service he gave his pay and was amused and astonished to see jim s little woman how far she made it go with plenty of good food he seemed to have lost his craving for drink in great measure and they had two steady men and jim s mates for there was plenty of room and the little woman was busy and happy jim had his dark spanish days with a black and had her own hot that came	40
as she said of the color of her hair like other people they had their great and small trials and troubles but these always ended in s stealing into her husband s lap as he sat by the window in his a ther s old chair the months went by and winter came and spring and their baby came and then they were happier than ever jim for his mother s sake carried him to the old bishop to be and all the neighbors in afterward and were but there was no mistake about it jim drank more than was good for him that day in his pride and joy and had an out and out while the baby s mother was helpless in bed it was the first great worry and sorrow of their married life the neighbors came and sat with and told her all about him and she got well as fast as she could and went out pale and weak after jim s little woman him and found jim in a horrid den and him home but he was sorry and said it was all the other fellows fault and a fellow must have his fling the little woman sighed and cried too when there was nobody to see her she had never believed though she had had enough that there was any need of being anxious about jim men were different from women yet anybody so strong and ought surely to master himself but things grew worse and worse and at last when the old with a looking crew than usual came into the harbor the baby s father drank with them all one night and with them next morning and sailed away in spite of tears and on a four months voyage had only three cents in her little purse at the time it was a purse that her mate at the factory gave her the christmas before she was married all the simple fearless old life came up before her as she looked at it the had cried when they parted and had written once or twice but the last letter had been long had lost all her heart now about writing she must wait until jim was at l ome and steady again jim s little woman alas the months went by and it seemed as if that time would never come jim came home at last drunk and scolding and when he went away again with the it would have been a relief to be rid of him if it were not for the worry he did not look so strong and well as he used under the skies his habits were him slowly the only comfort could take in him was when he lay asleep with the black hair curling about his smooth white forehead and that pleasant boyish look coming out on his face instead of the spanish the little woman lost her patience at last and began to wear a too she was a little body and sometimes jim felt himself and called her sharp names in foreign tongues he had a way of bringing his home to supper when she was tired and ordering her about contemptuously before the men at last one night they made such a that a group of idle clustered about the house laughing and at the company within s fury rose like a winter gale she was vexed by the of a woman who lived up the lane who used to come out and sit jim s little woman on her high blue balcony and spy all their on and call the baby poor child so that his mother hear jim s little woman drove the company out of doors that night and they drunk as they were before her angry eyes they chased the in their turn and went off shouting and swearing down the they tried to walk on the sea and one man fell over and was too drunk to find his way ashore and lay down on the wet mud the tide came up and covered joe black and that was the last of him which was not without its comfort for jim stayed humbly at home and tried to make his wife think better of him for days together he had won an out and out bad name in the last year nobody would give him a good job ashore now so that he had to go to sea he was apt to lead his companions astray and go off on a with too many followers yet everybody liked jim and greeted him warmly when he came ashore and he could walk as proudly as ever through the town when he had had just drink enough to make him think well of himself and everybody else he round many a corner to avoid meeting the bishop that good gray haired man with the kind straightforward eyes jim little woman made a good bit of money in the season she liked to work and was always ready to do anything there was to do or washing and or sewing and she came to be known in the town for her quickness and power of work while jim was away she always got on well and saved something but when he came in from his voyages things went from bad to worse and after a while there was news of another baby and the first one was cross and and the woman up the lane in her blue balcony did nothing but spy with her mocking eyes jim was more like himself that last week before he went to sea than for a long time before he seemed sorry to go and kept sober all the last few days and picked the and planted their little vegetable garden without being asked and made a new bench for her that she had only complained of once or twice	40
he worked at the down at the and came home early in the evening and began to believe she had at last him and him into being decent she even thought of writing to her friend in after two jim s little woman years silence she had such new hopes about being happy and prosperous again she talked to jim about that night when they first saw each other and jim was not displeased when she got the lucky shell out of a safe hiding place and showed him that she had kept it they looked each other in the face as they seldom did now and each knew that the other thought the shell had brought little luck of late jim sat down by the window and pulled into his lap and she began to cry the minute her head was on his shoulder life had been so hard what had come over jim that old bishop o my mother s faltered jim he s been it to me he me out by the old gates and he says jim you re goin to break your little woman s heart was that so said nothing she only nodded her head against his shoulder and cried like a child she could feel his warm shoulder through his coat and in a minute he asked her again was that so and for answer only cried a little less it was night and jim was going away in the morning the were in the garden somebody went along the sea wall jim s little woman singing and jim and his little woman sat there by the window the devil gets me said jim at last in a sober minded northern way that he had sometimes there s an wild streak in me i ain t goin to have you cry like mother always done i m goin to settle down an a steady job ashore after this one v y ge to the islands i m goin to fetch ye home the of shells that ever you see an then i m done with shipping i am so t ain t me only t is them poor little babies said in a tired hopeful little voice she had done crying now she felt somehow as if the reward for all her patience and misery was coming i would n t go off an leave ye now as be with ye said jim but you see we need the money an then i ve and the old man s got my word i m stout to work aboard ship an he knows it the cap n does the old bishop he warned me against the cap n he said if t wa n t for him i d be master o a better vessel myself he works me hard an keeps me under i do believe the bishop s right about him and i d kept clear from drink often if t wa n t for the old man jim a little woman you ve you under said honest nobody ain t master over you when it comes to that you ve got to set your mind right against drink an the cap n jim it s so cursed hot in them islands jim explained you get spent and have to work right everything but i give you my honest word i bring you home my pay this trip at which promise the little woman gave a pleased sigh and moved her head as if for sheer comfort she tried to think whether there was anything else she could have done to the poor clothes in his battered sea chest then she fell asleep when she in the morning jim had laid her on the bed like a child and spread an old shawl over her and had gone at high tide in the early morning the dawn of day had come up from the wharf with a and sent a boat ashore for jim had never missed him as she did that morning she had never felt so sure of his loving her and had thinking to find herself still in his arms as she had fallen asleep there stood the empty chair by the window and through the window over beyond the jim s little woman she could see the gray sails of the standing out to sea oh jim jim and their little child was crying in the like a hungry bird its nest the poor little fellow and calling his father with pleading confidence jim liked the brave little lad when he was sober he always dressed up on sundays and took little jim and his mother for a walk sometimes they went to the old spanish burying ground and jim used to put the baby on his grandfather s great built strong over his grave like a little house and pick the moss from the with his great sea jack knife his mother had paid for the tomb she was laid at one side of it but jim had never built any tomb for her he meant to do it some time and always picked some flowers and green and laid them on the grave with its bits of crumbling at the head and foot in spite of a pain at her heart and a that jim would never come back from his unwilling voyage the little woman went up the lane boldly that late morning after he sailed she no longer feared the mocking smile and salutation of the neighbor in the balcony she went to her work jim s little woman cheerfully and sang over it one of her moody and hymns she made a pleasure for the other women who were washing too with her song aud her cheerful face she was such a little woman that she had a box to stand on while she washed but there never was such a	40
brisk little creature for work iii somehow everything in the next two months until the new baby came some young women hired all her spare rooms and paid well for their lodging besides being compassionate and ready to give a little lift with the when they had the time had never laid by so much money before and often spoke with pride of her handsome husband to the who had never seen him they were girls from the north and one of them had once worked in a factory one day wrote to her own old friend and asked her to come down by the steamer to and then the rest of the way by rail to make her a long visit there was plenty of hotel work in the town her themselves got good wages on george street jim s little woman jim was not skilled with his pen he never wrote to her when he went away but ever since they were married always had a dream one of the nights while he was gone in which she saw the s white sails against a blue sky and jim himself walking the deck to and fro holding his head high as he did when he was pleased she always saw the dawn of day coming safe into harbor in this dream but one day she thought with a sudden chill that for this voyage the good omen was lacking jim had taken the lucky shell along at any rate she could not it after he went away that was a little thing to be sure but it gave some comfort until one morning in shaking and brushing the old chair by the window out dropped the smooth white shell the luck had stayed with her instead of going with poor jim and the time was drawing near for his return the new baby was a dear little girl she knew that jim wanted a girl baby and now with the girl baby in her arms she began her weary watch for white sails beyond the the winter days dawned with blue skies and white clouds sailing over the town began to fill with strangers as got jim a little woman strong enough there was plenty of work waiting for her the two babies were a great deal too large and heavy for their little mother to tend they seemed to take after jim in size and to grow and took the proud step of help there was a quiet little colored girl an efficient of a who had minded babies for a white woman in lane and was not without sage experience had bought a the year before from a woman at one of the boarding houses who did not care to carry it north when she left the hired help in charge that first morning and hurried away to her own work the neighbor of the blue balcony stood in her lower doorway and bade her a polite good morning but jim s little woman s eyes glittered with strange light as she hurried on in the shadow of the high wall where the orange boughs hung over and beyond these great branches laden with golden clusters of she had not looked out of the window as she always liked to do before she left the house and she was sorry but there was no time to go back the old city of st had never been more picturesque and full of color than jim b little woman it was that morning its narrow with the wide overhanging upper that shaded them were busy and gay strangers strolled along stopping in groups before the open fronts of the fruit shops or were detained by eager of flowers and orange wood walking sticks there e shining shop windows full of photographs and of pink shell work and there were pink feather and birds in and strange shapes and colors of flowers and fruits and stuffed the narrow street was full of laughter and the sound of voices carriages along the pavement and boys and men rode by on quick wild little horses as if for dear life and to the frequent peril of persons on foot sometimes these small or cream colored marsh needed only a mane to prove their suspected descent from the little of the or their to those of the greek they were indeed a part of the of the city the high gray towers of the beautiful de hotel with their pointed red roofs were crowned with ornaments like the jim s little woman of the trees and looked up at them as she walked along and at the trees themselves hung with delicate green leaves like a veil spring seemed to come into the middle of summer in that country it was the middle of february but the season was very early there was a mocking bird trying its voice here and there in the gardens the wind tattered like wrecked were putting out fresh green leaves among their ragged ones there were roses and in bloom and the country carts were bringing in new vegetables from beyond the old city gates green and baskets of and and of golden were everywhere about the gray town down at the foot of the narrow lanes the bay looked smooth and blue and white sails flitted by as you stood and looked the great bell of the old cathedral had struck twelve and as entered the busy little soul that she was and in a hurry as usual she stopped full of a never northern wonder at the foreign sights and sounds the tall the with their spurs the gay strangers the three sisters of st joseph in their quaint garb of black and jim s little woman white who came from their parish school close by jim s little woman looked more than ever she always wore a short dress about her work	40
and her short crop of red curly hair stood out about her pale face under the round hat she had been thinking of jim and of her afternoon s and of a strange little old negro woman who had been looking out of a doorway on george street as she passed it seemed to as if this old withered creature could see ghosts in the street instead of the live by she never looked at anybody who passed but sometimes she stood there for an hour looking down the street and strange words to herself jim s little woman was not without her own she had been very miserable of late about jim and especially since she found his lucky shell if she could only see him coming home in her dream she had always dreamed of him before suddenly she became aware that all the little black boys were running through the streets like with single or limp over ripe of a dozen and she turned quickly running a few steps in her eagerness jim s little woman to see the bay why had she not looked that way before there at the pier were the tall and the black and green of the dawn of day she had come in that morning felt dizzy and had to lean for a minute against the old cathedral doorway there was a of music inside she heard it and lost it then it came again as her passed and she ran like a child down the street her hat blew off and she caught it with one hand but did not stop to put it on again the long pier was black with people down at the end next the and they were up over the side and from the deck there were red and white from the hotel in the middle of the crowd and a general hurry and excitement everybody but seemed to have known hours before that the was in perhaps she ought to go home first jim might be there now she could see the pretty baskets heaped on the top of the cabin and the shining colors of shells and gi een of for planting and the great white branches and heads of coral she could smell the ripe fruit in the hold and catch sight of some of the crew at last she was on the jim s little woman and somebody on deck swore a great oath under his breath boys he said in a loud whisper here s jim s little woman and two or three of them dropped quickly between decks and down into the hold rather than face her when she came on board there was nobody to b seen but the hard faced cabin boy whom she had taken care of in a fever as they came down from he had been driving a brisk trade with some ladies down in the captain s cabin where s jim gone said looking at him fiercely with her suspicious gray eyes you d better go ask the cap n said the boy he was two years older than when she first knew him but he looked much the same only a little harder then he remembered how good had been to him and that the old man was in a horrid temper he took hold of s thin little hand and got her away aft into the shadow and behind the s large boat look here he faltered i m awful sorry it s too bad but jim s dead jim s wife looked the young fellow straight jim s little woman in the face as if she were thinking about something else and had not heard him here sit right down on this box said the boy but would not sit down she had a dull sense that she must not stay any longer and that the sun was hot and that she not walk home along the alone i u go home with you said the boy giving hey a little push but she took hold of his hand and did not move say it over again what you said she insisted looking more and more strange her short red hair was blowing in the wind all about her face and her eyes had faded and faded until they looked almost white jim s dead said the hard looking boy who thought he should cry himself and wished that he were out of such a piece of business the people who had come to for shells began to look at them and to whisper he s dead he well he was as steady as a most all the time we was laying off o and the ol man could n t master him to go an drink by night and jim he would n t let me go ashore told me he d bout kill me an i him up an down for and he never hit me a back nor jim s little woman he was queer this voyage i never see him drunk but once when we first put into and then he was a afterwards and into he got dizzy turns and was took sick and laid in his while we was t was hot you never see it so hot an the ol man told how twas his the water that give him a fever an when he went oflf his head the old man got the l folks an they him ashore a an he was just his last the day we sailed we see his funeral as we come out o harbor they was goin out of him right off i ain t seen it myself but jim was the last ashore an he asked if t was our jim an they said twas they d sent word in the he was bout gone and we might s well sail	40
f we was ready jim saw his gasped the little woman he felt sure t was jim yes m you come home long o me folks is said the boy come now i u tell you some more goin along came with him through the crowd she held her hat in her hand and she went feeling her way as if she were blind down jim s little woman the plank when they reached the shore and had gone a short distance she turned and told the lad that he need not come any farther if he would bring his clothes over before the sailed she would mend them all up nice for him then she crept slowly along bay street the sun on the water at the right blinded her a little sometimes she stopped and leaned against the fence or a house front and so at last got home it was midday there was not a soul in the house and jim was dead that night she dreamed of a blue sky and white sails and jim with his head q walking the deck as he came into iv all the who lived by the and up and down the lanes and many of the strangers at the hotels heard of poor s trouble her poorest neighbors were the first to send a little purse that they had spared out of their small and then by and by some of the hotel jim s little woman people and those who were well to do in the town made her presents of money and of clothes for the children and even the neighbor of the balcony brought a cake and some all she had on her tree the night the news was known and put them on the table and was going away without a word but ran after her and kissed her for the poor soul s husband had been lost at sea and so they could weep together but after the dream everybody said that was hurt in her mind by the shock she could not cry for her own loss when she was told over and over about her s man she only said to the people who came that they were very kind and she was seeing trouble but she was sure that jim would come back she knew it by her dream they must wait and see she could not force them to take their money back and when she grew too tired and to plead about it any longer she put it together in a little box and hid it on a high cupboard shelf in the chimney there was a wonderful light of hope in her face in these days she kept the little black girl to tend the two babies and kept on with her own work everybody said that she was jim s little woman not quite right in the brain she was often pointed out to strangers in that spring season a quaint figure so small so wan and against the world for her secret certainty and hope never a man s footstep came by the house at night that she did not rouse and start with her heart beating wildly but one two three months went by and still she was alone once she went across the bay to the island babies baby carriage the small hired help and all and took the railway that leads down to the south beach it was a holiday and she hoped that from this southern point she might look far and catch sight of the returning sails of the old she would not listen to her own that jim had plenty of ways of getting home besides waiting for the dawn of day those who saw the little company strike out across the sand to the beach laughed at the sight the hired help pushed the empty with all the strength she could muster through the deep white sand and over the huge green serpent like vines that wound among the low carried the and the little boy by the other jim s little woman hand and sat down at the edge of the beach all alone while the children played in the sand or were pushed to and fro she strained her eyes after sails but only a bark was in sight to the northward beyond the bar and a was beating southward and far beyond that was a going steadily north and it was not the dawn of day all the time jim s little woman kept saying to herself i had the dream i had the dream jim will come home but as this miserable holiday ended and they left the great sand desert and the roar of the sea behind them she felt a new dread make her heart heavier than ever it had been before perhaps even the dream was mocking her and he was dead indeed then had need of comfort she believed that as long as she kept faith in her omen it would come true and yet her faith slowly in spite of everything it was a cruel test and she could not work as she used she felt the summer heat as she never had before all her old associations with the cool northern sea coast began to call her to come home she wondered if it would not do to go north for a while and wait for jim there the old friend had jim s little woman written that next winter she would come down for a visit and somehow longed to get home for a while and then they could come south together but at last she felt too tired and weak and gave up the thought if it were not for the children she could go to and find out all about jim she had sent him more than one	40
letter to but no answer came perhaps she would wait now until next summer and then go north with in the streets are often empty at midday and the old city seems deserted sometimes took the children and sat with them in the where it was shady often in the spring they all wandered up the white pavement of the street by the great hotel to see the gay spanish flags and to hear the band play in the gardens of the de but the band did not play as it used used to tell the eldest of the children that when his father came home he would take him sailing in the bay and the little fellow got a touching fashion of asking every morning if his father were coming that day it was a sad summer a sad summer knew that her neighbors thought her a little at last she v jim s little woman wondered if they were not right she began to be and at last she had to give up work altogether she hated the glare of the sun and the gay of the black people when she heard the sunset gun from the it startled her terribly she almost doubted sometimes whether she had really dreamed the dream one afternoon when the cars stopped at the st station was sitting in the old chair by the window looking out and thinking of her sorrow there was a vine about the window that a pretty shadow over the floor in the morning and it was dancing and waving in the light breeze that blows like a long soft breath and then stops at she saw nothing in the bay but a few small pleasure boats and there was nothing beyond the bar news had come some time before that the dawn of day had gone north again with yellow pine and the few other that came now and then to the port were away on the sea nobody knew where they came in as if they dropped out of the sky as far as was concerned she thought about jim as she sat there how good he was before sailed jim s little woman that last time and had really tried to keep his promise on board ship according to the cabin boy s story somehow jim was like the moon to her at first his spanish blood and the church gave an unknown side to his character that was always turned away but another side shone fair through his northern traits and of late she had under stood him as she never had before she used to be too smart spoken and too quick with him she saw it all now a quick man ought to have a wife with head enough to keep her own temper for his sake i couldn t help being born red headed thought with a wistful smile and then she was dreaming and and fell fast asleep the train had stopped in the station and among the strangers who got out was a very dark young man with broad shoulders and of uncommon height he was dressed in a sort of uniform and looked about him with a familiar smile as he strolled among the on the platform suddenly somebody caught him by the hand with a shout and there was an eager crowd about him in a minute jim here s dead jim i cried some one with a shrill laugh and there was a great jim s little woman no said jim i ain t dead what s tn matter with you all i ve been up north the best you ever see first we went in the gulf an over to why my wife know d i was goin i had a fellow write her from an not to expect me till i come i give him a quarter to do it she thinks you re dead no other folks says so an she won t word come by the that you was dead in l of a fever somebody explained in the and chatter they always was a pack o fools on that old dawn o day said jim contemptuously looking down the steep well clothed precipice of himself to the platform i don t sail with those kind o horse any more then he thought of with sudden intensity she never had got his letter he shouldered his great and strode away there was something queer about his behavior nobody could keep up with his long steps and his quick runs and away he went toward home jim s steps grew softer and slower as he went down the narrow lane he saw the log jim s little woman little house and its door wide open the woman in the blue balcony saw him and gave a little scream as if he were a ghost the minute his foot touched the deep worn step iu her sleep heard it and opened her eyes she had dreamed again at last of the blue sky and white sails she opened her eyes to see him standing there with his head up in the door jim not dead not dead but jim looking sober and dressed like a gentleman come home at last that evening they walked up bay street to king street and round the and home again through george street making a royal progress and being stopped by everybody they told the story over and over of its having been another sailor from a poor fellow who had died in that day alone in hospital jim himself had gone down to the gates of death and turned back there was a in harbor that had lost a hand and the owner saw handsome jim on the pier looking pale and and took a liking to him and found how well he knew the gulf and the islands so they	40
struck a bargain at once they had far south and then north again and jim only had leave to come home jim s little woman for a few days to bring away his little woman and the children because he was to keep with the and spend the summer in northern waters had always been wishing to make a visit up in where she came from jim his bright buttons and held his head higher than ever as if he had been told that she felt proud to show him to her friends he looked down at little affectionately it was very queer about that dream and other people s saying he was dead he must buy her a famous new before they started to go north she looked worn out and shabby it seemed all a miracle to but her dream was her dream and she felt as tall as jim himself as she remembered it as they went home at sunset they met the bishop who stopped before them and looked down at the little woman and then up at jim so you re doing well now my boy he said good to the great smiling fellow ah jim many s the prayer your pious mother said for you and i myself not a few come to mass and be a christian man for the sake of her god bless you my children and the good jim s little woman man went his wise and kindly way not knowing all their story either but knowing well and the sorrows and temptations of poor humanity it seemed to as if she had had time to grow old since the night jim went away and left her sleeping but the long misery was quickly fading out of her mind now that he was safe at home again in a few days more the old house was carefully shut and locked for the summer and they gave the key to the woman of the blue balcony the morning that they started northward caught a glimpse of the dawn of day coming in through the mist over the harbor bar she wisely said nothing to jim she thought with apprehension of the captain s usual the night he came into port she took a last look at the tall light house and remembered how it had her with its clear ray through many a dark and anxious night then she thought joyfully how soon she should see the far away spark on and the bright light of and presently the towers of st were left out of sight behind the level country and the southern pines the failure of david mr david kept his shop in a small wooden building in his own yard and worked steadily there a great many years being employed by a large company in at and men s boots there were many such small shoe shops as his scattered among the villages and along the country roads most of the farmers knew something of the trade and they and their sons worked in their warm little shops in winter when they had nothing else to do and so added a good deal of ready money to their narrow the great piled high with clean wooden shoe boxes came and went along the at regular times to deliver and collect the work many of the women bound shoes and sometimes in pleasant weather half a dozen friends came together with their bundles and had a bit of friendly gossip while they the little shops were only large the failure of david enough for the shoe benches with shiny leather seats and of small tools sprinkled with steel and wooden shoe and with ends for their and and lasts and the rusty raging little with a broken chair or two where or customers could make themselves permanently comfortable no woman s or had any right to the dusty of these belonged wholly to men and had a akin to together with a delightful definite sort of hospitality as warm as the atmosphere itself if there were not a broken pane of glass somewhere the door had to be left there were apt to be apples on the high window and any one might choose the best and eat it and throw the core down among the of leather the usually had a dog which an impartial tail at each new comer for the always sat in the same place and society came and found him there and told news and heard it and went away again there were some men who passed their time as guests m shops especially in winter the failure of david ill their wives were fortunate in having other sources of income and merely looked out for their rights in the matter of neighborhood news these guests were a distinct and recognized class there never were many of them and they each had a sufficient excuse for idleness either in their wives or some slight physical to active labor one cannot follow a farmer as he his in a and expect the time to be given to steady conversation but a sits all day and silently leather with his thin sharp knife at the receipt of custom and news he likes to have his time with idle talk he grows wise in many ways and deeply as he grows old the humble hero of this brief tale mr david was one of the and wisest and least prejudiced of you could not spend five minutes time with him and miss hearing some ever to be remembered piece of rural wisdom some light coin of country speech bearing the stamp of that where wit holds the hammer he was always an old looking man for the failure of david his years and as wise of countenance as a greek philosopher in the days when listened to sermons and on and argued excitedly for and	40
against the minister s opinions mr david though never a fierce could always keep the points and heads of the very clear in his mind he was much respected among the old of the town and always made judge s and general s best boots and patiently repaired the foot gear of halt the men and women of his neighborhood everything with him in early life his wife was busy and cheerful and helped him to earn though nobody could help him to save his steady business brought in enough work and custom work together to pay for their house and a bit of land in course of time but david was one who liked to give for giving s sake he believed with all his heart in foreign he considered the poor and was in every way a generous man people did not notice this trait at first because he never had large sums to give and one never looked for his cramped handwriting at the head of the failure of david a paper but you might always find it before you came to the end everything until he and his wife were far past middle life then they suddenly became aware that the growth of the town was leaving them at one side the tide of business had swept away from the old shoe shop sometimes mr did not have a customer all day and his wife came out with her sewing and sat on the to keep him company the had disappeared some had gone to another world and the rest evidently had followed the track of business they were off at the square looking at men who drove new horses by and tried to look unconscious at strangers who came from boston at the great brick walls of the new mills which were going to bring so much money to the town professional have no spirit of loyalty they find occupation in the occupation of others and they are fond of novelty business had gone to another part of the town and it was the sort of good sense to follow it one morning after much trotting back and forward an express wagon was backed up to the door of the lit the failure of david tie shoe shop in david s yard and loaded with the old shoe bench and the rusty stove and all the sole leather and old shoes and boots and the chairs and a great quantity of queer shaped wooden lasts and these were soon bestowed looking meagre enough in a narrow brick store down town the rent had been a great lion in the way to a man who had never paid any rent but mrs was sanguine and had no sentimental ties to the old shop which she had always complained of as a dirty place and a temptation to the of that neighborhood before long she succeeded in getting a good offer for the empty little building from a neighbor who was his hen house and could not understand why her husband was slow to seize upon such a good handful of ready money and even after he had taken it would not stay at home and lend a hand at the moving mrs declared that the yard looked a great deal better without the old shoe shop she could sit at her favorite window in the kitchen now where the light was best and look far down the street as she never could before to see the passing but david felt old and bewildered the failure of david in his new quarters the light was not nearly so good and his tools were scattered and he had to get up and cross the room half a dozen times in an hour when formerly he had only to reach to the shelf above his head or across to the cutting board he put up some signs in his window made for him long ago out of friendship by one of the whose only gift was one for ornamental boots and shoes repaired while you wait was the most prominent of these and brought the industrious little man a good many hurried of and some of his old friends followed him those who could afford to have their boots made still did so for david had won considerable renown for making comfortable shoes but almost every one in the fast growing extravagant little town thought it better to spend two dollars three times in the six months than five dollars once and boots and shoes were coming more and more into favor still there was work enough to do though life was not half so friendly and pleasant as it used to be and it always seemed strange to the little old man to take his long walk the failure of david down the street after breakfast and put the new key into the lock of an door mrs thought that her husband had lacked exercise and that his walk did him good she promoted him to a higher station of respectability in her own mind because he had a store down town even though that store was a queer little three place tucked in at the head of the street between two large blocks there was only north light in the new shop and this seemed strange to a man who had been like a piece of the leather he worked upon because small as the old shoe shop was there were five windows in it facing east and west and north besides the upper half of the door which was glazed and faced to the southward in dark weather as the autumn came on he had to light up early and the care of the three lamps which were necessary for the new place of business seemed very troublesome but he and away bravely the old bench and the and all the tools were familiar	40
if the surroundings were not he often said to himself that he should have felt like a king when he was a young to have had such a good and the failure of david outlook for business as this there was an opportunity besides for making new friends an sailor with a wooden leg came in one morning to have his one boot patched and the two men instantly recognized a capacity for comfortable companionship in one another david had made one wretched fishing voyage to the banks before he finally settled upon his tr de and this made him a more intelligent listener to the life history of a than was commonly to be found so the old sailor was in the best seat by the stove by the time winter had set in there was a poor little child too who came almost every day and sat by the work bench and watched the sharp knife and the round headed hammer the ends and the do their work mr had seen the little thing as he went to his work in the morning and it being natural to him to inspect people s shoes before he glanced at their faces he had been compassionate toward a worn out sole and offered his services at mending it the child put her little hand into his and they walked along together to the shop she was a poor little body and grateful for the warmth and for an apple but the mended the failure of david shoe she took quite as a matter of course ever since she had come every day for a while to sit beside the bench to run errands to love the kind old man and look at him eagerly but into what of the town she disappeared when she went out of the shop door he never knew it came into mr david s thoughts sometimes in the old shop how he had away on his bench year after year and how many men and women had kept him company for a time and then disappeared there had been six ministers of the parish to which he and his wife belonged and they had all gone away or died it sometimes s as if he were going to away forever just the same and the rest of the world change and change but in these later days the world outside seemed to fare on its prosperous and way while he was against change himself but for all that he liked many things in the new life he was doing more business if only the rent were not so high and mrs was completely satisfied with him which was most delightful of all she could not have treated him better if he had owned the whole new shoe factory that was just being the failure of david fitted with its machinery and office furniture some persons went so far as to suggest that david should apply for work there but his wife was scornful in the extreme and so to tell the truth was david himself since his days as and a few months spent as a in seeing the world he had been his own man some time went by and business seemed just as good and even the continuous stream of by in the street made the old feel as if he could not work fast enough to keep up with the times there was no question among mr david s friends about his prosperity his friend the doctor who said always and everywhere when he found opportunity that no in town understood the of the human foot as mr did looked at him sharply once or twice and asked if he got light enough and if he had a good appetite nowadays but there never was anything but an cheerful answer the change had been good on the whole and the rent was always paid on the day it was due though mrs forgot about it every quarter and could not the failure of david what her man did with his money think of the work he had now as much again as came to him in his shop in the yard she asked him sometimes if he spent it for nuts and remembering that in his early days he had yielded to such temptations but david colored and shook his head he did buy an apple or an orange for the little girl sometimes but he could not confess it even to his wife mrs sometimes looked into the place of business and once or twice had found the child there and asked all sorts of questions but the old man hastened to suggest another subject saying that she did no and kept some others out of that chair who would be in it and him if she were not when the little clerk s m grandmother kept her at home mr felt very lonely she was an odd silent child but they felt the warmth of each other s affection without a word being said and were contented in their opportunity of being together mr sometimes believed that if the grandmother should die from whom this stray little person ran away daily as a matter of course he should try to persuade his wife to give the child a home the failure of david before long mrs would need some one to help in the house but all this got no further than being a pleasant holiday flight of his imagination in the second year of mr david s occupation of the down town place of business he yielded to bad advice and enlarged his business sam the man who had bought the old shoe shop came in one night to get a pair of new boots and after beating the price down and honest david of nearly all his small profits under of hard times and being a	40
neighbor who had shown past about buying the building he sat down for a friendly talk saying that it was almost time for closing up and then they could walk home together david was glad to have a companion in his evening s journey of three quarters of a mile he used to go home to dinner at first but of late it seemed to keep him out of his shop just when the mill people were likely to wish to come in the little girl was apt to come in at noon and share his feast you ve got more room than you want here said the customer looking about with a air why don t the failure of david you put in some new stock why don t you keep ready made boots i can t recommend them to customers said the frowning you needn t recommend them they u be snapped up quick enough if you keep the prices low plenty of ways of getting round david said nothing and you are doing well as you are so what you could sell extra would be clear gain and draw in a sight o folks who don t come now i hear they sell second choice shoes at the factory for next to nothing my woman gets hers that way you see the thread break or the needle and make a scratch on the leather or there be some little defect and the shoe s just as good to wear but t won t do to put in the shipping cases i ain t goin to palm off no such stuff on folks that respect either me or themselves said mr david you can tell folks just what they be urged the poultry merchant some likes that kind the best i can lend ye something to start on just as soon lend ye as not the rose and put by his tools the failure of david and his apron but made no answer the little girl who was lingering late waited until he had put on his coat and hat and locked the door then put her hand into his and trotted at his side sam was amused at the sight but after they passed two or three squares the child slipped away silently down the side street i d think the matter over about extending your business he suggested again and this time david said gravely that he would think of it and ask mrs then he spoke decidedly about other matters but would hear no more of until they parted he went in at the side door of his little house and hung up his coat and hat in the narrow entry way before he opened the door of the kitchen mrs was putting some old fashioned shoe lasts into the stove she was dressed all in her best and there was a look of it was evident that she had company to tea step into the bedroom quick as you can david an put on a clean shirt and your best coat mis is here an her son s wife they come over from west farms in the stage and i over persuaded em to the failure of david spend the night i just run over and asked the to come too i ve been to invite them this great while you know they re some connection o the i can t make this fire burn no matter what i do them lasts is got too old fashioned even to bum there hold hold exclaimed david a treasure from the very jaws of the devouring stove that one ain t to be burnt it s a very particular last with me i won t have ye take any o those in the barrel they re all one to me said mrs laughing i wish barrel and all was out o my way come go and dress up david and have some ambition besides them old lasts she was very busy but she turned round to look at him you feel well don t you she asked anxiously disturbed by an un change in his looks now you re so well you might shut up shop for a week and go off and have a good visit somewhere i d like a change she pleaded there david you don t know how glad i be to have you out o that little shoe shop i feel so free to have company when i want it and not to stop and count every cent i m the failure of david going to make some o my best tea cakes the kind that takes six eggs david stood with the last in his hand looking at her and faintly smiling approval he was delighted when she was pleased with herself and him as she appeared to be to night then he turned and went into the bedroom and found his clean shirt and satin stock and sunday coat spread out for him on the bed after tea was over and the women had settled down to steady conversation sam returned to the subject of the extension of david s capital and david said that he had been thinking it over and believed it be no harm to try and work off a few dozen pairs of the factory shoes he had put by something for a rainy day though his rent him all the time and his wood bill had been double what he expected there was no place to store at the little shop and he had to buy a foot at a time at an increased price before the tea party broke up he had borrowed fifty dollars from sam there was nothing said about the interest not being put so high because they were neighbors david felt uneasy about this departure the failure of david from his rule of never money but he did	40
n t like to touch what they had in the bank it was little enough and yet his wife really wanted to feel better off now that she was in her prime himself he was older and would be contented to do without tea parties and the tea cakes that took six eggs but for several days mrs kept saying what makes you so dumb david and david would look at her with his slow smile and make no excuse for himself a year went slowly by in these plain lives and brought no change except that mrs had a long siege of illness and a woman had to be hired to take care of her and the doctor s considerate bill was paid and david that prudent saving man who had feared debt as if it were a tiger found himself likely to be with his rent and obliged for the first time to tell the parish that he could not pay the quarter s rent or his punctual missionary until next month the situation was not so terrible after all as he might have expected his wife was slowly recovering her strength and he had plenty of work to do the little three the failure of david shop was and he set himself to work again and felt as prosperous as usual as soon as he felt the old hammer in his hand the little girl was waiting about the door though he had not been there for several weeks except for an hour or two at a time he had forgotten his obligations to the business world in his cares of nursing and forlorn housekeeping but now as he assured the little clerk for lack of a wiser he had found a good woman who was glad to come and spend the rest of the winter she looked at him it never occurred to him to persuade her into more confiding speech because she always smiled at him when he looked up and smiled at her it is astonishing how one may feel secure in the presence of dreaded danger david became used to the surly calls of the rent agent and the wood and coal man and to sam s disagreeable to the money that was still owed on account david answered them all that they must give him a little time he had been in hard lately but was picking up his trade fast the ready made shoe business had not been successful and while he the failure of david was at home a in the roof ruined the best of the stock but he had managed to pay sam all but sixteen dollars of the fifty if it had not been his rule to pay the doctor s bill first after the minister s he might have been ready with his rent david never was quick handed he was growing slower every year and took great pains with his and patches at ten and fifteen cents each for his minor pieces of work it took a good while to earn a dollar give me a little time he always said i mean to pay ye i ve always paid my bills and asked no of any man now he worked as fast as he could and as long as he could and spring was coming on with the long days he could do even better one day sam an impetuous thoughtless sort of man who liked to have his own way about things and was rather fond of his petty met the rent of the property to which david s place of business belonged can you get anything out of old yet asked the rent no not yet he keeps promising i guess he pay but i m beginning to want the failure of david my money said as if he liked the reputation of having money out at interest t ain t our rule to keep tenants who get said the other he s getting along in years and all that it ain t a shop that s been called desirable heretofore but there s an italian fellow after it sharp that wants to keep fruit and i ve got to warn old out i guess one o these days ought to have been ashamed but he really felt a lurking sense of satisfaction the time had been when he had been in debt not to say disgrace which david had taken occasion to justly comment upon and the chance had now come to assist at david s own he might always have been steady at church a good neighbor and prompt of pay and able to look every man in the face but the welcome time had come to show him up as no better than other folks a few days afterward the mischief having been set in motion the blow fell out of a clear sky the wood and coal man heard a whisper of other debts and was quickly to the fore with his own account and the the failure of david shoe factory book keeper sent an insolent young fellow to demand instant pay for the last purchase of shoes although it wanted two weeks to the regular time of payment sam felt sorry when he into the little shop and saw his old neighbor s scared hurt face david was keeping on with his work out of sheer force of habit he did not know what his hands were doing his honest heart grew and heavier every minute with pain i was going to pay your bill to morrow sir he said to the rent i thought that ought to come first i ve been hard up for ready money but i ve got within two dollars of it he did not look at sam the rest of us has some rights said the shoe factory messenger loudly a crowd was gathering about the door the poor	40
little girl the little clerk began to cry there were angry voices somebody had brought a law paper in a few minutes it was all over like dying david had failed and they were putting up his shutters when he fairly comprehended the great the failure of david blow he stood up swaying a little just in front of the old shoe bench it ain t fair neighbors he said it ain t fair i had my rent most ready and i don t owe sam but sixteen dollars then he burst into tears pleasant old david with his gray head and stooping shoulders and the little crowd ceased staring and quickly disappeared as if they felt a sense of shame they say he owes everybody one man told another contemptuously david took his old hat at last and stepped out of the door the agent locked it and took the key himself and put it into his pocket send up your things this afternoon sir the law can t touch a man s tools you know he said but it was too late now for compassion to do david any good the old man walked feebly away holding the ragged little girl by her thin hand sam did not like the tone with which all his neighbors commented upon the news of mr s failure he explained carefully to every one that he felt sorry but of course he had to put iu his little bill with the failure of david the rest the whole sum of the old s came to less than a hundred dollars all the neighbors and friends rallied to show their sympathy and good will mr did not have much to say a look of patience under the blows of fate settled into his worn old face he had his shoe bench put into the kitchen and then wrote his name and occupation on a piece of paper and it to the gate he sent away the woman who took care of his wife though the good soul begged to stay and he worked on and on from earliest morning to latest night presently his wife was about again nervous and and ready to their altered fortunes to every customer after the first of business prompted by sympathy they seemed to be nearly forgotten again and the old skilled workman bent his pride so low as to beg for work at the shoe factory only to be contemptuously refused simply because he was old within a few months the doctor who had been as kind as a brother to david and his wife met sam going down the street and with a set look in his kind the failure of david face stopped his horse and beckoned to the poultry merchant sam stepped out to the roadside i ve just come from david s the doctor said and the good old man is going to die what do you mean asked sam staring indignantly he s going to die repeated the doctor and i make no accusation because i would rather believe you were thoughtless than malicious in shutting him up but you might have off his troubles by a single word you might have said you d stand security for his rent it broke his honest heart you ve seen yourself how he s grown twenty years older you took away his pride and you took away his living and now he s got a touch of and is going as fast as he can go i can t do anything for him his vitality is all spent the doctor shook his reins and drove on and went back to the very angry and somewhat dismayed nobody knew what made him so cross at home especially on the day that david died the day of the funeral he pushed away from the gate a tearful little girl who stood there the failure of david wistfully looking in he muttered something about children being and staring at such times and did not know that she was the silent little clerk who had a perfect right to count herself among the she watched everybody go into the house and waited until they came out and when the procession started she walked beside it along the all the way to the burying ground as a faithful little dog might have done the next week somebody hung out a small red flag and the neighbors gathered again to the mrs was broken in health and every one said that it was best for her to sell the house keeping some furniture for one room and go up country to live with a cousin everything else was sold the best room furniture of which the good people had been so proud the barrel of lasts the and round hammer the old shoe bench itself david was always slow and behind the times many people said he had been a good workman in his day but he ran into debt and failed and died and his wife had broken up housekeeping and gone to live up country hardly any one remembered to say that he paid all the failure of david his debts before he died with interest if there were any the world could think of him only as a man that had failed in business everybody missed him and his honest work unexpectedly the people who had been his near neighbors and received many at his hands whom he had watched with at night through their and always been friendly with by day even strangers missed his kind face as he passed their houses one day sam was standing in the old shoe shop which made a little shed outside his poultry yard and he happened to notice a bit of printed paper to the wall low down where it must have been close to the old shoe bench he	40
stooped to read it out of curiosity and found that it was only a verse out of the bible owe no man anything hut to love one another sam looked at it again then he walked away down the path with his hands behind him in a minute or two he came back took his jack knife out of his pocket and scratched the verse from the wall somehow there was no getting rid of one s thoughts about the old man he had the failure of david laughed once and told somebody that david could travel all day in a measure but now it seemed as if david marched down upon him from the skies with a great army of those who owed no man anything but love aud had paid their debt the passing of sister mrs mercy was of such firm persuasion that a house is meant to be lived in that during many years she was never known to leave her own neat two dwelling place on the ridge road yet being very fond of company in pleasant weather she often sat in the side doorway looking out on her green yard where the grass grew short and thick and was even by a path toward the steps all her faded green blinds were securely tied together and knotted on the inside by pieces of white but now and then when the sun was not too hot for her carpets she opened one window at a time for a few hours having pronounced views upon the necessity of light and air although mrs was acknowledged by her best friends to be a peculiar person and very set in her ways she was much respected and one acquaintance with another in making up for her melancholy the passing of sister seclusion by bringing her all the news they could gather she had been left alone many years before by the sudden death of her husband from and though she was by no means poor she had as some one said such a pretty way of taking a little present that you could n t help being pleased when you gave her anything for a lover of society such a life must have had its difficulties at times except that the ridge road was more than any other in the and mrs had invented a system of to which she always resorted in case of wishing to speak to some one of her neighbors the afternoon was wearing late one day toward the end of summer and mercy sat in her doorway dressed in a favorite light and a small shoulder shawl figured with large palm leaves she was making some of a somewhat intricate pattern she believed it to be the prettiest and most of and having decorated her own wardrobe in the course of unlimited leisure she was now making a few yards apiece for each of her more intimate friends so that they might have something to remember her by she tbe passing of sister kept glancing up the road as if she expected some one but the time went slowly by until at last a woman appeared to view walking fast and carrying a large bundle in a checked handkerchief then mercy worked steadily for a short time without looking up until the desired friend was crossing the grass between the dusty road and the steps tha visitor was out of breath and did not respond to the polite greeting of her until she had recovered herself to her satisfaction mrs made her the kind offer of a glass of water or a few but was answered only by a shake of the head so she resumed her work for a time until the silence should be broken i have come from the house of mourning said dow at last unexpectedly you don t tell me that sister she s left us this time she s really gone and the excited news burst into tears the poor soul was completely she looked tired and wan as if she had spent her forces in sympathy as well as hard work she felt in her great the passing of sister bundle for a pocket handkerchief but was not successful in the search and finally produced a faded apron with long narrow strings with which she hastily dried her tears the sad news appealed also to mercy who looked across to the apple trees and could not see them for a of tears in her own eyes the spectacle of dow going home with her humble possessions from the house where she had gone in haste only a few days before to care for a sick person well known to them both was a very sad sight you sent word yesterday that you should be early this afternoon and would stop i presume i received the message as you gave it asked mrs who was in such matters but i do declare i never looked to hear she was gone she s been right along about this time said the nurse she s taken no notice to speak of an been the o i may say i went there a tuesday her sisters both come back an of course i was expected to give up charge to them the passing of sister they re used to sickness an both such a name for bein great spoke with bitterness but mrs was reminded instantly of her own affairs i feel condemned that i ain t begun my own fall yet she said with an sigh plenty o time to worry about that her friend hastened to console her i do desire to have everything decent about my house resumed mrs there s nobody to do anything but me if i was to be taken away sudden myself i should n t want to have it said afterwards that there was under my or there i can	40
t dwell on my own troubles with sister s loss right before me i can t seem to believe she s really passed away she always was saying she should go in some o these but i deemed her to be troubled with dow shook her head i m all up myself she said i made light of her sickness when i went there first i d seen her what she called dreadful low so many times but i saw her looks this morning an i to believe her at last them sisters o hers is the the passing of sister master for hearts sister was a there an one of em was a right by her how difficult t was for her to leave home her niece was goin to to the high school an they was goin to have a time in the evening an all the exercises promised to be interesting poor sister knew what she said an looked at her with contempt an then she give a glance at me an closed up her eyes as if t was for the last time i know she felt it dow was more and more excited by a sense of bitter grievance her rule of the afflicted household had evidently been interfered with she was not accustomed to be ignored and set aside at such times her simple nature and uncommon ability found satisfaction in the exercise of authority but she had now left her post feeling hurt and wronged besides knowing something of the pain of honest affliction if it had n t been for sister as i always have done i should have told em no an held to it when they asked me to come back an watch to night t ain t for none o their but sister was a good friend to me in her way tbe passing of sister broke down once more and felt in her bundle again hastily but the handkerchief was again while a small object fell out upon the with a t ain t but a little taste cake i spared out o the loaf i baked this she explained with a blush i was so out that i seemed to want to turn my hand to useful an feel i was still for sister try a little piece won t you mis i thought it seemed light an good they shared the taste cake with serious enjoyment and pronounced it very good indeed when they had finished and shaken the out of their there s nobody but you shall come an do for me at the last if i can have my way about things said mercy she meant it for a tribute to miss dow s character and general ability and as such it was meekly accepted you re a younger person than i be an less wore said but she felt better now that she had rested and her powers seemed to be refreshed by her share of the little cake doctor has behaved real pretty i can say the passing of sister that she continued presently in a mournful tone heretofore in the sickness of sister i have always felt to hope certain that she would survive she s recovered from a sight o things in her day she has been the first to have all the new diseases that s visited this region i know she had the months before there was any other case about observed mrs with satisfaction an the new throat troubles all of em agreed an has made trial of all the best patent an could tell ou their merits as no one else could in this vicinity she never was one that depended on alone though she considered em extremely useful in some cases everybody has their as we know but i m free to say that sister sometimes done everything she could to kill herself with such ways o she must see it now she s gone an can t stuff down no more dow burst out suddenly with this as if she could no longer contain her honest opinion there there you re all worked up answered placid mercy looking more interested than ever the passing of sister an she was dreadful handy to talk religion to other folks but i ve come to a sense that religion is besides opinions she an elder french has been mostly of one mind but i don t know s they ve got hold of all the religion there is why why exclaimed mrs but there was still something in her tone that urged the speaker to further expression of her feelings the good creature was much excited her face was clouded with i ain t about their good points either she went on in a more subdued tone and suddenly stopped be done away with soon or late o elder french s kind announced mercy after waiting to see if her guest did not mean to say anything more i should like to read em out that verse another fashion be ye o the word not only would hit it about right but there it s easy for all of us to talk in my early days i used to like to get out to regular because sure as i did n t i had bad luck all the week i did n t feel less i d been half a day the passing of sister but i was out all day the sabbath before mr died as he did so you mean to say that sister s really gone mrs s tone changed to one of real concern and her manner indicated that she had put the preceding conversation behind her with decision she was herself to the last instantly responded miss dow i see her put out a thumb an finger from under the spread an pinch up a fold of her sister s dress	40
of knowledge has died with her she added coming into the room and seeming to make it lighter there she knew a good deal but she the passing of sister did n t know all especially o insisted from the rocking chair with an unexpected little laugh she used to lay down the law to me as if i had neither sense nor experience but when it came to her bad she d always send for me it takes everybody to know everything but sister was of an opinion that her information was sufficient for the town she was me the day i went there how she disliked to have old mis come an visit with her an remarked that she called mis very went right down on her knees an prayed says she anybody would have thought i was a heathen but i kind of her s an told her i supposed the old lady meant well did she give away any of her things mis i mean inquired mrs not in my replied dow except one day the first of the week she told her oldest sister mis t was that first day she rode over that she might have her green you see it was a rainy day an mis had complained o f thin she the passing of sister went right up an got it and put it on an wore it off an i m sure i thought no more about it until i heard sister dreadful in the night i got right up to see what the matter was an what do you think but she was that back and not thinking any too well o for it when t was offered never showed no sense o propriety says sister i just wish you d heard her go on i if she had felt to remember me continued after they had laughed a little i d full as soon have some of her nice ware she told me once years ago when i was to tea with her an we were it real friendly that she should leave me her tea set but i ain t got it in and i can t say she s ever referred to the matter since it ain t as if i had a home o my own to keep it in but i should have thought a great deal of it for her sake and the speaker s voice faltered i must say that with all her virtues she never was a first class housekeeper but i would n t say it to any but a friend you never eat no preserves o hers that wa n t to work an you know the passing of sister as well as i how little she had about putting away her i sat behind her once in when i was with the and so occupied a seat in their an i see between ten an a dozen come out o her fur they was round her bonnet same s t was a lamp i should be to death to have such a thing happen to me every housekeeper has her weak point i ve got mine as much as anybody else acknowledged mercy with spirit but you never see no come out o me in a public place ain t your oven beginning to get anxiously inquired dow who was sitting more in the draught and could not bear to have any accident happen to the supper mrs flew to a s rescue and presently called her guest to the table the two women sat down to deep and cups of tea noticed with great gratification that her hostess had put on two of the best tea cups and some preserves it was not an supper she was used to hard fare poor the passing of sister hard working and this handsome social attention did her good sister rarely entertained a friend and it would be a pleasure to speak of the tea drinking for weeks to come you ve put yourself out quite a able for me she acknowledged how pretty these cups is you ought n t to use em so common as for me i wish i had a home i could really call my own to ask you to but t ain t never been so i could sometimes i wonder what s goin to become o me when i get so i m past work care o sick folks an bein in houses where there s a sight goin on an everybody in a hurry kind of wears on me now i m most a in years i was the other day that i could get with some comfortable kind of a sick person where i could live right along quiet as other folks do but folks never sends for me less they re drove to it i ain t laid up anything to really depend upon the situation appealed to mercy well to do as she was and not with she stirred uneasily in her chair but could not bring herself to the point of offering the home she the passing of sister have some hot tea she insisted in a matter of fact tone and s face which had been lighted by a sudden eager grew dull and narrow again plenty plenty mis she said sadly t is beautiful tea you always have good tea but she could not turn her thoughts from her own uncertain future none of our folks has ever lived to be a burden she said presently in a pathetic tone putting down her cup my mother was thought to be doing well until four o clock an was dead at ten my aunt came to our house well at twelve o clock an died that afternoon my father was sick but ten days there was dear sister she did go in consumption but	40
t wa n t an expensive sickness i ve thought sometimes about you how you d get past from house to house one o these days i guess your friends will stand by you mrs spoke with unwonted sympathy and s heart leaped with joy you re real kind she said simply there s nobody i set so much by but i shall miss sister when all s said an done she s asked me many a time to stop the passing of sister with her when i was n t we all have our s but she was a friendly i sha n t want to see her laid away yes i was a few minutes ago that i should n t want to look out an see the funeral go by she s one o the old neighbors i s pose i shall have to look or i should n t feel right afterward said mrs mournfully if i had n t got so kind of she added with touching frankness i d just as soon go over with you an offer to watch this night t would astonish sister so i don t know but she d return s eyes danced with amusement she could not resist her own joke and mercy herself had to smile now i must be goin or t will be dark said the guest rising and sighing after she had eaten her last of yes thank ye you re real good i will come back if i find i ain t wanted look what a pretty sky there is and the two friends went to the side door and stood together in a moment of affectionate silence looking out toward the sunset across the wide fields the country was still with that the passing of sister deep rural stillness which seems to mean the absence of humanity only the were singing far away in the woods beyond the orchard and some were flying over and once loudly as if they were speaking to the women at the door just as the friends were parting after most grateful from dow some one came driving along the road in a hurry and stopped who s that with you mis called one of their near neighbors it s dow answered mrs what s the matter i thought so but i could n t rightly see come they are in a o trouble up to sister s where you be grumbled the man they can t do with her she s drove off everybody an keeps a for you come step along do sister exclaimed both the women mercy sank down upon the but stepped out upon the grass all of a tremble and went toward the wagon they said this afternoon that sister was gone she managed to say what did they mean the passing of sister gone where asked the impatient neighbor i expect t was one of her she s come to they say she wants hearty for her tea nobody can t take one step till you get there neither was still dazed she returned to the doorway where mercy sat shaking with laughter i don t know but we might as well laugh as cry she said in an sort of way i know you too well to think you re going to repeat a single word well i get my bonnet an start i expect i ve got considerable to cope with but i m well rested good night mis i certain did have a beautiful tea whatever the e may have in store she wore a solemn expression as she into the wagon in haste and departed but she was far out of sight when mercy stopped laughing and went into the house miss s guest i old miss put on her silk shawl and arranged it carefully over her thin shoulders and pinned it with a hand that shook a little as if she were much excited she bent forward to examine the shawl in the mahogany framed mirror for there was a and tender spot in the silk where she had pinned it so many years the shawl was very old it had been her mother s and she disliked to wear it too often but she never could make up her mind to go out into the street in summer as some of her neighbors did with nothing over her shoulders at all next she put on her bonnet and tried to set it straight allowing for a wave in the looking glass that made one side of her face appear much longer than the other then she drew on a pair of well silk gloves one had a wide crack all the way up the back of the hand but they were still neat miss s guest and decent for every day wear if she were careful to keep her left hand under the edge of the shawl she had discussed the propriety of drawing the silk together but a thick would look very ugly and there was something accidental about the crack then after hesitating a few moments she took a small piece of folded white from the table and went out of the house the door and trying it and stepped away bravely down the street everybody said how do you do miss or good every one in knew the good woman she was one of the persons always to be found in her place and always pleased and friendly and ready to take an interest in old and young she and her mother who had early been left a widow had been for many years the village and makers of little boys clothes mrs had been dead three years however and her daughter as old friends called our heroine had lived quite alone she was made very sorrowful by her loneliness but she never could be persuaded to take anybody to board	40
pleading old face before her i m sure you are most kind dear friend she answered and i do have a great deal to do i u bring you two or three things to night that are beyond my art as i go to evening meeting mr out his best coat sleeve yesterday and i was for we had counted upon his not having a new one before the fall t would be mere play to me said miss and presently she went smiling down the street s guest ii the committee for the country week in a certain ward of boston were considering the long list of children and mothers with babies and sewing women who were looking forward some of them for the first time in many years to a country holiday some were to go as guests to hospitable generous that opened their doors willingly now and then to tired city people for some persons board could be paid the immediate arrangements of that time were settled at last except that mrs the suddenly took a letter from her pocket i had almost forgotten this she said it is another place offered in dear quiet old my friend the minister s wife there writes me a word about it the desires especially an old person being used to the care of an aged parent and sure of ber power of making such a one comfortable and she would like to have her guest come as soon as possible my friend asks me to choose a person of some ment one who would appreciate the delicate simplicity and quaint ways of the hostess miss s guest mrs glanced hurriedly down the page i believe that s all she said how about that nice old sewing woman mrs in street oh no some one entreated looking up from her writing why is n t it just the place for my old mr the dear old englishman who lives alone up four flights in town court and has the he used to and his eyes gave out and he is so with his own bit of and an of a some one pays his expenses to the country and this sounds like a place he would be sure to like i ve been watching for the right chance take it then said the busy and there was a little more writing and talking and then the committee meeting was over which settled miss s fate iii the journey to was a great experience to mr he was a sensible old person who knew well that he was getting and than need be in his garret and that as certain friends had said a miss s guest short time spent in the country would cheer and him there had been occasional that he should leave his garret altogether and go to the country to live or at least to the of the city he could not see things close at hand so well as he could take a wide outlook and as his outlook from the one garret window was a still higher brick wall and many chimneys he was losing a great deal that he might have had but so long as he was expected to take an interest in the unseen and unknown he failed to to any plans about the country home and declared that he was well enough in his high abode he had lost a sister a few years before who had been his but with his hands so well used to delicate work he had been less in his simple household affairs than many another man might have bt n but he was very lonely and was growing anxious as he was rattled along in the train toward he held the s cage fast with both hands and said to himself now and then this may lead to something the country air smells very good to me the station was not very far out of the village so that miss miss s guest put on her silk shawl and bonnet and gloves just before four o clock that afternoon and went to meet her country week guest word had come the day before that the person for miss s would start two days in advance of the little company of children and helpless women and since this message had come from the miss had worked diligently late and early to have her house in proper order whatever her mother had liked was thought of and provided there were going to be for tea and there were some of and sweet in an old fashioned wine glass on the keeping room table mother always said they were so and miss had taken out a little and folded it over the arm of the rocking chair by the window that looked out into the small garden where the was in full bloom and the had just begun to climb miss was sixty four herself but still looked upon age as well in the distance she was always a prompt person and had some minutes to wait at the station then the time passed and tlie train was late at last she saw the smoke far in the distance and miss e steer s guest her heart began to sink perhaps she would not find it easy to get on with the old lady and well it was only for a week and she had thought it right and best to take such a step and now it would soon be over the train stopped and there was no old lady at all miss had stood far back to get away from the smoke and roar she was always as afraid of the cars as she be but as they moved away she took a few steps forward to the platform there was no black bonnet with a worn lace veil and	40
no old lady with a burden of bundles there were only the station master and two or three men and an idle boy or two and one bent old man with a bird cage in one hand and an old carpet bag in the other she thought of the short cakes for supper and all that she had done to make her small home pleasant and her fire of excitement suddenly fell into ashes the old man with the bird cage suddenly turned toward her can you direct me to miss s said he i can replied miss looking at him with curiosity i was directed to her house said the s guest pleasant old fellow by mrs of the country week committee my is poor i should be glad if anybody would help me to find the place you step this way with me sir said miss she was afraid that the men on the platform heard every word they said but nobody took particular notice and off they walked down the road together miss was enraged with the country week committee you were sent to miss s she asked grimly turning to look at him i was indeed said mr i am miss and i expected an old lady she managed to say and they both stopped and looked at each other with apprehension i do declare faltered the old seal anxiously what had i better do ma am they most certain give me your name may be you could recommend me else an i can get home to morrow if t ain t convenient they were standing under a willow tree in the shade mr took off his heavy hat it was a silk hat of by gone shape a golden robin began to sing high in the willow and miss s guest the old and in the cage miss heard some footsteps coming behind them along the road she changed color she tried to remember that she was a woman of mature years and considerable experience t ain t a o matter sir she said cheerfully i guess you find everything comfortable for you and they turned much relieved and walked along together that s lawyer s house she said calmly a minute afterward the place in town we think t is and mr answered politely that was a pretty place he had not been out of the city for so many years that everything looked beautiful as a picture iv miss rapidly recovered her composure and bent her energies to the preparing of an early tea she showed her guest to the snug bedroom under the low roof and when she for his having to go upstairs he begged her to remember that it was nothing but a step to a man who was miss s guest used to four long flights they were both excited at finding a proper nail for the outside the window though miss said that she should love to have the pretty bird downstairs where they could see it and hear it sing she said to herself over and over that if she have her long lost brother come home from sea she should like to have him look and behave as gentle and kind as mr somehow she found herself singing a hymn as she mixed and stirred the short cakes she could not help wishing that her mother were there to enjoy this surprise but it did seem very odd after so many years to have a man in the house it had not happened for fifteen years at least when they had entertained sparks and wife from the neighboring town of east to the county conference the neighbors did not laugh at miss openly or cause her to blush with however much they may have discussed the situation and smiled behind her back she took the presence of her guest with delighted simplicity and the country week was extended to a fortnight and then to a month at last one day miss miss s guest and mr were seen on their way to the railroad station with a large bundle apiece beside the carpet bag though some one noticed that the was left behind miss came back alone looking very and lonely and if the truth must be known she found her house too solitary she looked into the where there was a great store of neatly piled and her water was filled to the brim her garden paths were clean of weeds and swept and yet everywhere she looked it seemed more lonely than ever she pinned on her shawl again and went along the street to the my old lady s just gone she said to the minister s wife i was so i could not stay in the house you found him a very pleasant visitor did n t you miss asked mrs laughing a little i did so he wa n t like other men kind and friendly and and never stayed round when i was occupied but entertained himself down street considerable an was as industrious as a bee always asking me if there wa n t something he could do about house he and a sister some years older miss s guest used to keep house together and it was her long sickness used up what they d saved and yet he s got a little and there are friends he used to work for a big firm that gives him regular he s goin to see and miss blushed crimson he s goin to see if they d be to pay it just the same if he come to reside in he thinks the air with him here does he indeed inquired the minister s wife with deep interest and a look of amusement yes m said miss simply but don t you go an say yet i don t want folks to make a	40
joke of it seems to me if he does feel to come back and remains of the same mind he went away we might be judicious to take the step why miss exclaimed the listener not till fall not tiu f au said miss hastily i ain t going to count on it too much anyway i expect we could get along there s considerable goodness left in me and you can always work better when you ve got somebody beside yourself to work for there now i ve told you i feel as if i was blown away in a gale miss s guest why i don t know what to say at such a piece of news exclaimed mrs again i don t know s there s anything to say gravely answered miss but i did laugh just now coming in the gate to think what a i got into the day i fetched you that piece of paper why i must go right and tell mr said the minister s wife oh don t you mis no no begged miss looking quite and girlish i really don t know s it s quite settled it don t seem s if it could be i m going to hear from him in the course of a week but i suppose he thinks it s settled he s left the bird the flight of lane i one windy morning in may three old women sat together near an open window in the shed chamber of poor house the wind was from the but their window faced the and they were only visited by an occasional pleasant of fresh air they were close together knee to knee picking over a of beans and commanding a view of the green yard below and of the winding sandy road that led to the village two miles away some captive bees were scolding among the of the overhead or against the upper panes of glass two were from the where some of the men were at work a cart and shouting as if every one were deaf there was a cheerful feeling of activity and even an air of comfort about the poor house almost every one the flight of lane was possessed of a most interesting past though there was less to be said about the future the inmates were by no means distressed or unhappy many of them retired to this shelter only for the winter season and would go out presently some to begin such work as they could still do others to live in their own small houses old age had most of them by their power of endurance but far from the fact that they were town charges they rather liked the change and excitement a winter residence on the poor farm there was a sharp faced hard worked young widow with seven children who was an exception to the general level of society because she the change in her fortunes the older women regarded her with suspicion and were apt to talk about her in moments like this when they happened to sit together at their work the three were dressed alike in stout brown checked by a white line and all wore great faded of blue with sufficient pockets convenient to the right hand miss bond was a very small looking person who wore a huge pair of steel bowed spectacles the flight of lane holding her sharp chin weu up in air as if to an inadequate nose she was more than half blind but the spectacles seemed to face upward instead of square ahead as if their were always on the sharp for birds miss bond had suffered much personal damage from time to time because she never took heed where she planted her feet and so was always and her bruised way through the world she had fallen down and and stepped into deep and pasture but she was proud of stating that she was and so was her father before her at the where an unusual malady was considered a distinction was looked upon as a most honorable infirmity plain such as afflicted aunt dow whose twisted hands found even this light work difficult and tiresome plain was something of every day occurrence and nobody cared to hear about it poor was a meek and friendly who never put herself forward she was just like other folks as she always loved to say but mrs dow was a different sort of person altogether of great dignity and the flight of lane almost behavior the time had been when she could do a good day s work with anybody but for many years now she had not left the town farm being too badly crippled to work she had no relations or friends to visit but from an innate love of authority she could not submit to being one of those who are forgotten by the world mrs dow was the hostess and social here where she remembered every and every item of interest for nearly forty years besides an immense amount of town history and biography for three or four generations back she was the dear friend of the third woman lane together they led thought and opinion chiefly opinion and held sway not only over poor farm but also the and all others in authority lane had spent most of her life as aid in general to the respected household of old general she had been much trusted and valued and at the breaking up of that once large and flourishing family she had been left in good circumstances what with and her own comfortable but by sad misfortune and lavish generosity everything had been scattered and the flight of lane after much illness which ended in a arm and more uncertainty the good soul had sensibly decided that it was easier for the	40
whole town to support her than for a part of it she had always hoped to see something of the world before she died she came of an adventurous stock but had never made a longer journey than to the towns of and thirty miles away they were all old women but lane who was sixty nine and looked much older was the youngest bond was far on in the and mrs dow was at least ten years older she made a great secret of her years and as she sometimes spoke of events prior to the revolution with the assertion of having been an eye witness she naturally wore an air of vast antiquity her tales were an delight to lane who felt younger by twenty years because her friend and comrade was so unconscious of the basket of beans was within easy reach and each of the had filled her lap from it again and again the shed chamber was not an unpleasant place in which to sit at work with its traces of seed corn hanging from the brown cross the flight of lane beams its spare and dusty loom and wool wheels and a few bits of old furniture in one far corner was a wide board of dismal use and suggestion and close beside it an old cradle there was a battered chest of drawers where the keeper of the poor house kept his garden seeds with the withered remains of three seed the top nothing beautiful could be discovered nothing interesting but there was something and homely about the place it was the favorite and bower of the to which they might retreat from the public apartments of this rustic institution lane blew away the from her handful of beans the spring breeze blew the back again and it over her face and shoulders she rubbed it out of her eyes impatiently and happened to notice old holding her own handful high as if it were an and turning her queer up head this way and that to look at the beans sharply as if she were first cousin to a hen there miss bond t is kind of work for you ain t it inquired the flight of lane i feel to enjoy it anything that i can do my own way so responded i like to do my part ain t that old mis tales up the road it sounds like her step the others looked but they were not and for a moment had the advantage mrs tales was not a favorite i hope she ain t here to put up this spring i guess she won t now it s so late said lane she likes to go soon as the roads is settled t is mis tales said bond listening with solemn anxiety there do let s pray her by i guess she s for her cousin s folks up hill way said presently if she d left her daughter s this she d have got just about as far as this i kind o wish she had stepped in just to pass the time o day long s she wa n t going to make no stop there was a silence as to further speech in the shed chamber and even the were quiet in the the men had all gone away to the field where corn planting was going on the beans steadily into the wooden measure at the feet the flight of lane lane began to sing a hymn and the others joined in as best they might like their voices were harp and cracked with now and then a few low notes of plaintive tone herself could sing pretty well but the others could only make a kind of accompaniment their voices ceased altogether at the higher notes oh my i wish i had the means to go to the mourned lane stopping so suddenly that the others had to go on and without her for a moment before they could stop it seems to me as if i can t die happy less i do she added i ain t never seen of the world an here i be what if you was as old as i be suggested mrs dow you ve got time enough yet don t you go an despair i of a woman that went clean round the world four times when she was past eighty an enjoyed herself real well her folks followed the sea she had three sons an a daughter married all and she d been with her own husband when they was young she was left a early and fetched up her family herself a real smart woman after the flight of lane they d got married off an settled an was doing well she come to be and first she tried to stick it out alone but she wa n t one that could an she got a notion she had n t before her but her last sickness and she wa n t a person that enjoyed other folks do for her so one on her boys i guess twas the oldest said he was going to take her to sea there was ample room an he was a good time o year for the cape o good hope an way up to some o them tea ports in the seas she was all high to go but it made a sight o talk at her age an the minister made it a subject o prayer the last sunday and all the folks took a last leave but she said to some she d fetch em home something and so did an then they come home t other way round the horn an she done so well an was such a sight o company the other child n was jealous an she promised she d go a v y ge	40
long o each on em she was as a person as ever i see an could speak well o what she d seen did she die to sea asked with interest no she died to home between v y the flight of lane or she d gone to sea again i was to her funeral she liked her son george s ship the best t was the one she was going on to they said the men aboard all called her ma am an she em mended up an would go below and tend to em if they was sick she might a been alive an of herself a good many years but for the kick of a cow t was a new cow out of a drove a dreadful beast mrs dow stopped for breath and reached down for a new supply of beans her empty apron was gray with soft lane still pondering on the began to sing another verse of her hymn and again the old women joined her at this moment some strangers came driving round into the yard from the front of the house the turf was soft and our friends did not hear the horses steps their voices cracked and it was a funny little concert and a lady in an open carriage just below listened with sympathy and amusement ii i miss lane a voice called eagerly at the foot of the stairs that the flight of lane led up from the shed there s a lady here wants to see you right away was dazed with excitement like a country child who knows the rare pleasure of being called out of school lor i ain t fit to go down be i she faltered looking anxiously at her friends but was gazing even nearer to the than usual in her excited effort to see down into the yard and mrs dow only nodded somewhat and said that she guessed t was nobody would do her any harm she rose while hesitated being as they would have said all of a it is a lady certain mrs dow assured her t ain t often there s a lady comes here while there was any of mis gen s folks left i wa n t without visits from the gentry said lane turning back proudly at the head of the stairs with a touch of old world pride and sense of high station then she disappeared and closed the door behind her at the stair foot with a decision quite unwelcome to the friends above she need n t a been so dreadful anybody was goin to listen i guess we ve the flight of lane got folks to ride an see us or had once if we t now said miss bond i expect t was only the wind it to said aunt is one that easier than some i wish t was somebody to take her off an give her a kind of a good time she s young to settle down long of old folks like us s got a notion o such as ain t my but i should like to see her satisfied she d been a very person if she had the advantages that some does t is so said bond her chin high i suppose you can t hear they re saying i feel my ain t up to it was i can hear things close to me well as ever but there ain t everything t ain t as if we lived where there was more goin on to hear seems to me them folks is a good while they surely be agreed dow i expect it s particular there ain t none of the folks left except one o the an i ve often heard remark that she should never see her more for she lives to london strange how folks feels contented in them the flight of lane places off to the ends of the the flies and bees were against the hot window panes the of beans were into the brown wooden measure a bird came and perched on the window sill and then flitted away toward the blue sky below in the yard lane stood talking with the lady she had put her blue apron over her head and her face was shining with delight lor dear she said for at least the third time i remember ye when i first see ye an awful baby you was an they all said you looked just like the old gen be you goin back to foreign parts right away yes i m going back you know that all my children are there i wish i could take you with me for a visit said the charming young guest i m going to carry over some of the pictures and furniture from the old house i did n t care half so much for them when i was younger as i do now perhaps next summer we shall all come over for a while i should like to see girls and boys playing under the pines i wish you re was to the old the flight of lane place said lane her was not swift she needed time to think over all that was being told her and she could not fancy the two strange houses across the sea the old house was to her mind the most delightful and elegant in the world is there anything i can do for you asked mrs kindly anything that i can do for you myself before i go away i shall be writing to you and sending some pictures of the children and you must let me know how you are getting on yes there is one thing if you could stop in the village an pick me out a little small glass that i can keep for my own an have to remember you	40
by t ain t that i want to set me above the rest o the folks but i was always used to my own when i was to your s there s very nice folks here some on em and i m better off than if i was able to keep house but you ask me that s the only thing i feel about what be you goin right back for ain t you goin to see the great fair to that everybody talks about no said mrs laughing at the flight of lane this eager and almost question no i m going back next week if i were i believe that i should take you with me good by dear old you make me feel as if i were a little girl again you look just the same for full five minutes the old woman stood out in the sunshine dazed with delight and majestic with a sense of her own consequence she held something tight in her hand without thinking what it might be but just as the friendly mistress of the came out to hear the news she tucked the roll of money into the bosom of her brown dress t was my dear mis she turned to say proudly she come way over from london she s been sick they thought the voyage would do her good she said most the first thing she had on her mind was to come an find me and see how i was an if i was comfortable an now she s goin right back she s got two splendid houses an said how she wished i was there to look after things she remembered i was always her ma s right hand oh it does so carry me back to see her seems if all the rest on em must be there together to the old the flight of lane house there i must go right up an tell mis dow an dinner s all ready i was just goin to blow the horn for the men folks said the keeper s wife they be right down i expect you ve got along smart with them beans all three of you together but s mind so high and so far at that moment that no achievements of could it back iii the long table in the great kitchen soon gathered its company of and creatures of and misfortune and the victims of old age the dinner was satisfactory and there was not much delay for conversation bond and mrs dow and lane always sat together at one end with an air of putting the rest of the company below the salt was still flushed with excitement in fact she could not eat as much as usual and she looked up from time to time as if she were likely to be asked to speak of her guest but everybody was hungry and the flight of lane even mrs dow broke in upon some attempted confidences by asking for a second there were nearly twenty at the table counting the keeper and his wife and two children noisy little persons who had come from school with the small flock belonging to the poor widow who sat just opposite our friends she finished her dinner before any one else and pushed her chair back she always helped with the a thin sorry bad poor soul whom grief had sharpened instead of softening i expect you feel too fine to set with common folks she said to here i be a responded calmly i don know s i behave more than usual herself upon her good and proper manners but the rest of the company who would have liked to hear the bit of morning news were now of that pleasure the wrong note had been struck there was a silence after the clatter of knives and plates and one by one the cheerful town charges disappeared the picking had been finished and there was a call for any of the women who felt like planting corn so bond who the flight of lane could follow the line of hills pretty fairly and herself who was still equal to anybody at that work and mrs dow all went out to the field together aunt labored slowly up the yard carrying a light kitchen chair and her knitting work and sat near the stone wall on a gentle rise where she could see the pond and the green country and exchange a word with her friends as they came and went up and down the rows vouchsafed a word now and then about mrs but you would have thought that she had been suddenly elevated to mrs s own cares and the attending them and had little in common with her old associates mrs dow and knew well that these high feeling times never lasted long and so they waited with as much patience as they could muster they were by no means without that true tact which is only another word for unselfish sympathy the strip of corn land ran along the side of a great field at the upper end of it was a field corner thicket of young and the children of a great that marked the boundary once when lane found herself alone near this the flight of lane shelter at the end of her row the other having behind beyond the rising ground she looked stealthily about and then put her hand inside her gown and for the first time took out the money that mrs had given her she turned it over and over with an astonished look there were new bank bills for a hundred dollars gave funny little shrug of her shoulders came out of the bushes and took a step or two on the narrow edge of turf as if she were going to dance then she hastily tucked away	40
her treasure and stepped down into the soft and land and began to drop corn again five to a hill she had seen the top of bond s head over the and now herself came entirely into view gazing upward to the skies and stumbling more or less but counting the corn by touch and twisting her head about anxiously to gain advantage over her uncertain vision made a friendly inarticulate little sound as they passed she was thinking that somebody said once that s might be if she could go to boston to the hospital but that was so remote and impossible an undertaking that no one had the flight of lane ever taken the first step lane s brown old face suddenly worked with excitement but in a moment more she regained her usual firm expression and spoke carelessly to as she turned and came alongside the high spring wind of the morning had quite fallen it was a lovely may afternoon the woods about the field to the northward were full of birds and the young leaves scarcely hid the solemn shapes of a company of that patiently attended the two of the men had finished their and were busy with the construction of a they knelt in the and looking over some forlorn discarded garments it was a custom to make the resemble one of the poor house family and this year they intended to have mrs dow protect the field in last year it was the of lane who stood on guard with an recognized hood and the remains of a valued shawl that one of the had found on a fence and to pieces behind the men was the foundation for this rustic attempt at an upright stake and the flight of lane bar in the form of a cross this stood on the highest part of the field and as the men knelt near it and the quaint figures of the corn went and came the scene gave a curious suggestion of foreign life it was not like new england the presence of the rude cross appealed strangely to the imagination iv life flowed so smoothly for the most part at the poor farm that nobody knew what to make later in the summer of a strange disappearance all the elder inmates were familiar with illness and death and the poor pomp of a town s funeral the and and the various misfortunes of those who composed this strange family related only through its hardly served for the excitement and talk of a single day now that the june days were at their longest the old people were sure to wake earlier than ever but one morning to the astonishment of every one lane s bed was empty the sheets and blankets which were her own and guarded with jealous care were care the flight of lane fully folded and placed on a chair not too near the window and had flown nobody had heard her go down the creaking stairs the kitchen door was unlocked and the old watch dog lay on the step outside in the early sunshine his tail and looking wise as if he were left on guard and meant to keep the fugitive s secret never her to do afore talking it over a fortnight and off when we could all see her ventured a voice guess we can wait till night to hear bout it mrs dow looked sorrowful and shook her head had an aunt on her mother s side that went and of herself she was a woman as ever you see perhaps she s gone to spend the day with s folks suggested bond she always takes an extra early start she was lately o going up their way but mrs dow shook her head with a most melancholy look i m impressed that something s her she insisted i heard her a in her sleep i was the o the night t is very unusual with me too the flight of lane t wa n t like not to leave us any word said the other old friend with more resentment than melancholy they sat together almost in silence that morning in the shed chamber mrs dow was and cutting rags and them into long ropes to be made into at a later date if they had only known where lane had gone they might have talked about it until dinner time at noon but failing this new subject they could take no interest in any of their old ones out in the field the corn was well up and the men were it was a hot morning in the shed chamber and the rags were dusty and hot to handle v people knew each other well and when this mysteriously absent person did not return to the town farm at the end of a week public interest became much excited and presently it was ascertained that lane was neither making a visit to her friends the on hill nor to any nearer acquaintances in fact she had the flight of lane disappeared altogether from her haunts nobody remembered to have seen her pass hers had been such an early flitting and when somebody thought of her having gone away by train he was laughed at for forgetting that the earliest morning train from south the nearest station did not start until long after eight o clock and if had designed to be one of the passengers she would have started along the road at seven and been seen and known of all women there was not a kitchen in that part of that did not have windows toward the road conversation rarely left the level of the neighborhood gossip to see lane in her best clothes at that hour in the morning would have been the signal for much exercise of imagination but as day after day went by without	40
news the curiosity of those who knew her best turned slowly into fear and at last bond again gave utterance to the belief that had either gone out in the early morning and put an end to her life or that she had gone to the some of the people at table were moved to loud laughter it was at supper time on a sunday but others listened with great interest the flight of lane she never d put on her good clothes to herself said the widow she might have thought t was good as em with her though old folks has wandered off an got lost in the woods afore now mrs dow and resented this impertinent remark but to take no notice of the speaker she would n t have wore her best clothes to the would she mildly inquired her head toward the ceiling t would be a shame to spoil your best things in such a place an i don t know of her any money there s the end o that you re bad as old mis bland that used to live neighbor to our folks said one of the old men she was dreadful precise an she so to wear a good dress that was left to her that it hung in a press forty year an the at last i often seen mis bland a goin in to when i was a young girl said bond she was a good woman an she left property wish she d left it to me then said the poor soul opposite glancing at her pathetic row of children but it was not good the flight of lane manners at the farm to one s and mrs dow and only frowned where do you suppose can be said mrs dow for the twentieth time she did n t have no money i know she ain t gone far if it s so that she s yet alive she s b en real pinched all the spring perhaps that lady that come one day give her some the keeper s wife suggested mildly then would have told me said mrs dow with injured dignity vi on the morning of her disappearance rose even before the and the english and dressed herself quietly though with trembling hands and stole out of the kitchen door like a thief the old dog licked her hand and looked at her anxiously the shell cat rubbed against her best gown and trotted away up the yard then she turned anxiously and came after the old woman following faithfully until she had to be driven back was used to long country excursions the flight of lane she dearly loved the early morning and finding that there was no dew to trouble her she began to follow pasture paths and short cuts across the fields surprising here and there a flock of sleepy sheep or a startled calf that out from the bushes the birds were their breakfast from bush and turf and hardly any of the wild inhabitants of that rural world were enough alarmed by her presence to do more than flutter away if they chanced to be in her path she stepped along and eager as a girl dressed in her neat old straw bonnet and black gown and carrying a few in her best one that her only brother had brought home from the east indies fifty years before there was an old crow perched as on a small dead pine tree where he could warn friends who were pulling up the com in a field close by but he only gave a contemptuous as the adventurer appeared and she shook her bundle at him in revenge and laughed to see him so clumsy as he tried to keep his footing on the twigs yes i be she assured him i m a goin to to the the flight of lane same s other folks i d jest as soon tell ye s not old crow and laughed aloud in pleased content with herself and her daring as she walked along she had only two miles to go to the station at south and she felt for the money now and then and found it safe enough she took great pride in the success of her escape and especially in the long concealment of her wealth not a night had passed since mrs s visit that she had not slept with the roll of money under her pillow by night and safe inside her dress by day she knew that everybody would offer advice and even commands about the spending or saving of it and she no interference the last mile of the foot path to south was along the railway track and began to feel in haste though it was still nearly two hours to train time she looked anxiously forward and back along the rails every few minutes for fear of being run over and at last she caught sight of an engine that was apparently coming toward her and took flight into the woods before she could gather courage to follow the path again the freight train proved to be at a waiting at a and some the flight of lane of the men were about eating their early breakfast comfortably in this time of leisure as the old woman came up to them she stopped too for a moment of rest and conversation where be ye goin she asked pleasantly and they told her it was to the town where she had to change cars and take the great through train a point of geography which she had learned from evening talks between the men at the farm what ye carry me there for we don t run no passenger cars said one of the young fellows laughing what makes you in such a hurry i m for an it s a t ways	40
to go so t is but you re able early if you re for the eight forty train see here you have n t got a needle an thread long of you in that bundle have you if you me on a couple o buttons i give ye a free ride i m in a sight o distress an none o the fellows is provided with as much as a bent pin you poor boy i have you seen to in half a minute i m troubled with a arm but i u do the best i can the flight of lane the obliging seated herself stiffly on the slope of the and found her thread and needle with utmost haste two of the train men stood by and watched the careful and even offered her a place as spare so that they might keep her near and took the offer with considerable seriousness only thinking it necessary to assure them that she was getting most too old to be out in all an express went by like an earthquake and she was presently hoisted on board an empty box car by two of her new and flattering acquaintances and found herself before noon at the end of the first stage of her journey without having spent a cent and furnished with any amount of advice one of the young men being compassionate of her state as a advised her to find out the widow of an uncle of his in philadelphia saying that he could n t tell her just how to find the house but miss lane said that she had an english tongue in her head and should be sure to find whatever she was looking for this unexpected incident of the freight train was the reason why everybody about the the flight of lane south station insisted that no such person had taken passage by the regular train that same morning and why there were those who persuaded themselves that miss lane was probably lying at the of the poor farm pond vii land said miss lane as she watched a person by in his red i call the like the day o judgment i wish i was goin to stop a month but i dare say t would be the death o my poor old bones she was leaning against the barrier of a patent pop corn establishment which had given her a sudden of home and of the winter nights when the sharp little red and yellow ears were brought out and old uncle sat by the kitchen stove and filled a great wooden tray for the refreshment of the company she had wandered and and looked until her eyes and head had grown and but it is only persons who can the flight of lane be really astonished the imagination can always the possible and actual sights and sounds of the world and this plain old body from rarely found anything rich and splendid enough to surprise her she saw the wonders of the west and the of the east with equal and satisfaction she had always known that there was an amazing world outside the boundaries of there was a piece of paper in her pocket on which was marked in her handwriting k lane should meet with accident the of but having made this slight provision for the future she had thrown herself boldly into the sea of strangers and then had made the joyful discovery that friends were to be found at every turn there was something delightfully about she had a way of suddenly looking up over her big spectacles with a and expectant smile as if you were going to speak to her and you generally did she must have found out where hundreds of people came from and whom they had left at home and what they thought of the great show as she sat on a the flight of bet ey lane bench to rest or leaned over the where free were afforded by the makers of hot and and potatoes and there was not a night when she did not return to her lodgings with a pocket crammed with of cotton and nobody knows what she had already collected small presents for almost everybody she knew at home and she was such a pleasant beaming old country body so and interested that nobody ever thought of wishing that she would move on nearly all the busy people of the exhibition called her either or at once and made little pleasures for her as best they could she was a delightful contrast to the indifferent stupid crowd that drifted along with eyes fixed at the same level and seeing even on that level nothing for fifty feet at time what be you making here dear lane would ask joyfully and tho most guardian hastened to explain she money as she had never had the pleasure of doing before and this hastened the day when she must return to she was always inquiring if there were any spectacle at hand and the flight of lane received occasional directions but it was a difficult place for her to find her way about in and the very last day of her stay arrived before she found an of the desired sort an and instrument maker i called to get some for a friend that s she gravely informed the to his extreme amusement she s dreadful troubled and her head up like a hen a she s got a a an spreading an sometimes she can see out to one side on t and more times she can t said a middle aged gentleman at her side and lane turned to regard him with approval and curiosity t is miss bond i was mentioning of poor farm she explained i count on some glasses to relieve her trouble if there s any to be found glasses won t do	40
her any good said the stranger suppose you come and sit down on this bench and tell me all about it first where is and gave the directions at length i so said the surgeon how old is this friend of yours cleared her throat and flight of lane smoothed her gown over her knees as if it were an apron then she turned to take a good look at her new acquaintance as they sat on the rustic bench together who be you sir i should like to know she asked in a friendly tone my name s i take it you re a doctor continued as if they had overtaken each other walking from to south on a summer morning i m a doctor part of one at least said he i know more or less about eyes and i spend my down on the shore at the mouth of your river some day i come up and look at this person how old is she bond is one that never tells her age t ain t come quite up to where she begin to of it you see explained reluctantly but i know her to be nigh to seventy six one way or t other her an mrs mary ann was same year s child n and knows i know it an two or three times when we ve be n in the ground where mary ann lays an has her dates right on her i could n t bring to take no sort o the flight of lane notice i will say she makes at times a convenience of being but there i feel for her everybody does it keeps her an against everything and up the way she has to yes yes said the doctor whose eyes were twinkling i u come and look after her with your town doctor this some time in the last of july or first of august you find occupation said not without an air of patronage most of us to the farm has got our now i tell ye you ain t got no that take a dozen years right an ol lady s shoulders the busy man smiled pleasantly and shook his head as he went away said to herself committing the new name to her sound memory yes i must n t forget to speak of him to the doctor as he directed i do know now as would herself quite so much to if she had her eyes fixed same as other folks i expect there would n t been a woman in town though if she d had a proper chance now i ve done what i set to do for her i do believe an the flight of lane t wa n t glasses neither i her a little shawl with that money i laid aside bond ain t got a shawl i always wanted to have a real good time an now i m it viii two or three days later two pathetic figures might have been seen crossing the slopes of the poor farm field toward the low shores of pond it was early in the morning and the of the lately grass was wet with rain and to old feet bond was more and liable to stray in the wrong direction than usual it was one of the days when she could hardly see at all aunt dow was unusually clumsy of movement and stiff in the joints she had not been so far from the house for three years the morning breeze filled the of her wide skirt and the size of her figure she supported herself with a stick and trusted beside to the fragile support of s arm they were talking together in whispers the flight of lane oh my exclaimed moving her small head from side to side hear you mis dow this may be the death o you there do go slow you set here on the side hill an le me go try if i can see it needs more than you ve got said mrs dow panting between the words oh to think how i was in my young days an here i be now the full of a door an all my complaints so by my size t is hard t is hard but i m a of all this for pore s sake i know they ve laughed but i look to see her to the top o the pond this day tis just nine days since she departed an say what they may i know she herself in it run in her family had an aunt that done just so an she ain t be n like herself a an away alone an to say to you an me that was always good company all together sprung her mind now i tell ye mis bond i feel to hope we sha n t find her i must say faltered it was plain that mrs dow was the captain of this expedition i guess she ain t never the flight of lane thought o of herself mis dow she s gone off a way over to the other side o south some thinks she s gone to the even now she had n t no proper means i tell ye mrs dow indignantly an if you prefer that others should find her to the top this day of us that s her best friends you can step back to the house they walked on in silence bond trembled with excitement but her companion s firm grasp never wavered and so they came to the narrow margin and stood still tried in vain to see the glittering water and the that it she knew that they must be there once years ago she had caught fleeting glimpses of them and she never forgot what she had once seen the clear	40
at the gate with a flutter of his long coat tails in the spring wind i we all had the sharp teeth for our dinners that his has now laughed i be bound he s keen for it honest man twas to early mass over to white mills he was by break o day an just back an they sent to him for poor mary that s to be this night god rest her and he not home from the house an mary just dead but two women come for him to hurry there was a to be in the church twas one o s wife s that into black fits an it being two hours bom then it was high mass he had i saw him myself a hand to his head an wit his shoulders an be before the t is a great between mass and o so it is for a man the age o father may god help him i d think the bishop ould give him some aid now they could some young for a while to white t is out of our own rights we do be an he to white mills day an night wit them french an one of us took hurt or t is too far to white mills protested john well b the road s clear for us now an i say that i ve got the match to father s hunger in me own inside t is for me pat now there s no more get a move on you now john the j is tired from ye and being thus urged s companions started on their way himself was a sturdy middle aged man a for the company that had long ago gathered these irish people into the staid and prosperous new england village they had made a neighborhood by themselves and were just now alarmed in their turn and disturbed by the presence of a few french so thoroughly did they feel at home and believe in their rights to an adopted country they meant to stay at between mass and any rate and suspected their lively neighbors of only a temporary of that would take more than it gave call would have been a prosperous man and good citizen anywhere with his and and decent notions he was much respected by his now exclaimed pat trying to keep step with his tall companions leg over leg as the dog to he added cheerfully i might have been a ride home wit s folks they had the one saved in the wagon but i was me time away wit the likes of you a taste of is always the ruin of me good day to ye pat the others called after him as he crossed over to go down a side street but the droll stooping figure did not turn again and and went on in the peaceful company was a step ahead of his friend you rarely see the old fashioned irish folk walk side by side perhaps they keep a dim remembrance pf over the open fields and there is less of the formal military sense than belongs to most and a con between mass and suggestion of the flock rather than the at this moment two women who had lingered in the church overtook our friends and gave them a cordial greeting one was the niece of call and almost as old as he they lived at opposite ends of the town and she stopped to ask him some questions about his family while the other two after hesitating a moment went their way together sunday is the great social occasion for women who are hardly out of their houses all the rest of the week and eagerly the favor of a visit run home wit me now for a bite of dinner he urged t will be pot luck but the folks give you a grand welcome and some of the children will be coming to now i can t then the niece insisted but her face shone with gratification and they both knew that she was ready to accept be friendly now an come an see the folks continued the poor woman was in all the week wit a bad that troubles her very bad t is the falls down they all says but the has it that she s only a bit of strength between mass and wit the spring weather an all t is a o work she has all the tune but the little begins to help now an soon be they grow very fast little is getting a dinner the day mary mary gave a sigh of compassion for the hard worked mother whose she well comprehended you re lucky then and herself is lucky the two of you bein together and you steady work the year through i know well herself gets a bit of the pain in her we all gets it f i knows well what it is tis our folks has hard times my man dead this years gone an the old always in her bed an i to poor an herself like two babies i was n t to mass to day is four sundays gone since i heard mass before well now see i m goin you like a little lost dog i m glad of a treat but i help little the dinner so i will tis a task for the a lovely readiness to help shone in mary o s homely face she looked poor and anxious her bonnet with its brown and white ribbon and ancient shape between mass and looked as if it might have been ten years in wear she had worn her poor mourning and returned to this of an earlier and more prosperous time she had been full of hope and cheerfulness when she bought the queer old brown bonnet but a	40
followed the main road toward the next large town and passed many of their acquaintances driving or on foot and was not without pride at being seen in the priest s company but suddenly they ned into a rough by way that led up among the hills it seemed as if the errand were to some person in trouble but presently they had left behind what appeared to be the last house this was a strange path to follow and for what reason had father desired a companion unless it were necessary in such a steep and almost dangerous ascent once years before had climbed by this deserted road up to the of the higher hills he had been with some young men and he remembered the small lonely farms that they had just passed and how poor and they looked in the winter weather in fact his remembrance of the holiday was not bright in any way because he had gained but a poor day s sport none of the priest s flock lived in this direction that was one sure thing between mass and the road seemed to grow and the mare stopped once or twice discouraged and looked ahead at the hard climb there were dark and pines on either side illuminated here and there by the vivid green of young that stood where they caught the sunlight the air was fresh and sweet there were busy birds fluttering and calling the light tread of the mare seemed to disturb the secluded region as if nothing had passed that way since the coming of the year father had not spoken for a long time all the cheerfulness had faded from his face said he suddenly so that the man at his side turned startled and to look at him you remember that smart young dan tom s boy the one that went to the for a while but left and went west to be a railroad man i does mind sir they say he s got rich him an john s is this long time the i saw her coming out from mass the day john do be thinking she s got a great match the b y always says in his letters that he s doing fine between mass and may god forgive him i said the priest under his breath why in course i d know him well sir continued eagerly in his most manner wasn t he brought up next house to my own by the mill yard until i moved to the better one i m in now thanks be to god the other one being to look at but very damp an the cause of much sickness to every one oh but the fine letters the b y does be writing home they brings them and reads them to herself an me truth is tom s put his money into a mine that s knowing to out where he is and they ve been at me would n t i come em every one says there do be a power o money in it the is all right but for tom not having got any papers i d like to see the papers they gives first an i think sir it s the same with tom but he won t let on my god said the old priest again an john the little s f he t hundred t was all he had laid by you know the wife s a great an wrote back he d find it t thousand this time next year an herself has been in the street goin to the between mass and shops night since then as rich feeling as a the young thing him out her small she got in the mill that she was keeping to buy her wedding with i was against that when they me but she d to dan and he te a great letter to it along an he d put it where it would grow too many eggs in the one basket says i she s awful proud of dan and he do be always the beautiful letters sir but he does be knowing his works hard all the time and at christmas last year a came home to any one of them they all says it was too far entirely to be but they d like to be showing anything they got the of the town tell me now sir do ye know of anything wrong i do be you ve heard bad news i could n t tell why father touched the horse and gave a queer groan before he spoke the truth is that dan s a said he those poor souls never see their money again well something held me back from him thanks be to god protested with pride though he looked shocked and anxious i come very near him all between mass and i had too a gets amongst folks one must be doing like all the rest ain t it so sir and that dan was the best scholar in the schools here don t you mind the praise he d get from every one an his was proud as a i does be them schools has their faults if a man dies now an a of they don t be half so fit to earn their bread as they were in the old times i m the old folks was wiser wit the father sir there never was a boy in any parish i had these forty five years that i took the pains with that i took with him said father slowly i paid the most of his myself when he went to the poor tom could n t do it with his small wages and the sickness and the trouble he used to have was my altar boy a pretty face there was on	40
him and a laughing eye he always stood to me for a little brother of mine and looked the very of him when i first saw him and tom came to the mills my little brother was my we were always together like twin i can mind myself now and i running home alone crying to tell my between mass and poor mother that we d run away to the rocks and a great wave came in and licked him oflf before my very eyes and i a bit higher up on the shore i wake up dreaming of him with the horror and a cold sweat all over me after a lifetime that s gone between me and that day i m an old man now call and my mind s always been in a priest s holy business but i ve a warm irish heart in me and there are times when i d like a brother s young child or one of my sister s that i left long ago in or to see my old mother shake her head and have the at me and i sitting there in the long winter evening in my still house and when that young gave a smile at me like the little lad that went under the sea and never was afraid or trying to get away from me because i was the priest i liked him more than i knew i could n t see then why he should n t make a good man and i helped him the best i could i know plenty of harm of him now god forgive him and bring him to repentance the old man and looked away his heart was filled with sorrow s ready tongue was checked but he was between mass and to himself about the black heart of i begin to think that sharp wits are the least of all the means by which a man wins true success said father everybody thought well of dan then sir tried to comfort him he had seen father angry and stem but never cast down like this they came to an open grassy space on a shelf of the great hill at one side was the cellar where a house had stood long ago some roses still grew about it and there was much of the solemn little plant so often seen in country burying grounds growing about the crumbling and off into the grass there was a smooth broad partly overgrown and a hop vine was sending up it determined shoots near by where it could find nothing to upon the old had evidently served as a seat for stray there was a place before it that had been worn by feet like the beginning of a path the house had been gone many years but one might have thought that its ghost was there and the was still trodden by those unseen inhabitants who went and the priest may have between mass and thought this but saw a gun lying by the step and a little bird fluttered away as if it had been finding a few stray there was a magnificent view of the lower country woods and and pasture lands stretching miles upon miles with a river dividing them like a ribbon and white villages with their tiny and sprinkled houses and heavy dark mills as you turned the other way you looked up the dark hill slope the road appeared to end here by the deserted but some winter wood roads led off in different directions father stopped the breathless mare and got down we walk from here he said and also alighted his face was with perplexity they plunged deep into the woods along one of the half overgrown winter tracks which led up and over a high shoulder of the great hill t is like the way to the cave of the said half aloud as a dry whipped him in the face and father heard him and laughed well it s wonderful how those old tales between mass and do stay in the mind lie said cheerfully i was working away with a book yesterday a fine hard knot of latin it was too and i got sleepy and not a bit could i think of but how did the story of the little go that my old used to tell me before she d give me a little herself that she d have hidden in her blue cloak i d be afraid to eat it too after the tale weu i think it might be twenty years since i thought of it but i could not rid my mind of the trick of that foolish story and it kept itself round and round in my mind it may be the way with old folks i begin to feel old t was a great story of the little agreed solemnly i do be telling it to the there s nothing anybody tells that they d like so well wit their little always in the same place twas the same way wit my brothers and at home we d better mind sir lest ourselves gets on the fox s back an into his big do you know where you do be going looked about him anxiously the priest only laughed a queer laugh it was that might mean one thing or another d between mass and come on he said you make me think of another old tale they used to be telling at home about one mrs o s donkey that could neither go nor stand still at this moment when the had taken a most and even merry tone the two men found themselves on the edge of the thick woods with an open partly overgrown acre of land before them the pines had covered a piece of land cleared and deserted again many years before they had grown	40
close to the old house which had sometimes been used as a shelter by who were at work among the hills or who might have taken refuge there in wet weather was astonished to find himself there he remembered the place well but they had reached it by so short a path that the priest seemed to have brought him by the aid of magic had taken heart at a change for the better in father s manner and was already preparing to laugh at the expected story about a donkey but father looked stem and again and began to stride forward telling by a gesture to wait outside between mass and the t is a den of thieves i m sure now muttered but he followed his companion to the door and stood there strong and sturdy and not displeased looking about him suspiciously like a wary the priest stepped softly on the pasture turf among the little pine trees and entered the door as if he did not mean to be heard immediately there was a and crash inside and the jar of a heavy fall at which call rushed in with his eyes dancing and his fists clenched there in the middle of the dismal room by an table and broken chair father was fighting with a younger man and getting the worst of it down and caught the fellow off by the shoulders his great held down the like iron he stood the rascal back on his knees and gave him a terrible shaking had been a tidy man at a fight when he was younger and his rage revived the best of his experience get up sir get up your he commanded in a bold voice lave the beggar to me and he kept his clutch with one while he between mass and a succession of sound blows with the other take that will you now an that wit it he said scornfully is it full of drink you are i do know to strike down an old an man that s been a to you and he god s priest beside i the life out of you and lave you here to the an i get a word out o your head so there now and proceeded to and shake his captive the old priest looked shocked and shaken he got upon his feet and tried to brush the dust from his black clothes there was no place to sit it was a dirty stifling place and he turned and went swaying with faltering steps to the door and holding the young man s arm in an grip went after him sit down on the step sir he said anxiously to the old man i hope it is n t faint you are sir father seated himself upon the crumbling door sill and backed himself and his captive against a that stood in front of the old house close by as he turned to take a good look at dan a feeling of contempt stole into his between mass and honest face in the clear light the young man looked so and wrecked and ruined by an only too evident life of vice and ignorance of every sort of decent behavior that he seemed but a poor for a man like call there was little left of his boyish good looks and fine spirit he must have thrown father by some trick that caught him unprepared for in spite of his age the priest looked much the stronger of the two felt a strange anxiety as he saw how badly out of breath father was still and what bad color had come to his lips will i get you a sup of water sir he asked eagerly this thing ont run away or i just the poor cr a bit wit me fist so he can t step foot an he tries i m afraid you re bad off sir so i am no no said father let go his arm now i don t dare lave him go sir protested let go his arm stand out dan and a strange light blazed in the old man s eyes in his smart dirty city made clothes stood out a step in front of a poor wretched image of a young man as between mass and ever startled the and of that wild deserted bit of he east a glance to the right and left but the old priest raised a warning hand no you won t run dan my boy he said my old heart is ready to break at the sorry sight of you those poor legs of yours would throw you before you could run a rod take out the money that s in your pockets keep your eye on him now take it out i say father rose to his great height with a black and angry look his years seemed to fall off his shoulders like a cloak and stepped forward eager for the the fellow was at bay he looked for a moment as sharp and ugly as a then the cowardice in him showed itself he began to and and so fell upon his knees it is in the state s prison that you ought to be i know it well said father sternly will i give him a kick or two your inquired may be t will help him to mind what you do be saying the dirty guard still took some between mass and thing from his pocket and dropped it before him on the turf there now he said trying to be bold let me go go through his pockets yourself said the priest and he stood watching while this business was carefully accomplished and a little heap of bills was gathered at their feet which had sought for with little tenderness what have you hidden in the house beside he demanded looking up in	40
between mass and tired and still silent took the mare by the head and led her carefully down the part of the road when they came to the lowest sl pe of the hill he got in and took the reins and they went quickly home the church bells began to ring for as they the town i u be a trifle late i m sorry said the priest leave me at the church and you go on with the mare oh i m all right t was fine and pleasant in the green woods it seems long to me since mass was over my saints in heaven but ain t he the father to us exclaimed a moment later he still felt a delightful sense of excitement and adventure but after they had parted at the church something choked him as he thought of father s figure as he had seen him go along the little path to the with that dust on the back of his coat as he came back to the church himself he overtook mary o who greeted him with pleasure and even curiosity and some other friends made mention of the fact that he had been away with the priest the were used to being ig no between mass and about most of father s affairs a priest could never make talk about his errands of business and mercy as another man could the warm may sunday indeed seemed long the service did not often attract call he was always in his place at mass but he took his sunday sleep and stroll in the afternoon he made himself easy in the comer of the he picked some pine needles out of the of his coat and he said a little a prayer for he noticed that there was a beginning to show itself on the old priest s forehead and how the hands trembled that were lifted at the altar the doctor had been known to say that father was not a sound man that he had better not take long walks alone any more or himself as he often did and wondered vaguely if this were not the reason he had been called upon that day for company i d like to the guard a couple o times more he grumbled to himself but his heart was not without compassion his own boys were just beginning to put on the airs and to share the of men and poor tom his old friend between mass and and neighbor must hear sad news of and that soon his sleepy eyes and looked reverently at father s tall figure at the altar the setting sun brought out the color and gold thread of the worn the paper flowers that a french woman had made new at looked gay and almost real in the pleasant light t is in many strange places that a priest does be having to serve god said to himself i m thinking u light out this night wit the two dollars an we u see no more of him t would be best for him the young fool the likes of him will break every heart stay or go that night however just at dark dan came across the fields and presently stole out from a thicket at the foot of the priest s little garden and went into the house the lights were bright there was a good supper on the table as the hungry sat there abashed by all the light and good cheer the old man s tired face shone with golden father even persuaded himself that the look of his own young brother had come back again into s eyes a little captive maid i the early winter twilight was falling over the town of a heavy open carriage with some and rattled along the smooth highway hurrying toward the inn and a night s lodging two slender young figures drew back together into the hedge by the roadside and stood there whispering an keeping fast hold of hands after the simple fashion of children and lovers there was an empty bird s nest close beside them and they looked at that and after they had watched the carriage a moment and even laughed because the driver had recognized their presence by a loud snap of his whip they still the girl turned away from her lover who only looked at her and felt the soft of the nest with the fingers of her left hand s handsome young face looked pinched and sad in the gray of the dusk a little captive maid the poor tidy cr said look now at their little house how it is and they gone from it i mind the birds singing in the hedge one day last summer and i walking by in the road t is our own tidy house i m thinking of said reproachfully i ve long of it and now whatever will i do and you gone away to it s too hard for us dear we u get no luck from your goin t was the lord us for other i m safe to come back darling said troubled by her lover s t is for the love of you i m going sure dear i suppose t is yourself won t want me then when i come back sure they says folks all up there and gets brown and small wit the heat that s in it promise now that you say nothing sharp so long as i m fine an rich coming home don t break me heart wit your wild talk who else but yourself would be joking and our hearts breaking wit parting and this our last walk together mourned the young man come darling we must a little captive maid be going on t is a good way yet through the town an your aunt s ready to have	40
to the street at first sight one was pleased with its look of comfort and provincial elegance a little captive maid but as you approached the whole lower story seemed unused if you glanced up at a window of the second story you were likely to see an elderly gentleman looking out pale and unhappy as if and its enforced idleness were peculiarly hard for him to bear sometimes might catch sight of the edge of a newspaper but there was never a book in his hand there was never a child s face looking out to companion the old man people always spoke of poor old captain nowadays but only a few months before he had been the leading business man of the city absorbed in a dozen different a and he felt himself to be alone indeed in this time of illness and despondency early in life he had followed the sea from choice not necessity but for many years he had been master of the old house and garden on street his inherited home people always spoke of him with deference and respect they pitied him now in his rich and pitiful old age in the early autumn a stroke of had and him and its effect was more and more and beside to the captain s pride he more and more insisted upon charging a little captive maid his long and uncomfortable condition at the doors of his medical and the household at first in dark and gloomy weather or in days of unusual depression a running fire of comments was kept up toward those who treated him like a child and who made an s shop of his stomach and kept him upon such incomprehensible diet a of salt beef and a captain s were indignantly demanded at these times but it was touching to observe that the person in actual attendance was always treated with extreme consideration or even humble gratitude while the were always absent they were guilty of all the wrongs and kept the captain miserable they were foes of his peace there never was anything but a kind word for mrs the housekeeper or the faithful attendant there never were any personal administered to the cook and as for the doctor captain treated him as one gentleman should treat another until early in january when once in a while even the hitherto respected mrs was directly accused of a total lack of judgment and james could not do or say anything to suit and the lives of these honest a little captive maid persons became nearly the maid under mrs s charge for the household had always been kept up exactly as in mrs s day could not be expected to consider the captain s condition and her own as his older and deeply attached companions could and tired of the and idleness of the old house fell to that state where dismissal was inevitable then neither mrs nor knew what to do next they were not as young as they had been and to use their own words minded the stairs at last a sensible man proposed a change in the order of housekeeping the captain might never come downstairs any more they could shut up the dining room and the and make their daily work much lighter an i won t say that i have n t got word for you of a tidy little girl said she s a relation to my cousins the and as busy as a she work beside you an the cook like your own she will that mrs and is a light hearted the day through she s just over too the little perhaps she be just what we want agreed the housekeeper after a little captive maid tion send her up to see me this very evening if you re going where she is so the very next day into the desolate old house came young a true child of the old country with a laughing gray eye and a smooth girlish cheek and a pretty touch of gold at the edge of the fair brown hair about her forehead it was a serious little face not beautiful except in its id she was a friendly kindly little creature fond of her simple pleasures and willing to work hard the day through the great house itself was a treasure house of new experience and she felt her position in the captain s family to be a valued promotion one morning life looked very dark to the master everything had been going wrong since breakfast and the captain rang for when he had just gone out and mrs was busy with a messenger go up will you she said anxiously and say that i be there in a minute s just left him and sped away nothing she had never taken a satisfactory look at the master and this was the fourth day since she had come to the house a little captive she opened the door and saw a handsome tired old gentleman whose newspaper had slipped from his hand and gone out of reach she hurried to pick it up without being told who are you inquired the captain looking at her with considerable interest sir said the girl in a delicious irish voice i m your new maid sir since i feel very sorry for your bein ill sir there s nothing the matter with me growled the captain unexpectedly sir i m glad of that said with a wag of her head like a bird and a light in her eye mrs be here at once sir for your she is wit a boy below in the hall you are looking fine an comfortable the day sir i never was so uncomfortable in my life said the captain you can open that window and it fast sir you let out all the fine heat heat s very dear now	40
in the tune was again brushing the floor the captain was and miserable the silence vexed him even more than the harmless i used to play the pretty well myself when i was a young man he said pleasantly after a while i d like well to hear you then sir said she was only a little captive maid making an excuse of the brushing to linger with him a little while oh but your honor would have liked to hear me mother sing god give her rest but she had the lovely voice for you they d be for her from three towns away to sing with the fiddle for and dances if you d hear her sing the pride of t take the heart out of you it my wife was a most singer when she was young i like to hear a pretty voice said the captain sadly t was me dear mother had it then answered i do be often her singing when i m falling asleep i hear her voice very plain sometimes my mother was from the north sir and she had times that did n t be known to the folks about was one of the best liked and it went lovely with the wheel when she d be spinning everybody d be calling for her to sing that tune strangers would come and ask her for a song that were passing through the town there was great talk always of me mother s singing they d know of her for miles round i see the fire gone down in red coals like this like our turf at home a little captive maid and it does be growing dark i well t was such times she d sing like a bird for us being through lier long day s work an all of us round the fire warm if we could a winter night oh but she d sing then like a lark in the fields god rest her brushed away a tear and blessed herself you d like well to hear me mother sing sir i m telling you god s truth she said simply and the old captain watched her and smiled as if he were willing to hear more folks pay her well too they d all be afraid she d stop when she d once begin there was nobody but herself could sing with the fiddle i mind she came home one morning when she d been for to a great wedding t was a man s only daughter that owned his own land and me mother came home to us wit a collection of and eight tied up in her best apron corner we d as good as a wedding ourselves out of it too t was she had the hand the cr and we had a roast goose that same night and asked to it folks don t have the good fun here they has in the old sir so they don t a little captive maid there used to be good times here said the poor old captain i m thinking t would be a the better if you and stayed for a while over there urged the girl affectionately it soon be green and while it s here still the be blooming sir and the little thick under your two feet and you d be sitting out in the warm rain and sun and feeling the good of the ground if you d go to i think you d be soon well i do then captain your honor sir i m too old replied the captain but not without interest sure there ain t a boy in the town that has the spark in his eye like yourself sir responded with encouraging i d break away from these sober old folks and the and all and take ship and you d be soon over the say and live like a lord in the first cabin and you d land on the in the o cork and that night in the city and go next day to the hotel in oh the fine place it is wit the say the garden wall you d get a swim in the salt and be as light as a bird a little captive mail sure i wouldn t be wit so and and you none the wit it why could n t i have a swim in the sea here inquired the captain sure it would n t be the same at all responded with contempt t is the of the old country will do you the most good the say is very salt entirely by the bay up to it and you d get a strong would row you up and down and you d walk in the green lanes and the folks in the houses would give you good day and if you d be old mother a she d down on her two little knees and pray for your honor till you d be running home like a light the old man laughed heartily for the first time that day i used to be the of any lad in school he said with pride sure you might it again wit mrs s kind help sir insisted the girl now go to this next month o may sir do perhaps i will said the captain decidedly i m not going to keep up this a little captive maid sort of thing much longer i can tell them that if they can t do me any good they may say so and i steer my own course that s a good idea about the salt water the old man fell into a pleasant sleep with a contented smile on his face the fire and snapped and sat still looking into it her thoughts were far away perhaps her unkind aunt would find means to stop the letters	40
it was and says he is it and says my father it s god save your honor very tight and as as any lord in ireland lave me go and i soon it off under the next bush that stop still long enough for me by the roadside says he the squire says lave him go boys t was from his the says he and the folks give a great laugh all round he was no the poor man i run away again to the say then i forget was there any more happened that day she must have been a from the i can t think what she was doing up there on the west coast out of her bearings said the captain sir i could n t tell you where she was from if it s the ship you mane but she no further than our parish and the black rocks i heard tell of other but i was to that a little captive maid in the days of late winter went slowly by and at last it was spring and the windows were left open all day in the captain s room the household had accepted the fact that nobody pleased the invalid as did and there was no feeling of jealousy it was impossible not to be grateful to any one who could invariably spread the oil of sympathy and kindness over such troubled waters james and mrs often agreed upon the fact that the captain kept all the will he ever had but little of the good judgment yet in spite of this they took it upon them to argue with him upon every mistaken point alone had the art of giving a wide berth to dangerous subjects of conversation and she could twist almost every sort of or into a clever joke she had grown very fond of the lonely old man the instinct toward in her simple heart was always ready to shelter him from his fancied wrongs and to quiet him in the darkest hours of f and pain young s face had grown a little captive maid thin during the long winter and she lost the pretty color from her cheeks as spring came on she was used to the mild air of ireland and to an out of door life and she could not feel like herself in the close rooms of captain s house on street by the time that the first were in bloom on the south terrace she longed for the open air and used to disappear from even the captain s sight into the garden where at times she took her turn with the at up the rich soil and worked with a zeal which put to shame their languid efforts something troubled the girl however she looked older and less happy sometimes it was very plain to see that she had been crying one morning when she had been delayed unusually with her downstairs work the captain grew so impatient that he sent away to find her quickly set down a silver and wiped her hands upon her apron as she ran upstairs the captain was standing in the middle of the floor like a in a and even when came in he did not smile i m going out to take a walk he said angrily a little captive maid come on then sir said i run for your coat and hat if you tell where child r the captain was smiling i only want to take a couple of turns here in the hall you forget how long i ve been house bound i m a good deal better i have that know it too and i won t be told what i may do and what i may not t is for you sir said steady yourself with my now and we go to the far end of the hall and back again t was the himself said a while ago that ye d ought to walking more and t was your honor was like to have the life of him you re a very gentleman if i may be so bold the captain laughed but the business of dragging his poor heavy foot was more serious than he had expected in spite of all his brave determination did her best to him from too much consciousness of his and disappointment sure if you d see ould mother come into church you d think yourself as good as a she said while the master rested in one of the a little captive maid chairs at the hall s end she s very old i saw her myself asleep at her beads this morning but she do be very steady on her two knees and she and says a bead or two and she gets a bit of sleep the poor cr she does be staying in the church a this cold weather and father is very with her she makes the stations every morning of the year so she does and one day she come t rough the deep snow in a great storm there was and she fell down with weakness on the church steps and they told father and said how would they get her home and he come himself scolding all the way and took her up in his and back with her to his own house you d thought she was his own mother sir she s one of god s poor says he with the tears in his eyes oh captain sir i wish it was father was to you i do then i m thinking he d know what prayers would be right for you and himself was born in the and would tell you how it was for your if you d get better sir and we d meet him on the street we d be asking his a little captive maid the captain	40
made no answer he was tired and spent and sank into his grateful for its comfortable support the mention of possible help for his feeble frame from any source clung to his memory and after a few days one of the thoughts that haunted his mind was that father a kind faced elderly man might be of use in this great emergency to everybody s surprise his bodily strength seemed to be slowly returning as the spring days went by but there was oftener and of an appealing childish look in his face the firm lines of it were even while there was a steady of his shattered forces at last he was able to drive down the busy street one day with in his chaise the captain s old friends gathered to welcome him and he responded to their with dignity and evident pleasure but once or twice when some one congratulated him upon certain successful matters of business which he had planned before his illness there was only a troubled look of and almost pain for answer one day stole out into the garden in the afternoon and sat there idly a little maid under an old tree the green fruit showed itself thick all along the slender boughs had been crying already and now she looked up through the green leaves at the far blue sky and then began to cry again she was sadly poor child she longed for her lover whom she feared now never to see like a picture she recalled the familiar little group of houses at home with their white walls and the narrow green lanes between she saw the pink and the golden climbing the hill till it stood against the white clouds she remembered the figures of the blue women who went and came the merry children and the ducks then she fell to thinking lovingly of her last walk with the empty bird s nest and all their hopes and promises the night before she left home she had been in yielding to her aunt s plans she knew that feared her but it was all for love of him that she had left him she knew how poor they were at home she had faithfully sent a pound a month to her aunt and though she had had angry appeals for more the other pound that she could spare leaving but little a little captive maid for herself had been sent in secret to s mother she always dreaded the day when her aunt should find this out and empty all the of her wrath of to use her expression was as much in dread of this aunt as if the sea were a dry ditch alas i she was still the same poor though rich and busy america stretched eastward and westward from where she made her new home it was only by keeping her pounds in her pocket that she could gather enough to be of real and permanent use to those she loved and yet their every day woes real or stole the from her one by one so she sat crying under the tree until the pale old captain came by in the box bordered walk with unsteady steps he saw and stopped leaning on his cane come come he said anxiously what s the matter my girl looked up at him and smiled instantly it was as if the warm irish sunshine had broken out in the middle of a may shower a long spray of purple grew at her feet and the captain glanced down at a little captive maid it the sight of it was almost more than she could bear this flower that grew in the at home she felt as if the flower were like herself and trying to grow in a strange country don t touch it sir she faltered as the captain moved it with his cane t is very bad luck to with that they say yourself will be with by the fairy fingers is the name of that flower we were left pick it oh but it minds me of home what s the matter with you to day asked the captain i ve been feeling very sad sir i can t help it either o me home i ve left and me dear lad that i u see no more i was wrong to lave him i was indeed what lad asked captain suspiciously i have no nonsense nor lads about my place you re too young he looked sharply at the tearful yoimg face mrs can t spare you either he added humbly in a different tone sir it s at home he is in the old without me he ye me poor explained sadly enough she had risen with proper a little captive maid and was standing by the old man now she ventured to take hold of his arm he looked flushed and eager and she forgot herself in the instinct to take care of him where do you be going so fast she asked with a little laugh i m af ther believing t is running away you are the captain regarded her solemnly then he laughed too come with me he said i m going to make a call where would it be demanded the girl with less than her usual deference come come i want to be off insisted the old gentleman we go out of this little gate in the fence i ve got to see your father on a matter of business he said as if he had no idea of accepting any remonstrance knew that the doctor and all the elder members of the household approved of her master s amusing himself and taking all the exercise he could she herself approved his present intentions entirely it was not for her to battle with the head of the house at any rate so	40
she and with great interest and anxiety set forth beside him down the path on the alert for any f or a little captive maid they went out at the gate in the high fence the master remembered where to find the key and he seemed in excellent spirits the side street led them down the hill to father s house but when they reached it the poor captain was tired out began to be frightened as she stole a look at him she had forgotten in the pride of her own youthful strength that it would be such a long walk for him she was anxious about the interview with father she had no idea how to account for their presence but she had small opinion of the merits and ability of the captain s own parish minister and felt confident of the good result in some way of the visit presently the priest s quick step was heard in the passage rose as he came in but was only noticed by a kindly glance the old captain tried to rise too but could not and father and he greeted each other with evident regard and respect father sat down with a questioning look he was a busy man with a great parish and almost every one of his visitors came to him with an important errand the room was stiff looking and a little bare everything in it was well worn there a little captive maid was a fine portrait of father s or it should rather be said a poor portrait of a fine man whose personal goodness aad power of doing christian service shone in his face father miles had been the first priest in that fast growing inland town and the captain had known and respected him he did not say anything now but sat looking up much pleased at the picture this parlor of the priest s house had a strangely public and look it had been the scene of many parish and and sober of rebuke and kindly counsel gazed about her with awe she had been brought up in great reverence of holy things and of her spiritual and masters but she could not help noticing that the captain was a little astray in these first few moments there stole in upon his pleased contemplation of the portrait a sense of doing an thing and he could not regain his familiar dignity and self possession that conscious right to authority which through long years had stood him in such good stead he was only a poor sick old man he had never quite understood the truth about himself before a little captive maid and the thought choked hun he could not speak the was to with your about ventured timidly feeling at last that the success of the visit depended wholly upon herself oh indeed exclaimed the good priest much relieved he had discovered the pathetic situation at last and his face grew compassionate this little girl seems to believe that it would set me up to have a change of air i have n t been very well father the captain was quite himself again for the moment as he spoke you may not have heard that the doctors have had hold of me lately here has been looking after me very well and she speaks of some on your irish coast i may not be able to leave my business long enough to do any good it s going to the dogs at any rate but i ve got enough to carry me through was flushing with eagerness but the priest saw how white the old captain s fingers were where they clasped his how and feeble his face had a little captive maid grown the thought of the green hills and hollows along the old familiar shore the lovely reaches of the bay the soft air the came to his mind as if he had been among them but yesterday i wish that you were there sir i do indeed said father it is nearer like heaven than any spot in the world to me is old you would be pleased there i m certain but you re not strong enough for the voyage i fear captain you d best wait a bit and regain your strength a little more a man s home is best i think when he s not well the captain and both looked defeated father saw their sadness and was sure that his kindest duty was to interest this poor guest and to make a pleasure for him if possible i can tell you all about it sir and how you might get there he went on hastily shaking his head to some one who had come to summon him land at go right up to cork and pass the night and then by rail and coach next day t is but a brief journey and you re there t is a grand little hotel you find close to the bay t was like a palace to me in my boyhood a little captive maid with the fine coming and going well i wish we were there this day and i showing you up and down the length of the green country just what i want i ve been a busy man but when i take a holiday give me none of your noisy towns said the captain eager and cheerful again you d be so still there that a bird lighting in the would wake you said father ah t is many a long year since i saw the place i dream of it by night sometimes captain god bless it could not keep back the ready tears the very thought that his reverence had grown to manhood in her own dear was too much for her you re not of going over this summer asked the captain wistfully i should	40
be gratified if you would bear me company sir i d try to do my part to make it pleasant but the good father shook his head and rose hastily to stand by the window that looked out into his little garden we d make a good company said he presently turning toward them and smiling with yoimg here to show us our way a little maid you can t have had tune yet my child to forget the old roads across country i and fairly sobbed pray for the likes of me sir she faltered and covered her face with her hands oh pray for the too your father sir tis very wake he is and t is that s very in an i m the one i love be quiet now i said the priest gravely checking her with a kindly touch of his hand and glancing at captain the poor old man looked in a worried way from one to the other and father went away to fetch him a glass of wine then he was ready to go home and father got his hat and big cane pleading that an errand was taking him in the same direction if i thought it would do me any good i would start for that place we were speaking of to morrow said the captain as they set forth you know to what i refer the and all the priest walked slowly the captain s steps grew more and more faltering and unsteady followed anxiously there flitted through father s mind phrases out of the old a little captive bible story a great man and honorable a man and rich but a the little captive maid that brought him to the man of god alas father could tell the captain of no waters of that would make him a sound man he could only say to him go in peace like the prophet of old when they reached home the household already sought the captain in despair but it happened that nobody was in the wide cool hall as they entered i hope that you will come in and take a glass of wine with me you have treated me with kindness sir said the master of the house but father shook his head and smiled as he made the old man comfortable in a corner of the broad sofa taking his hat and stick from him and giving them to not to day captain if you will excuse me the captain looked disappointed and childish i am going to send you a bottle of my father s best old he said sometimes when a man is tired out or has a friend come in to dine but he was too weary himself to finish the sentence the old house was very still there were distant a little captive maid voices in the garden a door at the end of the hall opened into an where of light were shining through the green vine leaves everything was stately and handsome there was a touch everywhere of that elegance of the captain s grandfather s time which had never been sacrificed to the demon of change that restless american spirit which has spoiled the beauty of so many fine and simple old houses the priest was used to seeing a different sort of household interior his work was among the poor then he looked again at the house s owner an old man sick sorry and alone god bless you sir he said i must be going now come and see me again said the captain opening his eyes you are a good man i am glad to have your blessing the words were spoken with a manly simplicity and that had always been liked by captain s friends he whispered when father had gone we say to mrs i must rest a little while here before we get up the stairs a little captive maid iv toward the end of the summer things had grown steadily worse and captain was known to be failing fast the clerks had ceased to come for his signature long before he had forgotten all about business and pleasure too and slept a good deal and sometimes was glad to see his friends and sometimes indifferent to their presence but one day when he felt well enough to sit in his great chair by the window he told mr his good friend and lawyer that he wished to attend to a small matter of business i ve arranged everything long ago as an man should he said i don t know that there s any hurry but i mention this item while i think of it you may go downstairs he said sharply to the girl who had just entered upon an errand of luncheon or medicine and disappeared she remembered afterward that it was the only time when of his own accord and seeming impatience he had sent her away and mrs bore no ill will toward their yoimg they were reasonable enough to regard captain s a little captive maid fondness for her with approval there was something so devoted and single ted about the young irish girl that they had become fond of her themselves they had their own plans for the future and looked forward to being married when the captain should have no more need of them it really hurt mrs s feelings when she often found in tears for the desperate longing for home and for grew worse in the child s affectionate heart instead of better one day had gone down town leaving the captain asleep was on guard mrs was at hand in the next room with her sewing and sat still by the window the captain was apt to sleep long and heavily at this time of the day she was busy with some it was some of a pattern that the sisters	40
of had taught s mother she gave a little sigh at last and folded her hands in her lap her gray irish eyes were blinded with tears what s the matter child asked the captain unexpectedly his voice sounded very feeble started she had forgotten him and his house a little captive maid will you have anything she asked anxiously no no what s the matter child asked the old man kindly t is me old story i m longing for me home and i can t help it if i died too i m like a thing torn up by the roots and left in the road you re very good sir and i would never lave the house and you in it but t is home i think of by night and by day how ever will i get home captain looked at her you re a good girl perhaps you go home before long he said t is a few goes back s the same as heaven for the like o that answered trying to smile and her eyes there s many d go back too but for the presents every one looks to have t would take a of money to the whole road as you pass by t is a kind of fever the young ones has to be home some good steady work and home and friends that might do well there s getting to be fine chances for smart ones there with so many yes yes said the captain we talk that over another time i want to go to a little captive maid sleep now and flushed with shame and took up her again t was me hope of growing rich and me aunt s tongue me that gets the blame she murmured to herself the sick man s hands looked very white and thin on the sides of his chair she looked at them and at his face and her heart smote her for selfishness she was glad to be in america after all they never said anything to each other now about going to a good many days slipped by when the captain hardly spoke except to answer questions but in restless evenings when he could not sleep people who passed by in the street could hear singing her old familiar songs of love and war sometimes in monotonous plaintive that repeated and repeated a refrain sometimes in measure with strange thrilling catches and prolonged high notes as a bird might sing to its mate in the early dawn out in the wild green pastures the lovely weird songs of the ancient irish folk how old they are how sweet they are who can tell but now and then a listener of the new world of the western seas hears them with deep delight hears them with a strange golden sense of dim remembrance a true a little captive maid far descended of remembrance that can only come from inheritance of blood when the frost had fallen on the old garden captain died and his year of trouble was ended nd mrs the cook and cried bitterly in the kitchen where the sudden news found them nobody could wish him to come back but they cried the more when they thought of that there was a great deal said about him in the newspapers about his usefulness in town and state his wealth his character and his history but nobody knew so well as this faithful household how comfortable he had made his lonely home for other people and those who knew him best thought most of his kindness his simple and sincerity of word and deed the evening after the funeral was all alone in her little room under the high roof she sat on the broad seat of a window where she could look far out over the city roofs to a glimpse of the country beyond there was a new moon in the sky the sunset was clear the early autumn weather was growing warm again a little captive maid the old house was to belong to a nephew of the captain his only near relative who had spent a great many years abroad with an invalid wife it was to be closed for the present and mrs and mr were to be married and live there all winter and then go up country to live in the spring where mrs owned a little farm she was of north of ireland birth was mrs her first husband had been an american she told again and again that she might always have a home with her but the fact remained that must find herself a new place and she sat in the window wondering with a heavy heart what was going to happen to her all the way to the burying ground and back again in the carriage with the rest of the household she had sobbed and mourned but she cried for herself as much as for the captain poor little irish with her warm heart and her quick instincts and sympathies how sadly she thought now of the old talk about going to she had clung long to her vain hope that the dream would come true and that the old captain and his household were all going over seas together and so she should get home would anybody a little captive maid in america ever be so kind again and need her so much as the captain some one had come to the foot of the stairs and was calling loudly again and again it was dark in the upper however bright the west had looked just now from her window she left her little room in confusion she had begun already to look over her bits of things her few clothes and treasures before she packed them to go away mrs seemed to be in a most important hurry and said that they were	40
and again tempted into statements that ther would have found impossible by daylight mrs was knitting a blue for her husband the foot was already so long that it seemed as if she must have forgotten to narrow it at the proper time mrs knew exactly what she was about however she was of a much cooler disposition than sister who made futile attempts at some sewing to drop her work into her lap whenever the talk was most engaging their faces were interesting of the dry shrewd quick new england type with thin hair twisted neatly back out of the way mrs could look vague and and miss was to quote her neighbors a little too sharp set but the world knew that she had need to be with the load she must carry of supporting an sister and six and unwilling and the est boy was at last placed with a good man to learn the s trade ann bin son for all her sharp anxious aspect never defended herself when her sister and fretted she was told every week of her life that the poor children never would have had to lift a finger if their father had lived and yet she had kept her steadfast way with the little farm and patiently taught the young people many useful things for which as everybody said they would live to thank lier however her life appeared to outward view it was of pleasure to herself mrs on the contrary was well to do her husband being a rich farmer and an easy going man she was a woman but for all that she looked kindly and when she gave away anything or lifted a finger to help anybody it was thought a great piece of and a compliment indeed which the accepted with twice as much gratitude as double the gift that came from a poorer and more generous acquaintance everybody liked to be on good terms with mrs she stood much higher than ann they were both old and friends of who had asked them one day not long before she died if they would not come together and look after the house and manage everything when she was gone she may have had some hope that they might become closer friends in this period of intimate and that the richer woman might better understand the burdens of the poorer they had not kept the house the night before they were too weary with the care of their old friend whom they had not left until all was over there was a brook which ran down the very near the house and the sound of it was much louder than usual when there was silence in the kitchen the busy stream had a strange in its wild voice as if it tried to make the understand something that related to the past i declare i can t begin to sorrow for yet i am so glad to have her at rest whispered mrs it is strange to set here without her but i can t make it clear th t she has gone i feel as if she had got easy and dropped off to sleep and i m more scared about waking her up than ing any other feeling mi u yes said ann it s just like that ain t it but i tell you we are goin to miss her worse than we expect she s helped me through with many a trial has i ain t the only one who says the same neither these words were spoken as if there were a third person listening somebody beside mrs the could not rid minds of the feeling that they were being watched themselves the spring wind whistled in the window crack now and then and the little house in a way that had a sort of effect yet on the whole it was a very still night and the spoke in a half whisper she was the handed woman that ever i knew said mrs decidedly according to her means she gave away more than anybody i used to tell her t wa n t right i used really to be afraid that she went without too much for we haye a duty to ourselves sister looked up in a half amused unconscious way and then recollected herself mrs met her look with a serious face it ain t so easy for me to give as it is for some she said simply but with an effort which was made possible by the oo i should like to say while is laying here yet in her own house that she has been a constant lesson to me folks are too kind and shame me with thanks for what i do i ain t such a generous woman as poor was for all she had to do with as one may say was much moved at thi confession and was even pained and touched by the unexpected humility you have a good many calls on you she began and then left her kind little compliment half finished yes yes but i ve got means enough my disposition s more of a cross to me as i grow older and i made up my mind this morning that s example should be my pattern henceforth she began to knit faster than ever t ain t no use to get morbid that s what used to say herself said ann after a minute s silence ain t it strange to say used to say and her own voice choked a little she never did like to hear folks goin about themselves t was only because they re apt to do it so as other folks will say t was n t so an praise em up humbly replied mrs and that ain t my object there wa n t a child but what set	40
herself to work to see what she could do to please it one time my brother s folks had been stopping here in the summer from the children was all little and they broke up a sight of toys and left em when they were going away come right up after they rode by to see if she couldn t help me set the house to rights and she caught me just as i was going to fling some of the into the stove i was kind of tired out starting em off in season oh give me them i says she real pleading and she em up and took em home with her when she went and she mended em up and stuck em together and made some young one or other happy with every blessed one you d thought i d done her the biggest favor no thanks to me i should ha burnt em says i s of em came to our house i know said miss she d take a lot o trouble to please a child stead o of it out o the way like the rest of us when we re drove i miss i can tell you the biggest thing she ever done and i don t know s there s anybody left but me to tell it i don t want it forgot went on looking up at the clock to see how the night was going it was that pretty looking girl who taught the comers school and married so well afterwards out in new york state you remember her i dare say certain said mrs with an air of interest she was a splendid scholar folks said and give the school a great start but she d herself getting her education and working to pay for it and she all broke down one spring and made her come and stop with her a while you remember that well she had an uncle her mother s brother out in who was well off and friendly and used to write to and i dare say make her some presents but he was a lively driving man and did n t take time to stop and think about his folks he had n t seen her since she was a little girl poor was so pale and weakly that she just got through the term o school she looked as if she was just going straight off in a decline she her up a while and then next thing folks knew she was round how miss had gone to see her and meant to visit falls on the way and stop over night now i happened to know in ways i won t dwell on to explain that the poor girl was in debt for her when she come here and her last quarter s pay had just it off at last and left her without a ahead hardly but it had fretted her thinking of it so e paid it all those might have her that she owed it to an i about the girl s goin off on such a journey till she owned up rather n have blamed that she d given her sixty dollars same s if she was rolling in riches and sent her off to have a good rest and sixty dollars i exclaimed mrs only had ninety dollars a year that came in to her rest of her she got by about with what she raised off this little piece o ground sand one side an clay the other an how often i ve heard her tell years ago that she d rather see than any other sight in the world the women looked at each other in si l the magnitude of the generous was almost too great for their she was just poor enough to do that declared mrs at last in an of feeling say what you may i feel to the dust and her companion ventured to say nothing she never ad given away sixty dollars at once but it was simply because she never had it to give it came to her very lips to say in explanation was so situated but she checked herself in time for she would not betray her own loyal guarding of a dependent household folks say a great deal of generosity and this one s being public and that one free handed about giving said mrs who was a little nervous in the silence i suppose we can t tell the sorrow it would be to some folks not to give same s be to me not to save i seem kind of made for that as if t was what i d got to do i should feel sights better about it if i could make it evident what i was for if i had a child now ann and her voice was a little if i had a child i should think i was of it up because he was the one tempt a trained by the lord to scatter it again for good bat here s mr and me we can t do anything with money and both of ns like to keep things same s they ve always been now dance was talking away like a mill week before last she d think i would go right off and get one o them new fashioned gilt and white papers for the best room and some new furniture an a marble top table and i looked at her all struck up why says i that nice old velvet paper ain t hurt a i should n t feel t was my best room without it dan el says t is the first thing he can remember his little baby fingers on to it and how splendid he thought them red roses was i maintain continued mrs stoutly that folks sights	40
o good money just such foolish things out the o houses and the different t was good enough as t was with then times come an they want to put it all back same s t was before this touched upon an exciting subject to active members of that parish miss and mrs belonged to opposite parties and had at one time come as near hard mi w feelings as they could and yet escape them each hastened to speak of other things and to show her untouched friendliness i do agree with you said sister that few of us know what use to make of money beyond every day necessities you ve seen more o the world than i have and know what s expected when it comes to taste and judgment about such things i ought to to others and with this modest the critical moment passed when there might have been an improper discussion in the silence that followed the fact of their presence in a house of death grew more clear than before there was something disturbing in the noise of a mouse at the dry boards of a closet wall near by both the looked up anxiously at the clock it was almost the middle of the night and the whole world seemed to have left them alone with their solemn duty only the brook was awake perhaps we might give a look up stairs now whispered mrs as if she hoped to hear some reason against their go ing just then to the chamber of death but sister rose with a serious and yet mi satisfied countenance and lifted tlie small lamp from the table she was much more used to watching than mrs and much less affected by it they opened the door into a small entry with a steep they climbed the creaking stairs and entered the cold upper on mrs s heart began to beat very fast as the lamp was put on a high and made long fixed shadows about the walls she went hesitatingly toward the solemn shape under its white and felt a sense of remonstrance as ann gently but in a business like way turned back the thin sheet seems to me she looks pleasanter and pleasanter whispered ann as they gazed at the white face with its wonderful smile to morrow t will all have faded out i do believe they kind of wake up a day or two after they die and it s then they go she replaced the light covering and they both turned quickly away there was a chill in this upper room t is a great thing for anybody to have got through ain t it said softly as she began to go down the stairs on the warm air from the kitchen beneath met them with a sense of welcome and shelter i don know why it is but i feel as near again to down here as i do up there replied sister i feel as if the air was full of her kind of i can sense things now and then that she seems to say now i never was one to take up with no nonsense of and such but i declare i felt as if she told me just now to put some more wood into the stove mrs preserved a gloomy silence she had suspected before this that her companion was of a weaker and more disposition than herself tis a great thing to have got through she repeated definitely all that had last been said i suppose you know as well as i that was one that always feared death well it s all put behind her now she knows what t is mrs gave a little sigh and sister s quick sympathies were stirred toward this other old friend who also dreaded the great change i d never like to f almost those last words spoke plain to me she said gently like the she truly was she looked up at me once or twice that miss la t afternoon after i come to set by her and let mis go home and i says can i do anything to ease you and the tears come into my eyes so i could n t see what kind of a nod she give me no ann you can t dear says she and then she got her breath again and says she looking at me real i m only and that s all there is says she and smiled up at me kind of and shut her eyes i knew well enough all she meant she d been out for a chance to tell me and i don know s she ever said much afterwards mrs was not knitting she had been listening too eagerly yes t wiu be a comfort to think of that sometimes she said in acknowledgment i know that old dr prince said once in that he d watched by many a bed as we well knew and enough o his sick folks had been scared o their whole lives through but when they come to the last he d never seen one but was and most were glad to go t is as natural as bein bom or on he said i don t know what had moved him to speak that night you know he wa n t mi in the habit of it and t was the monthly concert of prayer for foreign said ann but t was a great stay to the mind to listen to his words of experience there never was a better man responded mrs in a really tone she had recovered from her feeling of nervous dread the kitchen was so comfortable with and and just then the old dock began to tell the hour of twelve with leisurely strokes sister laid aside her work and rose quickly and went to the	40
cupboard we d better take a little to eat she explained the night will go fast after this i want to know if you went and made some o your nice while you was to day she in a pleased tone and mrs acknowledged such a gratifying piece of for this humble friend who denied herself all luxuries ann a generous cup of tea and the drew their up to the table presently and their hunger with good country sister bin son put a spoon into a small old fashioned glass of preserved and passed it to mi b tempt b her friend she was most familiar with the house and played the part of hostess spread some o this on your bread and butter she said to mrs wanted me to use some three or four times but i never felt to i know she d like to have us comfortable now and would urge us to make a good supper poor dear what excellent preserves she did make mourned mrs none of us has got her light hand at things she made the most o everything too now she only had that one old down in the far corner of the piece but she d go out in the spring and tend to it and look at it so pleasant and kind of expect the old thing into she was just the same with folks said ann and she d never more n a little o but she d have every o goodness out o those and set the glasses up her best room closet shelf so pleased t but a week ago to morrow i fetched her a little taste o in a and she says thank ye and took it an the minute she tasted it she looked up at me as worried as could be oh i don t want to eat that says she i always keep in ease o sickness you re goin to have the good o one yourself says i i d just like to know who s sick now if you ain t an she could n t help i spoke up so smart oh dear me how i shall miss over things with her i she always things and got just the p int you meant she didn t begin to age until two years ago did she asked mrs i never saw anybody keep her looks as did she looked young long after i begun to feel like an old woman the doctor used to say t was her young heart and i don t know but what he was right how she did do for other folks i there was one spell she was n t at home a day to a fortnight she got most of her so and that made her own potatoes and things last her through none o the young folks could get married without her and all the old ones was disappointed if she wa n t round when they was down with sickness and had to go an or for boys or rug there was but what she could do as handy as most i do love to work ain t you heard her say that twenty times a week miss ann nodded and began to clear away the empty plates we may want a taste o more towards she said there s plenty in the closet here and in case some comes from a distance to the funeral we have a little table spread after we get back to the house yes i was busy all the i ve cooked up a sight o things to bring over said mrs i felt t was the last i could do for her they drew their chairs near the stove again and took up their work sister s rocking chair as she rocked the brook sounded louder than ever it was more lonely when nobody spoke and presently mrs returned to her thoughts of growing old yes aged all of a sudden i remember i asked her if she felt as well as common one day and she laughed at me good there when mr begun to look old i couldn t help feeling as if him and like as not twas he was goin to right over and i him for it half of one summer how many things we shall be wanting to ask i exclaimed ann n after a long pause i can t make up my mind to without her i wish folks could come back just once and tell us how tis where they ve gone seems then we could do without em better the brook hurried on the wind blew about the house now and then the house itself was a silent place and the supper the warm fire and an absence of any new topics for conversation made the drowsy sister closed her eyes first to rest them for a minute and mrs glanced at her with a new sympathy for the hard worked little woman she made up her mind to let ann have a good rest while she kept watch alone but in a few minutes her own knitting was dropped and she too fell asleep overhead the pale shape of the body of that generous simple soul slept on also in its white perhaps herself stood near and saw her own life and its surroundings new understanding perhaps she herself was the only later by some hours ann woke with a start there was a pale light of dawn outside the small windows inside the kitchen the lamp burned dim mrs awoke too i think d be the first to say t was just as well we both had some rest she said not without a guilty feeling her companion went to the outer door and opened it wide the fresh air was none too cold and the brook s	40
voice was not nearly so loud as it had been in the midnight darkness she could see the shapes of the hills and the great shadows that lay across the lower country the east was fast growing bright be a beautiful day for the funeral she said and turned again with a sigh to follow mrs up the stairs the ladies to be leaders of society in the town of was as satisfactory to miss and miss as if were london itself of late years though they would not allow themselves to suspect such treason the most ill bred of the younger people in the village made fun of them behind their backs and laughed at their summer their steps and the shape of their they were always conscious of the fact that they were the daughters of a once eminent minister but beside this claim to the respect of the first parish they were aware that their mother s social position was one of superior madam s grandmother was a of boston in her younger days she had often visited her relatives the and and in seasons of she could relate to a select and properly the ladies excited audience her delightful experiences of town life nothing could be finer than her account of taken tea at governor s on street in company with an english lord who was indulging himself in a brief from his duties at the court of st james he exclaimed that he had seldom seen in england so beautiful and intelligent a company of ladies madam would always say in conclusion he was decorated with the blue ribbon of the knights of the miss and miss thought for many years that this famous blue ribbon was tied about the noble gentleman s leg one day they even discussed the question openly miss placing the at his knee and miss it much lower down according to the length of the short gray with which she was familiar you have no imagination the elder sister replied impatiently of course those were the days of small clothes and long silk stockings miss was but not persuaded i that my dear girls could have the outlook upon society which fell to my tee ladies portion madam sighed after she had set these ignorant minds to rights and enriched them by the final truth about the blue ribbon i must not you for the absence of opportunities but if our cousin were only living you would not lack enjoyment or social education madam had now been dead a great many years she seemed an elderly woman to her daughters some time before she left them they thought later that she had really died comparatively young since their own years had come to equal the record of hers when they visited her tall white in the orderly burying ground it was a strange thought to both the daughters that they were older women than their mother had been when she died to be sure it was the fashion to appear older in her day they could remember the sober effect of really youthful married persons in cap and but whether they owed it to the changed times or to their own qualities they felt no older themselves than ever they had beside the dignity of their father they were obliged to give a tee ladies sanction to the ways of the world for their mother s sake and they combined the two duties with reverence and madam was in her prime a walking example of refinement and courtesy if she in any way it was by keeping too strict watch and rule over her small kingdom she acted with great dignity in all matters of social administration and etiquette but while it must be owned that the felt a sense of freedom for a time after her death in their later years they praised and valued her more and more and often lamented her generously and sincerely several of her distinguished relatives attended madam s funeral which was long considered the most dignified and elegant of that sort which had ever taken place in it seemed to mark the close of a famous epoch in history and it was difficult forever afterward to keep the tone of society up to the old standard somehow the distinguished relatives had one by one disappeared though they all had excellent reasons for the of their visits the am ladies a few had left this world altogether and the family circle of the and was greatly reduced in ence sometimes in summer a stray connection drifted ward and was displayed to the not to say by the gratified it was a disappointment if the guest could not be persuaded to remain over sunday and appear at church when household became fashionable the ladies remarked upon a surprising interest in their comer cupboard and best chairs and some distant relatives revived their almost forgotten custom of paying a summer visit to they were not long in finding out with what desperate miss and miss clung to their mother s wedding china and other and were allowed to depart without a single one of the from garret to cellar and admired the household diligently but she was not asked to accept even the cherry wood that she had discovered in the far comer of the some of the friends had always suspected that madam made a social the am ladies when she chose the reverend edward for her husband she was no longer young when she married and though she had gone through the wood and picked up a crooked stick at last it made a great difference that her stick possessed an bark the edward was moreover a respectable of college and to a woman of her standards a clergyman was by no means insignificant it was impossible not to respect his office at any rate and she must have treated him with	40
proper veneration for the sake of that if for no other reason though his early advantages had been insufficient and he was quite insensible to the claims of the and preferred an indian to pie crust that was without exaggeration half a quarter high the delicacy of madam s touch and preference in everything from hymns to was quite lost upon this respected preacher yet he was not without pride or complete confidence in his own the mr was never very in his and was stopped short by a stroke of in the middle of his career he s the l lived on and on through many dreary years but his children never accepted the fact that he was a tyrant and served him humbly and patiently he fell at last into a condition of great and trembling but was able for nearly a quarter of a century to be carried to the meeting house from time to time to pronounce farewell on high days of the church he was always placed in the pulpit and held up his hands when the was pronounced as if the divine gift were exclusively his own and the other minister did but say empty words afterward he was usually tired and displeased and hard to cope with but there was always a proper notice taken of these too often events for old times and for pity s sake and from natural goodness of heart the elder rallied about the mr and whoever his successor or might be the were always called the minister s folks while the active in that was only mr smith or mr jones as the case might be at last the poor old man died to everybody s relief and astonishment and after he was properly preached about and the ladies lamented his daughters miss and miss took a good look at life from a new and decided that now they were no longer constrained by home duties they must make themselves of a great deal more use to the town sometimes there is such a household as this which has been perhaps too described where the parents linger until their children are far past middle age and always keep them in a too childish and unworthy state of the s characters were much influenced by such an unnatural of the filial relationship and they were slow to suspect that they were not so young as they used to be there was nothing to measure themselves by but people and things the elm trees were growing yet and many of the ladies of the first parish were older than they and called them with pleasant familiarity the girls these elderly persons seemed really to be growing old and miss frequently lamented the change in society she thought it a of nature and too sudden of earthly hopes that several charming old friends of her mother s were no longer living they the ladies were advanced in age when miss was a young girl though time and space are but relative after all their influence upon society would have made a great difference in many ways certainly the new who had often enough been instructed to pronounce their s name as if it were with one b would not have boldly returned again and again to their habit of saying miss might carefully speak to the neighbor and new comers of my sister miss do bin only the select company of followed her lead and at last there was something humiliating about it even though many persons spoke of them only as the ladies the name was originally d we think miss would say coldly and patiently as if she had already explained this foolish mistake a thousand times too often it was like the sorrows in many a provincial in the of terror the ladies looked on with increasing dismay at the in society they felt as if they were a feeble garrison to whose lot it had fallen to a noisy mob an increasing band of the ladies who would overthrow all of the past all etiquette and social rank the new minister himself was a round faced looking young man whom they would have instinctively ignored if he had not been a minister the new people who came to were not like the older and they had no desire to be taught better little they cared about the or the and once when miss to speak of some detail of her mother s brilliant experiences in boston high life she was interrupted and the new comer who sat next her at the parish sewing society began to talk about something else we cannot believe that it could have been the tea at governor s which the rude creature so ignored but some persons are capable of showing any lack of good taste the ladies had an unusual and most painful sense of failure as they went home together that evening i have always made it my object to improve and interest the people at such times it would seem so possible to their thoughts and direct them into higher channels said miss sadly but as for that woman the ladies there is no use in casting pearls before swine i miss murmured an indignant assent she had a secret suspicion that the woman had heard the story in question oftener than had pleased her she was but an ignorant creature though she had lived in twelve or thirteen years she was no better than when she came the mistake was in treating sister as if she were on a level with the rest of the company miss had observed more than once lately that her sister sometimes repeated herself unconsciously a little oftener than was agreeable perhaps they were getting a trifle dull towards spring it might be well to pass a few days with some of their friends and have a change if i have tried	40
looked hard at them as he took their tickets and being a man of humor and compassion affected not to notice the ladies anything remarkable in their appearance you ladies never mean to grow old like the rest of us he said gallantly and the sisters fairly with joy their young hearts would forever keep them truly of the cruel of time bless us the mrs was saying at the other end of the car there s the old maid and they ve bought em some i expect they wanted to get in a little before real cold weather but don t they look just like a pair o dogs the little ladies descended wearily from the train somehow they did not enjoy a day s as much as they used they were certainly much obliged to for sending her niece s boy to meet them with a lantern also for having a good warm supper ready when they came in took a quick look at her and returned to the kitchen i knew somebody would be of em she assured herself angrily but she had to laugh their dear kind faces were wrinkled and pale and the great had lost their pretty and were hanging down almost straight and very ladies eyes they could not the ladies them up under their caps as they were sure might be done then came a succession of rainy days and nobody visited the household the looked very bright chestnut by the light of day and it must be confessed that miss took the and miss s half an inch and miss returned the compliment quite secretly because each thought her sister s forehead lower than her own their dear gray eyebrows were honestly displayed as if it were the fashion not to have them match with at last spoke out and begged her as they sat at breakfast to let her take the back and change them her sister s daughter worked in that very shop and though in the would be able to oblige them was sure but the ladies looked at each other in pleased assurance and then turned together to look at who stood already a little apprehensive near the table where she had just put down a of smoking the good creature really began to look old they are worn very much in to ti the ladies miss we think it was quite fortunate that the fashion came in just as our hair was growing a trifle thin i dare say we may choose those that are a shade in color when these are a little past oh we shall not want tea this evening you remember i am glad there is likely to be such a good night for the sewing circle and miss and miss nodded and smiled oh my alive i the troubled hand maiden groaned going to the circle be they to be at well the girls they was born and the girls they will remain till they die but if they ain t innocent christian to those that knows em well mark me down for an myself they believe them front pieces has set the clock back forty year or more but if they re pleased to think so let em away paced the ladies late in the afternoon to grace the parish occasion and face the amused scrutiny of their neighbors i think we owe it to society to observe the fashions of the day said miss a lady cannot to be i feel now as if we were prepared for anything i an only son it was growing more and more able in the room where price had spent the greater part of a hot july morning the did not shine in for it was now directly overhead but the glare of its reflection from the dusty village street and the white house opposite was blinding to the eyes at least one of the three of who were assembled in solemn looked up several times at the tops of the windows and thought they had better see about getting some curtains there was more business than usual but most of it belonged to the familiar detail of the office there were bills to pay for the support of the and the district schools and afterward some discussion arose about a new piece of road which had been projected by a few citizens who were as violently opposed by others the were agreed upon this question but they an only bon proposed to speak in private with the county who were expected to view the region of the new highway the next week this however had been well at their last meeting and they had reached no new conclusions since so presently the conversation a little and price upon the ink table with his long brown fingers and john the miller rose impatiently and went to the small window where he stood with eyes looking down into the street his well rounded figure made a pleasant shadow in that part of the room but it seemed to grow every moment captain stone left his chair impatiently and taking his hat went down the short flight of stairs that led to the street knocking his thick shuffling boots by the way he reached the and looked up and down the street but nobody was coming so he turned to ball the who was standing in his shop door business ain t brisk i take it inquired the captain and mr ball replied that he didn t do much more than tend shop nowadays folks would keep on an only son buying cheap shoes and thinking they saved more money on two pair a year for five dollars than when he used to make em one pair for four but i make better pay than i used to working at my trade and so i ain t going to fret said with a significant	40
glance at a modest pile of empty cloth boot boxes and the captain laughed a little and took a at a piece of tobacco which he had found with much difficulty in one of his deep coat pockets he had followed the sea in his early life but had returned to the small stony farm which had been the home of his childhood perhaps fifteen years before this story begins he had taken as kindly to inland life as if he had never once been with sea water and had been instantly given the position in town affairs which his wealth and character he still retained a good deal of his way of looking at things one would say that to judge by his appearance he had been well rubbed with tar and salt and it was supposed by his neighbors that his old were of much money he was by some of them as being worth fifteen thousand dollars with the farm an only son thrown in the captain was considered very peculiar because he liked to live in the somewhat little and some of his attempts at the soil were the occasion of much amusement he had made a large during his long sea voyages of all sorts of hints and suggestions for the of the ground from books and newspapers and and nobody knows where else he had these in or copied them in his stiff careful handwriting and pleased himself by watching his collection grow while he was looking forward through the long storm tossed y to his quiet among the hills he was a single man and though a never trod the quarter deck from motives of wisest policy he seldom opposed his will to that of widow who had consented to do him the great favor of keeping his house a long to day seems to me observed the with little appearance of the curiosity which he really felt there was a good many p to be looked over answered captain stone be an y son coming aware that he had secrets to guard and looking impenetrable and it s worked into a long just as i said i never took note of a sky don t seem now as if we ever should get a out of it but i suppose we shall and he turned with a sigh to the door and disappeared again up the narrow the three horses which were tied to adjacent posts in the full blaze of the sun all hung their ancient heads wearily and their disappointment as best they might they had felt certain when the captain appeared that the s meeting was over if they had been better acquainted with politics they might have wished that there could be a rising of the opposition so that their masters would go out of office for as many years as they had come in the captain s companions looked up at him eagerly as if they were sure that he was the herald of the expected tax who was to pay a large sum of money to them of which the town treasury was in need it was close upon twelve o clock and only a very great emergency would detain them beyond that time they were an only son growing very hungry and when the captain after a grave shake of his head had settled into his chair again they all felt more or less though price showed it by looking sad one would have thought that he was waiting with reluctance to see some punishment descend upon the head of the official well mis will be waiting dinner for me and she never likes that said captain stone at last and just at that minute was heard the sound of wheels perhaps it s my mare stepping about she s dreadful in fly time suggested mr and at once put his head out of the window but when he took it in again it was to tell his fellow officers that was coming and then they all sat solemnly in their chairs with as much dignity as the situation of things allowed their and authority was plainly depicted in their expression on ordinary occasions they were not remarkable except as excellent old fashioned countrymen but when they represented to the world the personality and character of the town of they would not have an only son looked out of place seated in that stately company which has painted in the of the english it was that gave audience that summer day in the dusty bare room as in the picture they heard a man speak to his horse and leap to the ground heavily and then listened eagerly to the and which represented the tying of the and then there were sounds of steps upon the the voice of mr ball was heard but it did not seem to have attracted much attention and presently the long waited f or messenger was in the room he was dusty and and looked good at his hosts they greeted him enough and after he put his worn red handkerchief away he took a leather from his pocket and looking at a little roll of bills almost reluctantly turned them over with lingering fingers and passed them to mr who sat nearest him saying that he believed it was just right there was little else said and after the money had again been counted the meeting was over there was indeed a hurried arrangement as to who should guard an only son the treasury but when price acknowledged that he meant to go to south next morning he was at once to carry the to the bank there where the town s funds and many of its papers already the said slowly that he did n t know as he cared about keeping so much money in the house but he was not relieved by either	40
of his and so these honest men separated and returned to private life again their homes were at some distance from each other but for a half mile or so price followed captain stone and a cloud of dust followed them both then the captain turned to the left up toward the hills but price kept on for some distance through the level lands and at last went down a long lane except here and there where some ambitious fence had succeeded in changing themselves into slender willow trees in the spring the sides of the lane had been wet and were full of green things growing as fast as they could but now these had been for some time dried up the lane was bordered with dusty and three deep were worn through the an only son turf where the wagon wheels and the horse s patient feet had back and forward so many years the house stood at the end looking toward the main road as if it wished it were there it was a white house with faded green blinds the had tried to hurry his slow horse still more after he caught sight of another horse and wagon standing in the wide he had entirely forgotten until that moment that his niece and housekeeper had made a final announcement in the morning that she was going to start early that afternoon for the next town to help a golden wedding poor had been somewhat because even this uncommon season of high festival failed to excite her uncle s love for society she made him run the as usual on occasions by telling him what he took no interest in nobody and nothing and that she was sure she shouldn t know what to say when people asked where he was that it looked real and cold hearted and he couldn t expect folks to show any interest in him these arguments with many others had been brought an only son forward on previous occasions until the knew them all by heart and he listened to them that morning only observing cautiously to his son that must go through with just so much but he promised to come back early from the village since and the cousin who was to call for her meant to start soon after twelve it was a long drive and they wished to be in good season for the gathering of the he left the horse standing in the yard and went into the house feeling carefully at his inner coat pocket as he did so had been watching for him but the minute he came in sight she had left the window and begun to about in the the did not stop to speak to her but went directly to his bedroom and after a moment s thought placed the precious deep under the pillows this act was followed by another moment s reflection and as the old man turned his son stood before him in the doorway neither spoke there was a feeling of embarrassment which was not uncommon between them but presently the young man said s been waiting for you to have your dinner she s in an only son hurry to get off i u be in just as quick as i take care of the horse you let her be i put her up myself said the a little i guess get there soon enough i should n t think she d want to start to ride way over there right in the middle of the day at another time he would have been pleased with s offer of aid for that young man s bent was not in what we are pleased to call a practical direction as he left the kitchen he noticed for the first time mrs who sat by the farther window dressed in her best and evidently over with impatience price was a hospitable man and stopped to shake hands with her kindly and to explain that he had been delayed by some business that had come before the he was politely assured that the delay was not of the least consequence for mrs was going to drive the and could make up the lost time on the road as they stood talking s footsteps were heard behind them and without turning or to enter into any con with his niece the went out into the bright sunlight again an only son had preceded him after all and was one of the traces and his father the other without a word you go in and have your dinner why won t you father the young man said looking up you need n t be afraid but i do this all right i declare i was grieved when i saw as i come up the lane that you had n t mended up the fence there where i told you this i had to be off and there s the two right into the garden piece and i don t know what works they ve been and done it does seem too bad the son had worn a pleased and triumphant look as if he had good news to tell but now his face fell and he turned crimson with shame and anger i would n t have forgot that for anything he stammered i ve been hurrying as fast as i could with something i ve been doing i m going off but his father had already stepped inside the barn door with the hungry horse and it was no use to say any more presently the went into the house and ate his dinner and after the few dishes had been washed and had told him about the bread and a piece of cold an only bon boiled beef and a row of and the sheet of which she had provided for the family s in her	40
were going after this hidden spring of humor had to the surface a little too late for anybody s enjoyment but his own he into his usual plaintive gravity and bringing a hammer and nails and some from the he went out to mend the broken fence it had been so often patched and propped that it now seemed hardly to be repaired again the boards and posts had away and the had forced a wide breach in so weak a wall it was a an only son afternoon s work and the day was hot but the tired old man set about it and took no rest until he had given the rail a shake and assured him self that it would last through his day he had brought more tools and pieces of board and he put these together to be replaced just as he began his work he caught sight of his son walking quickly away far beyond the house across the pastures the gave a heavy sigh and as he and and built his fence again there had been more than one sigh to follow it for was not this only son more strange and helpless and useless than ever there seemed little to look forward to in life the garden was being sadly treated and by the the and were only half grown and the old bed seemed to have given up the altogether in one place there had once been a flower bed which belonged to s mother but it was almost wholly covered with grass had no fondness for flowers and the two men usually were unconscious that there were such things in the world but this afternoon the an only bon was glad to see a solitary of london pride which stood out in bold relief against the gray post by the little garden gate it sent a bright ray of encouragement into the shadow of his thoughts and he went on his way cheerfully he told himself that next he would attend to the wagon wheels because he should need to start early in the morning in order to get home before the heat of the day it was a hot piece of road from here to the south village he wondered idly where had gone he was glad he had not asked for money that day but he had done questioning his son about his plans or even the reason of his the side door which led into the kitchen was shaded now and a breeze was coming across the level fields so the sat down on the to rest the old cat came out as if she wished for company and rubbed against his arm and without making any noticeable sound she put her fore feet on the old man s knee and looked eagerly in his face and again and her master laughed and wondered what she wanted i suppose the cellar door is locked and bolted and you an only son want to go down said the that s it ain t it i should ha thought would have about them should n t you and pleasing himself with the creature s companionship he rose and entered the house the cat trotted alongside and disappeared quickly down the and moved by some strange impulse price went into his bedroom to make sure that the was safe under the pillow he did not reach it at first and he again thinking that he had forgotten he pushed it so far under but although he eagerly threw the clothes and the pillows and shook them twice over and got down on his hands and knees and crept under the bed and felt an odd singing noise grow louder and louder in his head and at last became dizzy and dropped into the nearest chair there was no to be found then he crept out into the empty kitchen where the only sound was made by a fly that in a spider s web the air was close and hot in the house and as the old man stood in the doorway it seemed as if there had some change come over his whole familiar world he felt puzzled and weak and at first started to go out an only son to the wagon with the hope of finding the lost purse it might be that he but there was no use in imagining that he had done anything but put it carefully under the pillow that his son had stood in the doorway as he lifted his head and that the money was gone it was no use to deceive himself or to hunt through the house he had always before his eyes the picture of the pasture slope with the well known figure of his son following the path that led across it to the nearest railroad station a mile or two away the daylight slowly and the heat of the sun lingered late into the night poor john price went through with his usual duties mechanically but with perfect care and made the doing of his work last as long as he could the pig and the chickens and the horse were fed then there were the cows to bring in from pasture and to be and at last the poor man even remembered the cat and gave her a of milk for her supper but still it would not grow dark and still the shame and sorrow weighed him down in his restlessness he went through the lower rooms of the house and opened the front door and shut it again only son and looked into the stiff little best room and felt as if he were following the country custom so familiar to him of watching with the dead he did not get much sleep that night in the uncomfortable bed which he tried to put into some sort of order before he lay	40
down once he prayed aloud that the lord would e him a miracle and that he might find his trust again and what was still more precious his confidence in his only son for some reason he could not bear the sound of his own voice and the thought of his tim honored office in the church pained him for was it not disgraced and made a reproach little by little the first of the shock wore away while he tried to think what was to be done the thought seized him that his son might have left some explanation of his going away and he rose and took a candle and went to the little work shop there was less than the usual litter of wheels and springs and but somehow in the hot little room a feeling of and almost of hope took possession of him it might be that s hopes would not be disappointed that he might be able to repay the stolen sum that an only son he had only it and would return later and give it back for the poor assured himself over and over that he would talk about the boy s affairs with him and try again to aid him and to put him into a likely way at last even if he had to the farm but in the morning if there were still no signs of the lad what could be done the money which had owed the town as tax and paid at last that very day that seven hundred dollars the five hundred dollar bill and the two that stood for a hundred each and some smaller bills which were to pay the interest how should they be replaced he had no ready money of any amount nor would have until the pay came for some hay or unless he could persuade a neighbor whose were honest but slow to take up a note given for a piece of sold the winter before all through that long summer night he worried and waited for the morning and sometimes told himself that his only son had robbed him and sometimes said that would never serve him like that and when he came home it would be all made an only tl right the were singing about the house and one even came to perch on the kitchen and repeat its cry the moon rose late and made a solemn red light in the east and shone straight in at the little bedroom window as if it were a distant fire on the hills a little dog kept up a fierce barking by the next far away across the fields and at last the tired man was ready to think his miserable was the fault of the cur yes he had given all the money he could he had meant well by the boy and surely now unless the poor fellow had gone mad there would be some way out of au this trouble at any rate he would not let other people have a chance to call his son a thief until there was no help for it the next morning after a short uneasy sleep from which the had a sad he ate some breakfast at the shelves and the old horse and set out on a day s journey of which he hardly knew the end he shut the door of the house and locked it and gave a look of lingering affection at the old place even stopping the horse for a minute in the lane that he might turn to survey it an only again most carefully he felt as if he were going to do it wrong and as if it were a conscious thing the old weather beaten dwelling that had sheltered him all his life and those who had been dearest to him it had no great attractions for a stranger it was a representative house for that somewhat primitive farming region though it had fallen out of repair and wore a and aspect the appearance of a man s home is exactly characteristic of himself human nature is more powerful than its surroundings and shapes them inevitably to itself it was still very early in the morning and few persons were stirring in fact price met nobody on the road except a sleepy boy following his cows to pasture and he did not feel like looking him in the face but gave a pull at the reins to hurry the horse and pass by without question he took a cross road that was cool and shady at that hour and while he slowly up the rough by way he let the horse choose its own course without guidance some birds were crying and calling in the woods close by as if it were altogether a day of ill omen and disaster john price an only son felt more and more as if his world was coming to an end and everything was going to pieces he never had understood his son very well there are some people who are like the moon with one si j always hidden and turned away and was only half familiar to his father the old man had been at first inclined to treat his bright boy with a sort of respect and reverence but in later years this had changed little by little to impatience and suspicion it had been a great mortification that he had been obliged to maintain him and once when somebody perhaps had been upon a certain crop of wild which a neighboring lad had arranged for his the was heard to better them than no crop at all i yet he had never suffered his acquaintances to comment upon his son s behavior his own treatment of him in public had insisted upon the rendering of respect from other people but he had not acknowledged to himself	40
until this last sad night that there was no practical result to be hoped for from s gifts and graces this might have been borne and they might have struggled on together somehow or other but for this an only son ble blow of the of the town s money which now left a debt and sorrow on the old man s shoulders almost too heavy to be borne in a short time the woods were passed and the road led out to a pleasant country of quite different character from the neighborhood left behind there were gently sloping hills and long lines of elms and the farms looked more prosperous one farm only on this road was and this was partly the fault of art and partly of nature for it was the of captain stone a better sailor than farmer its pastures were gathering places for the and the fields were all made by many springs it seemed to be the waste comer of that region for all unused and materials of farming land but while there was every requisite there was a and primitive arrangement of clay rock and sand yet the captain had settled down here in content as a of the soil and while he might have bought the best farm in the county he congratulated himself upon his rare privileges here and would have found more level and kindly acres as uninteresting as being in an only son seas he worked his farm as he had sailed his ships by using tact and discretion and with true seaman s philosophy he never fretted he waited for the wind to change or the tide of spring to flow or of winter to ebb for he had long ago learned there was no hurrying nature and to hear him talk of one of his small plots of thin hay or slow growing potatoes you would have thought it an intelligent creature which existed mainly on his benevolent encouragement and by some persons the captain was laughed at and by others he was condemned the trouble was that he had a shrewd insight into human nature and was so impossible to deceive or to persuade against his will that he had made many enemies who had hoped to grow rich by the good old man s pockets it was to this friend that price had turned in his extremity but as he drew nearer that morning to the red house on the his heart began to fail him for what if he should be refused there seemed no other resource in such a case but to make the sad known or to go away in search of himself he could put the deeds of his farm those an only son worn deeds that had come down from father to son generation after generation into the hands of the other who would be sure to stand his friends and keep the secret for a time had looked discouraged and pale and desperate in the last month and his father suddenly remembered this and groaned aloud as he wished that the boy had come to him and that he had made it possible instead of coldly and him day after day such a mixture of wrath and shame and compassion has seldom been in a father s heart the captain was abroad early and the saw him first about at the foot of the slope on which his house and buildings stood he seemed to be examining the soil and greeted his guest with a hearty satisfaction the slowly alighted and leaving his to the fence or among the bushes as she chose went into the field he walked feebly and when he met the captain he could hardly find words to tell his errand men of his kind are apt to be made silent by any great occurrence they have rarely anything but a limited power of expression an only son and their language only serves them for common use those who have lived close to nature understand each other without speech as dogs or horses do and the elder generations of new knew less of society and human companionship and association than we can comprehend the captain watched his visitor as he came toward him and when they met he gave one quick final look and then proceeded to make use of his usual forms of greeting as if he had no idea that anything was the matter i ve taken a notion to set out some another year he announced i never made a voyage to sea without aboard if i could help myself they last well and taste when other things is begun to lose i don t cut any hay to speak of in this piece i ve been meaning to tackle it somehow see here pushing it with his great foot it s au coming up and i do know s you want to be standing about it is master for good grass land and t would be a great expense to drain it off i s pose i m too old to try any of these new notions but an only son they sort of divert me we re a bad spell o ain t we t is all tops of about here and we re brown the captain more briskly than was his wont it was impossible to mistake the fact of his being a sailor for indeed that business its followers with an unmistakable brand they ventured upon a spot than usual and when the pulled up his foot from the mire underneath with a his host proposed that they should seek the higher ground pretty smart at home asked the captain presently to end a season of strange silence and the replied at first somewhat sorrowfully that they were fair to but explained directly that was away for a couple of nights and too it	40
cost a great effort to speak the young man s name oh yes i growled the captain you spoke about the golden i should thought you d ha gone too along with such ain t to be had every day i must say i wish something or other would happen to take mis s attention off of me an only a on dropping his voice cautiously as they came nearer to the house she s had a dreadful time of it this week past and looked homely enough to stop a clock i used to be concerned along in the first of it when i come off the sea but i found it did n t do no hurt and so i let her work and first thing you know the wind is round again handsome and off you go the tried to laugh at this the friends seated themselves on the off side of the wood pile under the shade of a great choke tree they had mounted the block which was a stout elm log standing on six legs so that it looked like some stupid creature of not altogether harmless disposition the two old men were quite at its mercy if it should away suddenly but they talked for some minutes on ordinary subjects and even left their position to go to inspect the pigs and returned again before the arrived at an explanation of his errand it was a hard thing to do and the captain turned and looked at him narrowly i ve got to use the money right away as soon as i can have it i want to see to some business this you know i ve an only son been latin to go to the south village to day anyway i did n t know for certain i should have to see about this or i would n t have given you such short notice and here the stopped again it had come very near an this last sentence and he would not cheat the man of whom he was asking so great a favor i did n t fetch the papers along because i did n t know how t would be with you he explained they make you safe s folks was talking round this spring to see if i wanted to part with our north field his youngest son s a smart fellow and wants to set up for himself and have a farm but i m only asking the loan for a time ye know neighbor and the looked anxiously at the old captain and then leaned over the about with the butt of his whip which he had brought with him from the wagon you shall have it said the captain at last t ain t everybody i d do such a thing to and i am only going to have my say about one thing john i never had no family of my own and i suppose the s of a father are i don t know nothing about for or against but i an only son say i hate to see ye an old man before your time all out and looking discouraged on account o you come in o the lighter and he too and if he s been ye to get this money together to further his notions i m doing ye both a wrong to let ye have it but i can t deny ye and i ve got more than what ye say ye want right here in the house as it happens i was going to buy into that new three the have got on the stocks now i don t know but i am getting along in years to take hold of anything new in i ain t intending to let have none o this said the humbly and he longed to say more and felt as if he never could hold up his head again among his fellows and the time seemed very long and dreary before the captain came back from his house with the note ready to sign and the seven hundred dollars ready to place in the s gray and shaking hand his benefactor pondered long over this strange visit to know what had happened but he assured himself over and over that he could n t help letting him have it and if never a cent of it came back there an only bon was nobody he was to oblige and john price took his weary way to the south village of and paid a sum of seven hundred and thirty five dollars to the of the town it was not until early in the afternoon that old stone suddenly himself that something might have happened about that payment of s if he were not growing old and a fool at last i why had n t he asked the if he had lost the money he had taken home from the s office i and when mrs afterward ventured to ask him a harmless question he had grown red in the face and poured forth a torrent of language which had nearly taken her breath away without apparent reason or excuse the captain it must be confessed was an uncommon he was one of the people who seem to serve as or for the concealed anger of poor human nature it is difficult to explain why seems so much more and shocking in some persons than in others but there was something fairly amusing in the and of words which excitement of any kind in the mind of cap an only son tain stone he even forgot himself so far as to swear a little occasionally in the course of earnest in the evening pi meetings there was not a better man or a christian in the town of though he had become a late in life and knowing this there was	40
never anything but a compassionate smile when he grew red in the face with zeal and recommended the poor damned dogs of heathen to mercy nothing seemed to have changed outwardly at the south village john price did his errands and finished his business as quickly as possible and avoided meeting his acquaintances for he could not help fearing that he should be questioned about this miserable trouble as he left the bank he could not help giving a sigh of relief for that emergency was over and for a few minutes he kept himself by main force from looking at the future or asking himself what next but as he turned into his dust powdered lane again at noon the curious little faces of the blossoms seemed to stare up at him and there was nobody to speak to him an only son and the house was like a tomb where all the years of his past were lying dead and all the of life existed only in remembrance he began to wish for in ah unexpected way and as he looked about the house he saw everywhere some evidence of his son s mechanical skill had not left home without a fear because as she always said was as handy as a woman the remembrance of such patient diligence at his own chosen work his under reproof his evident discomfort at having to be dependent upon his father linked to a perfect faith in the ultimate success of his plans the thought of all these things flashed through the old man s mind i wish i had waited til he told me what he had to say said price to himself t was strange about that fence too he s al been willing to take and help whenever i spoke to him he even came to believe that the boy had grown desperate and in some emergency had gone in search of new materials for his machine he s so said the father he may have forgot to speak about the money and t was but a small looking roll of bills an only son he u be back to night like s not as concerned as can be when he finds out what twas he took it was the way we remember only the good qualities of our friends who have died and let the bad ones fade out of sight and so know the angels that were growing in them all the while and have thrown off the disguise and of the human shape towards evening jacob a neighbor came into the yard on an errand and was astonished to see how tired and old the looked he had left the oxen and their great load of coarse meadow hay standing in the road at the end of the lane and meant at first to shoulder the borrowed and quickly them but it was impossible he asked if anything were the matter and was answered that there was something trying about such a long spell of which did not in the least satisfy his curiosity no said the i m getting to be an old man but i keep my health fairly and they re both off tending to their own concerns but i make sure one or both of m be back toward and jacob after casting about in his mind an only son for anything farther to say mentioned again that t was inconvenient to break a right in the middle of a rack and went away looked to me as if he had had a stroke he told his family that night at supper time and the conduct of and in going off and leaving the old to shift for himself was most severely commented upon but all this time the latter half of that tuesday afternoon and her cousin were toward home over the and hills the was in good trim and glad to be his own familiar stall again and struck out at an uncommonly good pace though none of the at that it was hardly six o clock when the two tired out and severely women came into the yard the heard the high pitched voice which he knew so well before he heard the sound of the wheels on the soft dry turf and went out to greet the new comers half glad and half afraid took it for granted that was either in the as usual or as she scornfully expressed it the hills and did not ask for him cousin an only son had accepted an to tea as her home was three miles farther on they were both heavy women and stiff from sitting still so long in the old wagon and they grumbled a little as they walked toward the house yes t was a splendid occasion answered the as he stood near the to a much post it all went off beautifully everybody wanted to know where you was an there we talked till we was all about dead and eat ourselves sick you never saw a table in your life the old folks stood it well but i see they d begun to kind o give out at dinner time to day last night was the you know because some could come in the that was occupied by day they wanted us to stop longer but i see t was best to break it up and i d rather go over again by an by and spend the day in peace an and have a good visit we ve been saying as we rode along that we shouldn t be surprised if the old folks kind o faded out after this they ve been forward to it so long well it s all over like a race and heaved a great sigh and went into the front room to an only son open the blinds and make it less then she	40
for a year looked pale and restless the reaction from his long excitement had set in the gave a laugh and struck his son s shoulder by way of a clumsy caress don t you go to f yourself now he said i ain t felt so pleased as i do today since the day you come into the world i sort of felt certain then that you was goin to be somebody i do know why t was an only bon and he turned away suddenly toward the house if you are as rich as you say you be i shouldn t wonder if between us we had n t better get them blinds painted and smart us up a little another year i declare the old place has begun to look considerable gone to seed that night a great thunder shower broke the spell of the long and afterward morning the rain fell fast upon the thirsty ground it was a good night to sleep said as she wearily climbed the crooked at nine o clock for there was already a coolness in the air never was told the whole of the story about the for when she heard part of it she only said it was just like a man they were generally the most helpless s alive the might have known she had put it away somewhere why didn t he come and ask her he never seemed to that it was a direct p out of his duty to ride over to to the gathering and just speak to the folks in the early morning while it was cool and wet price drove up to captain stone s farm and the two perched j n only son on the log again while the confession was made and listened to with great gravity the captain swore in his satisfaction and said he was going to have a square talk with and advise with him a little for fear that those down in should undertake to cheat him he away the of the loan in one of his big pockets as if it were of little consequence to him but he announced with considerable satisfaction at the next s meeting that he owned a few of that three which the were about ready to and he winked at price in a way that their brother was not able to understand marsh one hot afternoon in august a single moving figure might have been seen following a straight road that crossed the salt of everybody else had either stayed at home or crept into such shade as could be found near at hand the marked at least ninety degrees there was hardly a fishing boat to be seen on the glistening sea only far away on the horizon two or three ing looked like ghostly flying for once and motionless ashore the light of the sun brought out the fine dear colors of the level landscape the marsh were a more vivid green than usual the brown tops of those that were beginning to go to seed looked almost red and the soil at the edges of the tide seemed to be melting into b a black substance like the dark on a painter s where the land was higher the hot air above it this was not an afternoon that one would naturally choose for a long walk yet mr lane stepped briskly forward and appeared to have more than usual energy his big boots trod down the soft carpet of that bordered the dusty road he struck at the stationary procession of with a little stick as he went by flight after flight of yellow fluttered up as he passed and then wavered down again to their flowers while on the shiny back of s sunday waistcoat at least eight large green headed flies in complete security it was difficult to decide why the sunday waistcoat should have been put on that saturday afternoon had not thought it important to wear his best boots or best trousers and had left his coat at home altogether he smiled as he walked along and once when he took off his hat as a light breeze came that way he waved it triumphantly before he put it on again evidently this was no common errand that led him due marsh west and made him forget the hot weather and caused him to shade his eyes with his hand as he looked eagerly at a of trees and the chimney of a small house a beyond the boundary of the where the higher ground began miss ann sat by her favorite window sewing her thread less decidedly than usual and casting a wistful glance now and then down the road or at the bees in her gay little garden outside there was a grim expression her firmly set face and the frown that always appeared on her forehead when she or read the newspaper was deeper and than usual she did not look as if she were conscious of the heat though she had dressed herself in an old fashioned skirt of lawn and a loose jacket of thin white with out of date flowing sleeves her sandy hair was smoothly brushed one lock betrayed a slight at its edge but it owed nothing to any encouragement of s a hard honest kindly face this was of a woman whom everybody trusted who might be expected to give of whatever she had to give marsh good measure pressed down and running over she was a lonely soul she had no near relatives in the world it seemed always as if nature had been mistaken in not planting her somewhere in a large and busy household the little square room kitchen in winter and sitting room in summer was as clean and bare and th ty as one would expect the dwelling place of such a woman to be	40
the better man of the two and since she had surmounted many obstacles already she was confident that with a push here and a pull there to steady him she could keep hun in good trim the were so long and lonely her life was in many ways hungry and desolate in spite of its and she had laughed scornfully when he stopped one day in the spring and offered to help her weed her garden she had even with one of the neighbors about it had been growing more and more friendly and pleasant ever since his ease loving careless nature was like a comfortable cushion for hers with its angles its melancholy and self but liked her and if she liked and married him and took him home it was nobody s business and in that moment of surrender to s cause she arrayed at his right hand against the rest of the world ready for warfare with any and all of its opinions she was suddenly aware of the face and light curling hair of her lover at the other end of the painted table with its folded leaf she smiled at him across the then she gave a little and was afraid that her thoughts had wandered longer than was the kitchen clock was faster than usual as if it were trying to attract attention i guess i be getting home repeated the visitor and rose from his chair but hesitated again at an expression upon his companion s face i don t know as i ve got anything extra for supper but you stop said an take what there is i wouldn t go back across them right in this heat lane had a lively sense of humor and a queer feeling of merriment stole over him now as he watched the mistress of the house she had risen too she looked so simple and so frankly sentimental there was such an added to her usually straightforward appearance that his instinctive laughter nearly got the better of him and might have lost him the prize for which he had been waiting these marsh ill many months but behaved like a man he stepped forward and kissed ann he held her fast with one arm as he stood beside her and kissed her again and again she was a dear good woman she had a fresh young heart in spite of the straight in her forehead and her work worn hands she had waited all her days for this joy of having a lover even mrs revived for a day or two under the of such a piece of news that was what lane had hung round for all summer everybody knew at last now he would strike work and live at his ease the men grumbled to each other but all the women of most the weakness and foolishness of the elderly bride ann was comfortably off and had something laid by for a rainy day she would have done vastly better to deny herself such an expensive and utterly worthless luxury as the kind of husband lane would make he had away his life he earned a little money now and then in marsh pursuits but was too lazy in tiie shore to tend pots what was energetic ann going to do with him she was always at work always equal to and entirely opposed to and idleness and even she often scornfully that she liked people who had some snap to them land now she had chosen for a husband the man in dear one woman said to another as they heard the news there s no fool like an old fool i the days went quickly by while miss ann made her plain wedding clothes if people expected her to put on airs of youth they were disappointed her wedding net was the same sort of she had worn for a dozen years and one disappointed critic the fact that she had up so and kept on dressing old enough to look like lane s mother as her acquaintances met her they looked at her with close scrutiny expecting to see some outward trace of such a silly departure from good sense and discretion but miss while she was still miss displayed no and behaved with dignity while on the sunday marsh a marriage at the she and lane walked up the side aisle together to their the picture of middle aged and respectability their fellow having recovered from their first astonishment and amusement settled down to the belief that the newly married pair understood their own business best and that if anybody could make the best of and get any work out of him it was his capable wife and if she to drive him too hard he can slip off to sea and they u be rid of each other commented one of s companions as if it were only reasonable that some refuge should be afforded to those who make mistakes in matrimony there did not seem to be any mistake at first or for a good many months afterward the husband liked the comfort that came from such good housekeeping and enjoyed a deep sense of having made a good in a well sheltered harbor after many years of and drifting to and fro there were some to perfect happiness he had to forego long marsh seasons of gossip with his particular friends and the work which was expected of him though by no means heavy for a person of his strength his freedom not a little to chop wood and take care of a cow and bring a of water now and then did not weary him so much as it made him practically understand the truth of weakly sister s remark that life was a constant and when poor for lack of other interest fancied that his health was giving way mysteriously and brought home a	40
bottle of strong liquor to be used in case of sickness and placed it conveniently in the shed mrs lane locked it up in the small chimney cupboard where she kept her bottle and her and the other family she was not harsh with her husband she cherished him tenderly and worked diligently at her trade of singing her hymns in summer weather for she never had been so happy as now when there was somebody to please beside herself to cook for and for and to live with and love but complained more and more in his inmost heart that his wife expected too much of him presently he resumed an old habit of rose to the least respected of the two country stores of that neighborhood and sat in the row of on the outer steps alive said a shrewd observer one day the fools set there and talk and talk about what they went through when they the sea and when the women folks comes they are to climb right over em things grew worse and worse until one day lane came home a little late to dinner and found his wife unusually and impatient he took his seat with an amiable smile and showed in every way a fine determination not to lose his temper because somebody else had it was one of the days when he looked almost boyish and entirely his hair was bright and curly from the of the east wind and his wife was forced to remember how in the days of their courtship she used to wish that she could pull one of the curling locks straight for the pleasure of seeing it fly back felt old and tired and was hurt in her very soul by the contrast between herself and her husband no wonder i am having to everything on my shoulders she thought had forgotten to do whatever she had asked him for a day or two he had started out that morning to go but returned from the direction of the he said pleasantly after he had begun his dinner a silent and solitary meal while his wife busily by the window and refused to look at him i ve been thinking a good deal about a project i hope it ain t going to cost so much and bring in so little as your other notions have then she responded quickly though somehow a memory of the hot day when came and stood outside the fence and kissed her when it was settled he should stay to supper a memory of that day would keep fading and brightening in her mind yes said humbly i ain t done right i ain t done my part for our i ve let it right on to you most ever since we was married there was that spell when i was kind of weakly and had a pain me i tell you what it is i never was good for ashore but now i ve got my strength up i m going to show ye what i can do i m promised to ship with cap n low s brother that sails out o in uie r sm rt trade lumber and so on i shall get good wages and you shall keep the whole on t what i need for clothes you need n t be so plaintive said ann in a sharp voice you can go if you want to i have always been able to take care of myself but when it comes to two t ain t go easy when be you goin i expected you would be distressed mourned his face falling at this outbreak you needn t be so quick t ain t as if i hadn t always set able by ye if i be s eyes flashed fire as she hastily y hardly knowing where she went she passed through the open doorway and crossed the clean green turf of the narrow side yard and leaned over the garden fence the young and were nearly buried in weeds and the bushes were fast being turned into s by the worms had forgotten to them with after all though she had put the watering pot into his very hand the evening before she did not like to have the whole town laugh at her for a man to do his work she was busy from early morning marsh until late night but she could not do every thing herself she had been a fool to marry this man she told herself at last and a sullen discontent and rage that had been of slow but certain growth made her long to free herself from this for a time at any rate go to sea yes that was the best thing that could happen perhaps when he had worked hard a while on fare he would come home and be good for something finished his dinner in the course of time and then sought his wife it was not like her to go away in this silent fashion of late her gift of speech had been proved formidable and yet she had never looked so resolutely angry as to day he began girl i ain t goin off to leave you if your heart s set against it i ll up and take right but the wife turned slowly from the fence and faced him her eyes looked as if she had been crying you needn t stay on my account she said i go right to work an fit ye out i m sick of your talk and i don t want to hear no more of it ef was a man lane looked for a or two but when his stem partner in life had disappeared within the house he away among the apple trees of the little orchard and sat down on the grass in a	40
shady spot it was getting to be warm weather but he would go round and the old girl s garden e by and by there would be something going on aboard the and with delicious anticipation of future pleasure the struck his knee with his hand as if he were clapping a on the shoulder he also winked several times at the same fancied companion then with a comfortable chuckle he laid himself down and pulled his old hat over his eyes and went to sleep while the weeds grew at their own sweet will and the worms went and de from to in summer went by and winter began and mr lane did not he had promised to return in september when he parted from his wife early in june for had a little at the last and at the prospect of so long a separation she had already learned the and of her husband s character but though she accepted the truth that her marriage had been in every way a piece of foolishness she still clung to his assumed fondness for her she could not believe that this marriage was only one of his and that as soon as he grew tired of the he would be ready to throw the benefits of respectable home life to the four winds a little mental speech making and a few kisses the morning he went away and the gratitude he might well have shown for her generous care t ing and provision for his voyage won her soft heart back again and made poor elderly simple hearted watch him cross the with tears and if she could have called him back that day she would have done so and been thankful and all summer and winter whenever the wind blew and the drooping elm boughs against the low roof over her head she was as full of fears and anxieties as if were her only son and making his first voyage at sea the pitied her for her disappointment they liked but they could not help saying i told you so it would have been impossible not to respect the brave way in which she met the world s eye and carried herself with innocent of having committed so and a folly the on the store steps had been diverted one day when who was their chief wit and rose slowly from his place and said in pious tones boys i must go this minute will keep dinner waiting mrs ann lane did not show in her face how young her heart was and after the had de parted she seemed to pass swiftly from middle life and an almost youthful vigor to early age and a look of spent and i suppose he did find it stupid she assured herself with wistful yearning for his rough words of praise when she sat down alone to her dinner or looked up sadly from her work and missed the amusing though conversation he was wont to offer on stormy winter nights how many of his tales were true she never cared to ask he had marsh come and gone and she forgave him his and longed for his society with a heavy heart one spring day there was news in the boston paper of the loss of the with all on board and lane s best friends shook their sage heads and declared that as far as regarded that idle vagabond lane it was all for the best nobody was interested in any other member of the crew so the misfortune of the seemed of but slight consequence in she having passed out of her former owners hands the autumn before had stuck by the ship at least so he had sent word then to his wife by low the was to sail regularly between and and sent five dollars to and promised to pay her a visit soon tell her i m up handsome he told the with a grin and i ve got some folks in i visit with on this voyage and then i come ashore for good and farm it mrs lane took the five dollars from the as proudly as if had done the same thing so many times before that she marsh hardly noticed it the gave the messages from and felt that he had done the proper thing when the news came long afterward that the was lost that was the next thing that knew about her wandering mate and after the minister had come solemnly to inform her of her and had gone away again and she sat down and looked her in the face there was not a nor a woman in the town of all the neighbors came to with onr heroine and though nobody was aware of it from that time she was really happier and better satisfied with life than she had ever been before now that she had an ideal lane to mourn over and think about to cherish and admire she was day by day slowly forgetting the trouble he had been and the bitter shame of him and his memory to something near he meant well she told herself again and again she thought nobody could tell so good a story she felt that with her own bustling capable ways he had no chance to do much that he might have done she had been too quick with him and alas alas i rose how much better she would know how to treat him if she only see him again i a sense of relief at his absence made her continually assure herself of her great loss and false even to herself she mourned her sometime lover diligently and tried to think herself a broken hearted woman it was thought among those who knew lane best that she would recover her spirits in time but s wildest of a proper respect to his memory were	40
more than realized in the first two years after the went to the bottom of the sea his wife mourned for the man he ought to have been not for the real but she had loved him enough in the beginning to make her own love a precious possession for all time to come it did not matter much after all what manner of man he was she had found in him something on which to spend her affection iv lake was a woman and a good neighbor but she never had been able to get on with one fellow marsh and that was mrs they managed to keep each other provoked and from one year s end to the other and each good soul felt herself a moral and understood that she was judged by a not very criticism and discussion mrs lane clad herself in simple black after the news came of her husband s death and mrs made one of her farewell to church to see the now made widow walk up the aisle she need n t tell me she lays that affliction so much to heart the s wife faintly after her exhaustion had been met by proper treatment of and a glass of wine at the where she rested a while after service knows she s well through with such a piece of nonsense if i had had my health i should have spoken with her and urged her not to take the step in the first place she has n t spoken six words to me since that vagabond come to i dare say she may have heard something i said at the time she married i declare for t i never was so as when the came home and informed me was going to be married marsh she let herself down too low to ever hold the e again that she used to hold in folks minds and it s my opinion said the sharp eyed little woman she ain t got through with her pay yet but mrs did not half comprehend the unconscious prophecy with which her words were the months passed by summer and winter came and went and even those few persons who were by lane s stem and forbidding exterior into forgetting her kind heart were at last won over to friendliness by her renewed devotion to the sick and old people of the rural community she was so tender to little children that they all loved her dearly she was ready to go to any household that needed help and in spite of her ceaseless industry with her needle she found many a chance to do good and help her neighbors to lift and carry the burdens of their lives she out suddenly into a lovely eagerness to be of use it seemed as if her affectionate heart once made generous must go on spending its wealth wherever it could find an excuse even mrs her self was by her old enemy s evident wish to be friends and said nothing more about poor s looking as savage as a hawk the only thing to admit was the truth that her affliction had proved a blessing to her and it was in a truly kind and compassionate spirit that after hearing a shocking piece of news the s hysterical wife to spread it far and wide through the town first and went down to the widow lane s one september afternoon was busily upon the s new coat and looked up with a friendly smile as her guest came in in spite of an instinctive shrug as she had seen her coming up the yard the dislike of the poor souls for each other was deeper than their philosophy reach mrs spent some minutes in the endeavor to regain her breath and to her surprise found she must make a real effort before she could tell her unwelcome news she had been so full of it all the way from home that she had the whole interview now she hardly knew how to begin looked than usual but there was something wistful about her face as she glanced across the room marsh r presently as if to understand tlie reason of the long pause the clock loudly the a against the and had begun to the thread round her busy and looked down and saw her then the instant consciousness of there being some unhappy reason for mrs s call made her forget the creature s mischief and anxiously lay down her work to listen in low was to our house to dinner the guest began he s with the about some hay he s got a new in has and is going to build up a regular business of hay to boston by sea there s no market to speak of about here unless you haul it way over to and you can t make but one turn a day t would be a good thing replied trying to think that this was all and perhaps the wanted to hire her own field another year he had her once and they had not been on particularly good terms ever since she would make her own with low she thanked him and his wife he s been down to the provinces these marsh two or three years back you know the voice went on and straightforward ann lane felt the old rising within her at dinner time i wa n t able to eat much of anything and so i was talking with in and asking him some questions about them parts and i expressed something about the mercy t was his life should ha been spared when that the was lost so quick after he sold out his part of her and i put in a word bein s we were neighbors about how your course had be n under affliction i noticed then he	40
d looked sort o queer whilst i was but there was all the folks to the table and you know he s a very cautious man so he spoke of else t wa n t half an hour after dinner i was in with some plates and cups to help what my th would let me and says he step out a little ways into the piece with me mis i want to have a word with ye i went too spite o my for i saw he d got on his mind look here says he i gathered from the way you spoke that lane s wife expects he s dead certain says i his name was in the list o the marsh r s crew and we read it in the paper no says he to me he ran away the day they sailed he wa n t aboard and he s with another woman down to them was his very words lane sank back in her chair and covered horror stricken eyes her hands t ain t pleasant news to have to tell sister went on mildly yet with evident relish and full command of the occasion he said he seen the morning he came away i thought you ought to know it i tell you one thing i told the to keep still about it and now i ve told you i won t spread it no further to set folks a talking i u keep it secret till you say the word there ain t much here and there and he s dead to you certain as much as if he laid up here in the burying ground had bowed her head upon the table the thin sandy hair was with gray she did not answer one word this was the hardest blow of all i m much obliged to you for being so friendly she said after a few minutes looking straight before her now in a dazed sort of way and lifting the new coat from the marsh floor where it liad fallen yes be s dead to me worse than dead a good deal and her lip quivered i can t seem to bring my thoughts to bear i ve got so used to no don t you say to the folks yet i d do as much for you and mrs knew that the smitten before her spoke the truth and two or three days came and went and with every hour the quiet simple hearted woman felt more grieved and unsteady in mind and body such a of news rarely falls into a human life she could not sleep she wandered to and fro in the little house and cried until she could cry no longer then a great rage and excited her she would go to and call lane to account she would accuse him face to face and the woman whom he was deceiving as perhaps he had deceived her should know the and cowardice of this miserable man so dressed in her respectable sunday clothes in the gray bonnet and shawl that never had known any journeys except to meeting or to a country funeral or quiet marsh rob em art holiday making lane trusted herself for the first time to the bewildering railway to the temptations and dangers of the wide world outside the bounds of two or three days later still the quaint thin figure familiar in flitted down the street of a provincial town in the most primitive region of china this woman could hardly have felt a greater sense of foreign life and strangeness at another time her native good sense and shrewd observation would have delighted in the experiences of this first week of travel but she was too sternly angry and too deeply plunged in a survey of her own calamity to take much notice of what was going on about her later she condemned the unworthy folly of the whole errand but in these days the impulse to seek the and him was irresistible the s wife a kindly creature urged this guest to wait and rest and eat some supper but refused and without asking her way left the brightly lighted little public room where curious eyes already offended her and went out into the damp twilight the voices of the street boys sounded and she marsh felt more and more lonely she longed for to appear for protection s sake she forgot why she sought him and was eager to shelter herself behind the of his manhood she herself presently with terrible bitterness for a wonder whether he would say why girl and be glad to see her poor woman it was a work laden serious that had been hers at any rate the power of giving her whole self in unselfish enthusiastic patient devotion had not belonged to her youth only it had sprung fresh and in her heart as every new year came and went one might have seen her stealing through the shadows the edge of a stepping among the refuse of the harbor side asking a question timidly now and then of some by yes they knew lane his house was only a little way off and one curious and compassionate by some inner sense the exciting nature of the errand turned back and offered to go with the stranger you know the man he asked he is his own enemy but doing better now that he is married he minds his work r i know that well and he s taken a good wife s heart beat faster with honest pride for a moment until the shadow of the ugly truth and reality made it sink back to and the fire of her rage was again kindled she would speak to face to face before she slept and a horrible contempt and scorn were ready for him as with a	40
glance either way along the road she entered the narrow yard and went noiselessly toward the window of a low poor looking house from whence a bright light was shining out into the night yes there was and it seemed as if she must faint and fall at the sight of him how young he looked still i the thought smote her like a blow they never were mates for each other and she her own life was she was an old woman he never had been so and respectable before the other woman ought to know the savage truth about him for all that but at that moment the other woman stooped beside the supper table and lifted a baby from its cradle and put the dear live little thing into its father s arms the baby was wide awake and laughed at who laughed back again and it reached up marsh to catch at a handful of the curly hair which had been poor s delight the other woman stood there looking at them full of pride and love she was young and and neat she looked a brisk efficient little creature perhaps would make something of himself now he always had it in him the tears were running down s cheeks the rain too had begun to fall she stood there watch ing the little household sit down to supper and noticed with eager envy how well cooked the food was and how the master of the house ate what was put before him all thoughts of ending the new wife s sin and folly vanished away she could not enter in and break another heart hers was broken already and it would not matter and lane a widow indeed crept away again as silently as she had come to think what was best to be done to find alternate woe and comfort in the memory of the sight she had seen the little house at the edge of the seemed fuu of blessed shelter and comfort the evening that its forsaken mistress came back to it her strength was marsh spent she felt much more desolate now that she had seen with her own eyes that lane was alive than when she had counted him among the dead an disregard of the laws of the land filled this good woman s mind had his life to live and she wished him no harm she wondered often how the baby grew and fancied again and again the changes and conditions of the far away household alas she knew only too well the weakness of the man and once she exclaimed in a grim outburst of impatience i d rather others should have to cope with him than me but that evening when she came back from and sat in the dark for a long time lest mrs should see the light and risk her life in the evening air to bring unwelcome sympathy that evening i say came the hardest moment of all when ann of so many virtuous self respecting years whose idol had turned to clay who was disgraced and wronged sat down alone to supper in the little kitchen she had put one cup and on the table and then stood and looked at them through bitter tears somehow a conscious marsh ness of her solitary age her future rushed through her mind the failure of her best earthly hope was enough to break a stronger woman s heart who can laugh at my marsh or who can cry for that matter the gray of the plant is made up from a hundred colors if you look close enough to find them this marsh stands in her own place and holds her dry leaves and tiny blossoms steadily toward the same sun that the pink for and the white rose a white the woods were already filled with shadows one june evening just before eight o clock though a bright sunset still faintly among the trunks of the trees a little girl was driving home her cow a provoking creature in her behavior but a valued companion for all that they were going away from the light and striking deep into the dark woods but their feet were familiar with the path and it was no matter whether their eyes could see it or not there was hardly a night the summer through when the old cow could be found waiting at the pasture bars on the contrary it was her greatest pleasure to hide herself away among the high bushes and though she wore a loud bell she had made the discovery that if one stood per a white f still it would not ring so had to hunt for her until she found her and call co co with never an answering until her childish patience was quite spent if the creature had not given good milk and plenty of it the case would have seemed very different to her owners besides had all the time there was and very little use to make of it sometimes in ant weather it was a consolation to look upon the cow s as an intelligent attempt to play hide and seek and as the child had no she lent herself to this amusement with a good deal of zest though this chase had been so long that the wary animal herself had given an unusual signal of her whereabouts had only laughed when she came upon mistress at the swamp side and urged her affectionately homeward with a of leaves the old cow was not inclined to wander farther she even turned in the right direction for once as they left the pasture and stepped along the road at a good pace she was quite ready to be now and seldom stopped to wondered what her grandmother would say because they were so late it was a great while since she a white	40
had left home at half past five o clock but everybody knew the difficulty of making this errand a short one mrs had chased the torment too many summer evenings herself to blame any one else for lingering and was only thankful as she waited that she had nowadays to give such valuable assistance the good woman suspected that occasionally on her own account there never was such a child for about out of doors since the world was made everybody said that it was a good change for a little maid who had tried to grow for eight years in a crowded town but as for herself it seemed as if she never had been alive at all before she came to live at the farm she thought often with wistful compassion of a wretched dry that belonged to a town neighbor afraid of folks old mrs said to herself with a smile after she had made the unlikely choice of from her daughter s of children and was returning to the farm afraid of folks they said i i guess she won t be troubled no great with em up to the old place when they reached the door of the lonely a white house and stopped to it and the cat came to loudly and rub against them a deserted indeed but fat with young whispered that this was a beautiful place to live in and she never should wish to go home the companions followed the shady the cow taking slow steps and the child very fast ones the cow stopped long at the brook to drink as if the pasture were not half a swamp and stood still and waited letting her bare feet cool themselves in the water while the great twilight struck softly against her she on through the brook as the cow moved away and listened to the with a heart that beat fast with pleasure there was a stirring in the great boughs overhead they were full of little birds and beasts that seemed to be wide awake and going about their world or else saying good night to each other in sleepy herself felt sleepy as she walked along however it was not much farther to the house and the air was soft and sweet she was not often in the woods so late as this and it made her feel as if she were a part of the a white gray shadows and the moving leaves she was just thinking how long it seemed since she first came to the farm a year ago and wondering if everything went on in the noisy town just the same as when she was there the thought of the great red faced boy who used to chase and frighten her made her hurry along the path to escape from the shadow of the trees suddenly this little woods girl is to hear a clear whistle not very far away not a bird s whistle which would have a sort of friendliness but a boy s whistle determined and somewhat left the cow to whatever sad fate might await her and stepped aside into the bushes but she was just too late the enemy had discovered her and called out in a very cheerful and tone little girl how far is it to the road and trembling answered almost a good ways she did not dare to look boldly at the tall young man who carried a gun over his shoulder but she came out of her bush and again followed the cow while he walked alongside i have been hunting for some birds a white the stranger said kindly and i have lost my way and need a friend very much don t be afraid he added gallantly speak up and tell me what your name is and whether you think i can spend the night at your house and go out early in the morning was more alarmed than before would not her grandmother consider her much to blame but who could have foreseen such an accident as this it did not appear to be her fault and she hung her head as if the stem of it were broken but managed to answer with much effort when her companion again asked her name mrs was standing in the doorway when the came into view the cow gave a loud by way of explanation yes you d better speak up for yourself you old trial where d she tucked herself away this time kept an awed silence she knew by instinct that her grandmother did not comprehend the gravity of the situation she must be the stranger for one of the farmer lads of the region the young man stood his gun beside the door and dropped a heavy game bag beside a write it then he bade mrs good evening and repeated his s story and asked if he could have a night s lodging put me anywhere you like he said i must be off early in the morning before day but i am very hungry indeed you can give me some milk at any rate that s plain dear yes responded the hostess whose long hospitality seemed to be easily awakened you might fare better if you went out on the main road a mile or so but you re welcome to what we ve got i u milk right off and you make yourself at home you can sleep on or feathers she proffered graciously i raised them all myself there s good for just below here towards the ma sh now step round and set a plate for the gentleman and promptly stepped she was glad to have something to do and she was hungry herself it was a surprise to find so clean and comfortable a little dwelling in this new england wilderness the young man had known the horrors of its most primitive	40
housekeeping and the dreary of that level of a white society which does not rebel at the companionship of this was the best of an old fashioned though on such a small scale that it seemed like a he listened eagerly to the old woman s quaint talk he watched s pale face and shining gray eyes with ever growing enthusiasm and insisted that this was the best supper he had eaten for a month then afterward the new made friends sat down in the doorway together while the moon came up soon it would be time and was a great help at picking the cow was a good though a thing to keep track of the hostess frankly adding presently that she had buried four children so that s mother and a son who might be dead in were all the children she had left dan my boy was a great hand to go she explained sadly i never wanted for pa or gray while he was to home he s been a great i expect and he s no hand to write letters there i don t blame him i d ha seen the world myself if it had been so i could takes after him the grand a white mother continued affectionately after a s pause there ain t a foot o ground she don t know her way over and the wild s counts her one o themselves she tame to come an feed right out o her hands and all sorts o birds last winter she got the birds to here and i believe she d a herself of her own meals to have plenty to throw out amongst em if i had n t watch anything but i tell her i m to help support though dan he went an tamed one o them that did seem to have reason same as folks it was round here a good spell after he went away dan an his father they did n t but he never held up his head ag in after dan had dared him an gone off the guest did not notice this hint of family sorrows in his eager interest in something else so knows all about birds does she he exclaimed as he looked round at the little girl who sat very but sleepy in the moonlight i am making a collection of birds myself i have been at it ever since i was a boy mrs smiled there are two or three a white very rare ones i have been hunting for these five years i mean to get them on my own ground if they can be found do you cage em up asked mrs doubtfully in response to this enthusiastic announcement oh no they re stuffed and preserved and of them said the and i have shot or every one myself i caught a glimpse of a white three miles from here on saturday and i have followed it in this direction they have never been found in this district at all the little white it is and he turned again to look at with the hope of discovering that the rare bird was one of her acquaintances but was watching a hop in the narrow you would know the if you saw it the stranger continued eagerly a queer tall white bird with soft feathers and long thin legs and it would have a nest perhaps in the top of a high tree made of sticks something like a hawk s nest s heart gave a wild beat she knew that strange white bird and had once stolen softly near where it stood in some bright white green swamp grass away over at the other side of the woods there was an open place where the sunshine always seemed strangely yellow and hot where tall nodding rushes grew and her grandmother had warned her that she might sink in the soft black mud underneath and never be heard of more not far beyond were the salt and beyond those was the sea the sea which wondered and dreamed about but never had looked upon though its great voice could often be heard above the noise of the woods on stormy nights i can t think of anything i should like so much as to find that s nest the handsome stranger was saying i would give ten dollars to anybody who could show it to me he added desperately and i mean to spend my whole hunting for it if need be perhaps it was only or had been chased out of its own region by some bird of prey mrs gave amazed attention to all this but still watched the not as she might have done at some calmer time that the creature wished to get to its hole under the and was much by the unusual spectators at a white that hour of the evening no amount of thought that night could decide how many wished for treasures the ten dollars so lightly spoken of would buy the next day the young hovered about the woods and kept him company having lost her first fear of the friendly lad who proved to be most kind and sympathetic he told her many things about the birds and what they knew and where they lived and what they did with themselves and he gave her a jack knife which she thought as great a treasure as if she were a desert all day long he did not once make her troubled or afraid except when he brought down some singing creature from its bough would have him vastly better without his gun she could not understand why he killed the very birds he seemed to like so much but as the day still watched the young man with loving admiration she had never seen anybody so charming and delightful the woman s heart asleep	40
in the child was vaguely thrilled by a dream of love some of that great power stirred and swayed these young a white who traversed the solemn with soft footed silent care they stopped to listen to a bird s song they pressed forward again eagerly parting the branches speaking to each other rarely and in whispers the young man going first and following fascinated a few steps behind with her gray eyes dark with excitement she grieved because the longed for white was but she did not lead the guest she only followed and there was no such thing as speaking first the sound of her own voice would have terrified her it was hard enough to answer yes or no when there was need of that at last evening began to fall and they drove the cow home together and smiled with pleasure when they came to the place where she heard the whistle and was afraid only the night before n half a mile from home at the farther edge of the woods where the land was highest a great pine tree stood the last of its a white generation whether it was left for a mark or for what reason no one say the who had its mates were dead and gone long ago and a whole forest of sturdy trees pines and oaks and had grown again but the head of this old pine above them all and made a for sea and shore miles and miles away knew it well she had always believed that whoever climbed to the top of it could see the and the little girl had often laid her hand on the great rough trunk and looked up wistfully at those dark boughs that the wind always stirred no matter how hot and still the air might be below now she thought of the tree with a new excitement for why if one climbed it at break of day could not one see all the world and easily discover whence the white flew and mark the place and find the hidden nest what a spirit of adventure what wild ambition what fancied triumph and delight and glory for the later morning when she could make known the secret it was almost too real and too great for the childish heart to bear all night the door of the little house a write stood open and the came and sang upon the very step the young sports man and his old hostess were sound asleep but s great design kept her broad awake and watching she forgot to think of sleep the short summer night seemed as long as the winter darkness and at last when the ceased and she was afraid the morning would after all come too soon she stole out of the house and followed the pasture path through the woods hastening toward the open ground beyond with a sense of comfort and companionship to the drowsy of a half awakened bird whose perch she had in passing alas if the great wave of human interest which for the first time this dull little life should sweep away the of an existence heart to heart with and the dumb life of the forest there was the huge tree asleep yet in the moonlight and small and hopeful began with utmost bravery to mount to the top of it with eager blood the channels of her whole frame with her bare feet and fingers that pinched and held like bird s claws to the monstrous ladder reaching up up almost to the sky itself a white first she must mount the white oak tree that grew alongside where she was almost lost among the dark branches and the green leaves heavy and wet with dew a bird fluttered off its nest and a red ran to and fro and at the harmless felt her way easily she had often climbed there and knew that higher still one of the oak s upper branches against the pine trunk just where its lower boughs were set close together there when she made the dangerous pass from one tree to the other the great enterprise would really begin she crept out along the swaying oak limb at last and took the daring step across into the old pine tree the way was harder than she thought she must reach far and hold fast the sharp dry twigs caught and held her and scratched her like angry the pitch made her thin little fingers clumsy and stiff as she went round and round the tree s great stem higher and higher upward the and in the woods below were beginning to wake and to the dawn yet it seemed much lighter there aloft in the pine tree and the child knew that she must hurry if her project were to of use a white the tree seemed to itself out as she went up and to reach farther and farther upward it was like a great main mast to the earth it must truly have been amazed that morning through all its ponderous frame as it felt this determined spark of human spirit creeping and climbing from higher branch to branch who knows how steadily the least twigs held themselves to advantage this light weak creature on her way the old pine must have loved his new dependent more than all the and and and even the sweet was the brave beating heart of the solitary child and the tree stood still and held away the winds that june morning while the dawn grew bright in the east s face was like a pale star if one had seen it from the ground when the last bough was past and she stood trembling and tired but wholly triumphant high in the tree top yes there was the sea with the dawning sun making a golden over it and toward that glorious	40
s kitchen and the cool breeze blew the heat out again from the other side mrs powder grew uneasy and impatient as she the end of her task and the flat iron moved more and more vigorously she kept glancing out through the doorway and along the country road as if she were watching for somebody i shall just have to ready an go an her out myself an take my chances she said at last with a look at the clock as if it were partly to blame for the delay and had ears with which to listen to proper rebuke the round moon face had long ago ceased its and across the upper part of the old dial as if it had forgotten its responsibility about the movements of a heavenly body in its pleased concern about housekeeping see here i said mrs powder taking a last hot iron from the fire you ain t a time like you used to you re lazy i must say look at this ere sun law lane mark on the floor that calls it full o clock and you want six minutes to ten i ve got to send word to the clock man and have your in all took apart you got me to more n half an hour too late sabbath last to which the moon face did not change its beaming expression very likely being a moon it was not willing to mind the ways of the sun lord what an old thing you be i said mrs powder turning away with a chuckle i don t wonder your sense kind of fails you and the clock at her by way of answer though presently it was going to strike ten at any rate the hot iron was now put down hurriedly and the half night cap was left in a queer position on the board a small figure had appeared in the road and was coming toward the house with a fleet run which required speedy action here you smith shouted the old woman el but the lad only doubled his pace and pretended not to see or hear her mrs powder could play at that game too and did not call again but quietly went back to her law lane and tried as hard as she could to be pro presently the boy came panting up the slope of green turf which led from the road to the kitchen i did n t know but you spoke as i ran by he remarked in an amiable tone mrs powder took no heed of him whatever i ain t in no hurry i kind o got run he explained a moment later and then as his hostess stepped toward the stove he caught up the night cap and tied it on in a twinkling when mrs der turned again the sight of him was too much for her gravity them is real becoming to ye she announced shaking with laughter i de for t if you don t favor your ma s looks i should like to have yer folks see ye there take it off now i m most through my and i want to clear it out o the way was perfectly and laid the night ap within reach he had a temptation to it back by the end of one string but he refrained want me to go drive your old brown hen turkey out o the wet grass mis powder she s her off down to a ds the swamp he offered law lane she s raised up families enough to know how by this time said mrs powder an the swamp s dry as a bone i split ye up a mess o wood whilst i m here jest as soon s not said in a still more pleasant tone after a long and anxious pause there i ll get ye your pretty quick they ain t so fresh as they was saturday i s pose that s what you re driving at the good soul shook with laughter answered as well for her amusement as the most famous of comic actors was something in his appealing yes his thin cheeks and monstrous and his long locks of sandy hair which was very funny to mrs powder she was always interested too in fruitless attempts to satisfy his appetite he listened now for the twentieth time to her opinion that the pit alone could be compared to the recesses of his being i should like to be able to say that i had filled ye up once i she ended her r as she brought a tin pan full of from her heard the news asked small as viewed the provisions with glistening law lane eyes he bore likeness to a little hungry or as he went to work before the tin pan what news mrs powder asked suspiciously i ain t seen nobody this day s folks has got their case in court they ain t and while a solemn silence fell upon the kitchen the old clock and and struck ten with persistent effort mrs powder looked round at it impatiently the moon face confronted her with the same placid smile twelve o clock s the time you your dinner ain t it mis powder the boy inquired as if he had repeated his news like a and had no further interest in its meaning don t plot for to get me no lar dinner this day was the unexpected reply you can eat a couple or three o them nuts and step along for all i care an i want you to go up s lane and carry her word that i m goin out to pick me some they be up elegant and i ve got a for em tell her i say t is our day she u know we ve be n after together law	40
lane this forty years and knows where to meet with me there by them split rocks the was finished a few minutes afterward and the board was taken to its place in the shed when mrs powder returned had stealthily departed the tin pan was turned down on the seat of the kitchen chair good said the astonished woman i believe he ll bu st himself to bliss one o these days them would have lasted me till thursday certain to eat mis powder at the window with his plaintive countenance lifted just above the sill but he set forth immediately down the road with pockets and the speed of a light n half an hour later the little gray was shut and locked and its mistress was crossing the next pasture with a quick step for a person of her age and weight an old cat was trotting after her with tail high in the air but it was plain to see that she still looked for danger having law lane just come down from the where she had retreated on s first approach she kept as dose to mrs powder as was consistent with short excursions after or young and opened her wide green eyes fearfully on the for that evil monster the boy there were two pastures to cross and mrs powder was very much heated by the sun and entirely out of breath when she approached the familiar and caught sight of her friend s ain t there no justice left was her indignant salutation i s pose you ve heard that s folks have lost their case poor mis kill her i m sure i ve be n to go all the but i could n t word to you till came by i thought likely you d expect notice when you see what a good day t was i did replied in a tone much more serious than her companion s she was a thin despairing little body an anxious face and a general look of disappointment and poverty though really the more prosperous person of the two law lane told me you said t was our day she added i m wore out to satisfy that boy he s always for to eat every time he comes nigh the house i should think they d see to him to home not let him on the neighbors so you ain t been of him too laughed mrs powder well i declare i don t see he puts it i and she herself with her apron i always forget what a spot this is here s your cat ain t she asked as they sat looking off over the valley behind them the hills rose one above another with their bare and great stretches of pine and forest beyond the wide was another range of hills green and pleasant in the clear mid day light some higher mountains loomed and stony to northward they were on the women s right as they sat looking westward it does seem as if folks might keep the peace when the lord s give em so a a spot to live in said there ain t no better farms than s and s folks have got neither but stead o neighboring they must law lane pick their mean and fight from generation to generation my ma am used to say t was just so with em when she was a girl and she was one of the first up this way she al would have it that s folks was the most to blame but there s plenty sides with em as you know there t is all mixed up so t is a real answered mrs powder i ve been o both minds i must say i used to hold for the in the old folks time but i ve come round to see they ain t perfect there i m b over with i ve got to tell somebody i ve it close long s i can let s get right to then said or we sha n t from here the whole afternoon and the small thin figure and the tall stout one moved off together toward their well known harvest fields they were presently settled down within good hearing distance and yet the discussion was not begun the cat curled herself for a nap on the smooth top of a rock there i have to eat a while first like a young one said mrs powder i always tell em that is only fit to eat law lane right off of the twigs you want em full o sun let em cold and they re only fit to cook not but what i eat em any ways i can em ain t they nice an law my poor knees is so stiff i i begin to be afraid nowadays every year o maybe my last i don know why t should be that my knees serves me so i ain t nor none o my folks was we go off with other complaints the o the knees dried up explained an the j is all powder posted so i ve be n told then they was ignorant retorted her companion sharply i know by the f s i have and the two friends picked and discussed the vexed points of medicine no more i can t force them and out o my mind suggested miss after a while being eager to receive the proffered confidence which might be forgotten think of em without no other door neighbors for three over the bounds of a lane wall what if t was two foot one way or two foot t other let em agree law lane but that g just what they n t said mrs powder you know yourself you might be to give away a piece o land but	40
when somebody said t wa n t yours t was theirs t would take more christian grace n i ve got to let em see i thought they was right all the old ever wanted first was for the to say two foot of the lane was theirs by ri ts and then they was to turn it into the lane and to give that two foot more o the than did they wa n t for no pay t was for rights but s folks said now don t you go an all up a that over t powder said the lesser woman there ain t be n no words spoke so often as them along this hill not even the ten the only sense there s be n about it is they ve let each other alone altogether and ain t spoke at all for six months to a time i can t help hoping that the war die out with the old breed and they ll come to some sort of peace mis was a sands and they re sort o folks and she s got fight in her i think she s more to blame than a good sight but law lane mis s a downright making little and would liave ended it long ago if she d be n able s stubborn too let me tell you and mrs powder s voice was full of anger t will never die out in his day and he spend every cent as the old folks did afore him the lawyers must laugh at him well themselves one an another o the best on em has them to leave it out to and tried to show em they was fools my man talked with judge himself about it once after he d been on a jury and they was away from court they could n t agree they never could i all the spare money o both farms has gone to pay the lawyers and carry on one fight after another now folks don t know it but s farm is all they ve spent even what mis had from her folks an there s worse be hind there s worse behind insisted the speaker stoutly i went up there this spring as you know when mis was at death s door with fever i went through everything of her round and was there five weeks till she got about i feel to a ds you as an own sister says law lane to me i m a woman at heart says she and just you think of it that my man had to leave me alone sick as i was while he went for you and the doctor not to ask s folks to send for help i like to live pleasant says she to me and bu st right out a i knew then how she d felt things all these years how are they ever goin to pay more court bills and all them piles o if the farm s so heavy she resumed s farm ain t worth a good two thirds of s they ve both neglected their lands how many you got so fur proudly displayed her gains of the was filling very fast and the friends were at their usual game of mrs powder had been the faster in years past and she now doubled her diligence ain t the sweet thick an scented as ever you see she said pasture lands rather n the best that grows if i can have a sweet bush and sweet patch and some o you can take all the look how folks toils with witch grass and law lane and gets a starved lot o poor eat and jail together in their front yards when they might get better comfort in the first pasture along the road i guess there s wild that s never got out o me i must ha be n made o counter to town dust i never could see why folks wanted to go off an live out o sight o the an have everything on a level you said there was worse to tell behind suggested as if it were only politeness to show an appreciation of the friendly offering i have it in mind to get round to that in proper course responded mrs powder a trifle offended by the mild i settled it in my mind that i was goin to tell you for a kind of a treat the day we come out there and mrs powder rose with from her knees and retreated to the shade of a tree which grew over a rock near by could not resist picking a little longer in an unusually fruitful spot then she hastened to seat herself by her friend it was no common occasion law lane mrs powder was very warm and farther and postponed he secret by wishing that she were as light on foot as her companion and her increasing weight then she demanded a second sight of the which were compared and decided upon as to quality and quantity then the cat which had been left at some distance on her came trotting toward her mistress in a disturbed way and after a minute of security in a comfortable lap darted away again in a strange excited manner she s goin to have a fit i do believe exclaimed quite for the cat was mrs powder s darling and she might leave everything to go in search of her she may have seen a snake or something she often gets scared and runs home when we re out a said the cat s owner complacently and s spirits rose again i suppose you never suspected that and cared the least thing about one another inquired the keeper of the secret a moment later and the listener turned toward	40
mrs powder with a startled face law lane now t powder for mercy s alive was all that she could say but mrs powder was satisfied and confirmed the amazing news by a most emphatic nod my lawful what be they goin to do about it inquired flushing with excitement a an a fall in love don t you how the old ones was al and names when we was all to school together times is changed certain now say you hope to die if ever you tell a word i say pursued mrs powder if i was to be taken away to morrow you d be all the one that would know it except mis and and themselves t was but her bein nigh to death that urged her to tell me the state o things i s pose she thought i might favor em in time to come she says to me mis powder my poor girl may need your care an i says mis she shall have it and then she had a o pain and we no more that day as i remember how come it about i should n t have told anybody that asked me that a and a ever changed the time o day law lane much less company protested the listener company pore young s i said mrs powder they ve hid em away in the an and in the edge o the growth at nightfall for the sake o a word an they ve stole out into that lane o winter nights i tell ye i ve heard folks say that love would still be lord of au but i never was strained to believe it till i see what that boy and girl was to undergo all the hate of all their folks is turned to love in them and i couldn t help a of em an i ventured to send over to my house after my and then i made an out to the spring brook to see if there was any started which i knew well enough there wasn t and i spoke right out bold to that was at work on a piece of over on his land says i if you time just run over to the edge o my pasture and pick me a handful o o i want to put em in half a pint o new rum for mis and there ain t a soul to send i knew he d just meet her coming back if i could time it right of started law lane he looked at me kind of s and pretty quick i see him it over the fields an axe and a couple o ends o boards like he d got to mend a fence i had to keep her dinner warm for her till ha past one o clock i don t know what he mentioned to his folks but she come an kissed me hearty when she first come inside the door t is harder for he ain t got nobody to speak to and s got her mother if she is a mis much afraid i don t know s we can blame for not to give his girl to the after they ve got away all his substance his means an his cattle like t was in the book o job urged seems as if they might call it square an marry the yoimg folks but they won t t will only fan the flame was a sentimental person neighbor powder had wisely in gaining a new friend to the cause of s apparently hopeless affection unknown to herself however she had been putting the lover s secret to great risk of the weather was most beautiful that afternoon there was an almost l w lane freshness and delight among the sweet of the pasture and the two elderly women were serene at heart and felt like girls again as they talked together they remembered many an afternoon like this they grew more and more confiding as they the past and their life long friendship a stranger might have gathered only the most rural and statements and a tedious succession of questions from what mrs powder and had to say to each other but the old stories of true love and faithful companionship were again simply those who are only excited by more complicated histories too often forget that there are no new plots to the and of life they are played sometimes by country people in sometimes by in velvet and lace love and prosperity death and loss and misfortune the stories themselves over and over again never mind whether the or the wit of the clubs plays the part of hero the two homely figures sat still so long that they seemed to become permanent points in the landscape and the small birds and even a wary went their ways law lane of mrs powder and the old tree under which they sat high above the young pine growth which clustered thick behind them on the in the middle of a comfortable reflection upon the grandfather s foolishness or mrs powder gave sudden utterance to the belief that some creature up in the tree was dropping pieces of bark and all over her a most like said looking up into the dense branches the tree is a down ain t it as you was must have well enough what he was about oh oh out i ow o w suddenly a voice overhead and a desperate scramble and rustling startled the good women half out of their wits ow mis powder i shrieked a familiar voice while both hearts fast and came half falling half climbing down out of the tree he and beat his head with his hands and at last rolled in agony among the and lamb kill look out for em he	40

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