Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1857-07-02

Anu mere ls Two uoilars- IL Is just as wei that
you cannot come again, for think | shall be well
enough now, to do myself"
"TwO dOllars-just the price Of the newspaper"
exclaimed Mr.. Heath, as the truth flashed uPon
him.
Rather silent ride they had. AT last be
said:
81 never was 50 ashamed"
"0f what Z" asked bis wife.
"Io have you go out washing. aint 50
poor as that comes TO-"
"Well, ] don't know" replied bis wife, "whOn
man is too poor to take a newspaper, his wife
ought not to feel above going out washing"
Nothing more was said on the subject at the
time, though some -feelings fingered in the hearts
of each. The "making up" was no mawkish
scene of kissing, embracing and crying, such as
some of the romance writers build their fabrics
with, but as Mrs Heath was finishing her
household duties for the night, she said quietly:
Il don't think that did quite right, Rich.
ard"
al don't think I did, either" responded her
husband.
And so the spark was quenched, which might
have become scathing flame, blighting all do.
mestc peace under their humble roof.
AT last the voyage is almost ended and the sail
ors talk only of home now. They talk of those
they are to meet; Of the wives and children, to
whom their thoughts have so often wandered du.
ring these three years absence. They wonder if
the young sailor Albert Heath, who lies so sick,
will ever reach his home again, aud with their
rough tones subdued almost to gentleness they
speak about his anxiety to see his mother.
He is so hopelessly i'll, that his heart i, now
where the worn spirit ever turns in its hour of Bit
teres sorrow, or its approach to the unseen land
to God and bis mother. Family as his heart
beats, it still throbs with an earnest desire for life.
Dim as bis keen eye had become, he fancies it
would brighten once more at the sight of his moth.
er, and his failing mind be cleared could he lean
on her breast.
With folded hands the young sailor prays; bis
words are confused and ndstinct to those who
listen, but all clear, all earnest and plain are they
to the Great Listener above. And when the state.
ly ship has reached its destined port, and ming.
ling voices are all around TIE sick sailor, his com
rades bear him carefully to home--a miserabl,
home-but better to him than the rocking vessel
in the midst ofthe sounding sea.
"Now if 1 could see mother" he murmured to
the strangers around him.
She is sitting at the vine covered window, pa.
tiently reading the Shipping Journal, and think
ing meanwhile of her absent boy; thinking it is
time for him TO return, and hoping he will never
60 to sea again, How quick the words catch her
eye-Arrived, ship Banner, Lowell.
"And it was a week ago, he could have been
home by this time; he will come home to night"
said she joyfully. as she went to communicate the
good news to her husband. They watched for
him in vain that night, then Mrs. Heath suggest.
ed what no mother ever fails to suggest when the
prolonged absence of a child was unsccounted for,
"he must be sick" and when night after night
passed, and they neither saw nor heard anything
of Alfred, her anxiety would let her rest no lon
ger. awe will go to him, or at least 90 where
we can hear of him." And Mr.. Heath, now as
anxious as herself readily assented. Their sim.
pie preparations for the journey were soon made,
and with heavy hearts they proceeded in search
of their son, with little chance of obtaining any
thing more satisfactory than the definite ntelli
gence of his death.
1t was dark and rainy evening when they en-
tered the city, and after an hour of frutess inqu
ries, they found the place where Alfred had been
carried. Little care he received in the crowded
boarding house, There was none of that neatness
and order, which shows better in the sick room
than any where else. Rough hands roughly
tended him, and pale and dcathlike as he looked,
II seemed as if it mattered not what care he had
now. In the agony with which the parents bent
over the unconscious sleeper, and marked the
sunken cheeks and wasted form. there was but one
ray of hope; they could watch over him-they
could not hear of bis death with the sad thought
that none but strangers hands had soothed his
dying pillow.
The sufferer awoke from his troubled dream to
find his aching head supported by his father, and
seeing bis mothers eye resting upon him With
look of unutterable tenderness. So faint was the
smile of recognition with which he greeted them
that only parents watchful eye could have
caught the expression.
"Can't live, can't live" said the doctor with
professional carelessness, as he entered the house
next morning.
"But his mother has come" said the landla-
dy.