The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1858-05-06

might have been seen, about sunset, hitching his
horse at Mr.. Browns door; for, strangely enough,
Mrs Heath's visits had all been made at the same
place. Going up to the door, he stopped in amaze
ment at seeing his wife in the kitchen, just taking Oh
q great WOODEN wash apron, and putting down her
sleeves which had been rolled up for washing. He
listened and heard her say, AZ she took some money
from Mrs. Brown, eft won't be so that l can do
your washing again."
sit has been a great favor to have you do it while
l have been poorly" said Mrs. Brown, sand I'm
glad to pay you for it. This makes four times, and
here's two dollars. IT'S just as we'll that you can't
come again, for l think I shall be well enough to do
it myself"
1.-TWO dollars. just the price of the newspaper
exclaimed MIR. Heath, as the truth flashed across
him. Rather a silent ride they had home till at last
he said
:" never was so ashamed in my life "a
"Of what 30 asked his wife.
as that comes to-"
WELL don't know, > replied his wife, "when a
nan IS too poor to take a newspaper. his wife ought
not to feel above going ont washing"
Nothing more was said on the subject at that time,
though some ill feeling fingered in the hearts of each.
The making up was no mawkish scene of kissing,
embracing and crying. such as romance writers
build their useless fabrics with, but as Mrs. Heath
was finishing her household duties for the night, she
said. quietly,
81 don't think I did quite right. Richard
81 don't think I did, either responded the hus-
band; and so the spark was quenched which might
nave become a Sc1thIng lame D1ghtlng All the uOmeS-
tic peace under their humble roof.
At last the long voyage is ended, and the sailors
talk only of home now. They talk Of those they are
to meet, of their wives and children 10 whom their
thoughts have so often wandered during these three
years absence. They wonder if the young sailor,
Alfred Heath. who lies so sick, will ever see his home
again, and with their rough tones subdued almost to
gentleness, they speak of his anxiety to see his
mother.
He is so hopelessly i'll that his heart is now where
the worn spirit ever turns in its hour of bitterest sor-
row or its approach to the unseen end-to God and
his mother. Family rs his heart beats, il still throbs
with earnest desire for life. Dim as the keen eve has
sight Of his mother and his failing mind become
cleared could he lean on her breast.
With folded hands the yonng sailor prays his
words are confused and indistinct to these who listen,
but all clear and earnest are they TO the Great listener
above. And when the ship had rea he'd her distant
port, and mingling voices are all around the sick
sailor, his comrades bear him comfortably TO a home
"A miserable home-but better to him than the
rocking vessel in the midst of the sounding sea. Now,
If | could see mother, he murmured to the strangers
around him.
She is sittingby the uncovered window, patiently
reading the shipping journal, and thinking mean
while of her absent boy: thinking it was time for him
t%o:.return, and hoping that he will never go to sea
again. How quick the words catch her eye,-Ar-
rived, ship Banner, Lowell.
And it was a week ago; ne could have been home
" lllls lIIts TIC I'll COHlC ~ uEnlrc ut Sdiu
as she went to communicate the good news to her hus-
band.
They watched for him in vain that night and then
Mrs. Heath suggested what no mother ever failed TO
suggest when the long absence of a child was unac-
counted for-he must be sick; when night after night
passed, and they neither saw nor heard anything of
Alfred, her anxiety would let her rest no longer.
"We will go for him, or at least go where we may
hear of him. said Mr. Heath, who now, as anxious
as his wife. readily assented.
Their simple preparations for the Journey were soon
made, and with heavy hearts they proceeded in search
of their son. with little hopes of gaining anything
more satisfactory than definite intelligence of his
death.
Ii was a dark and rainy evening when they entered
the city, and after an hour spent in fruitless enqui-
ries they found the place where Alfred had been car
ried. Little care had he received in the crowded
clearinghouse. There was none of the neatness and
order that shows better in a sick room than anywhere
else. Rough hands had roughly tended him, and
pale and death-like as he looked it seemed as if it
mattered little what care he had now In the agony
with which the parents bent over ( , unconscious
sleeper. and marked the sunken cheeks and wasted
form, there was but one ray of comfort; they could
watch over him-they should not hear of his death
with the sad thought that none but a stranger had
smoothed his dying pillow.
The sufferer awoke from a troubled dream, to find
his aching head supported by his father and see his
mothers eye resting on him with n look of u%nuttera-
bic tenderness. So faint was the smile of recognition
with which he greeted them, that only n parents eye
could have caught the fittering expression.
Can't live, can't live said the doctor, with n
professional carelessness, as he entered the house the
next morning.
But his mother has come - said the landlady.
"That alters the case; he may get up again" an
swered the doctor, than whom none knew better how
much n mother could do.
But how frail seemed the thread that held that
young and promising life. For days it quivered and
with the slightest breath, and the mother
t~earfully prayed that II might n II be broken. As gen.
tie care and kindly Watching as ever blessed a sick
bed. had young Alfred Heath, and not in vain; grad
ually he grew better, and was able TO walk with his
parents and asked them how they CHANGED to come to
him in the hour Of need.
"It was the newspaper said Mr.. Heath. . just
three words in the paper told us your ship had come.
You didn't arrive at home. AMI so we came to see if
you were sick. You'll soon be well enough to go
home. my hoy, God be thanked. he added fervently.
for sending as TO take care of you"
At length Alfred was pronounced well enough 10
ride, and in a few days the pleasant old homestead
his sight. How beautiful IL looked n the
sun shone on the vines in which it was uncovered,
with their wealth Of grapes, just %purpling in the an-
Sunshine.
No one so joyful as Mr.. Heath, who, nffer being
by hearing Alfred say he would not go TO
sea again. expressed his opinion OF newspapers in gen.
ernl. and his own newspaper in particular, in this
wise -
al I'M so glad. Millicent, that you took that paper,
for 1 count the paper just the most necessary thing in
n family. We should never have had a boy here
strcng and well, if it had not been for it. 1t is an
thing, and l shall subscribe for it as long as
\ 1;vas