The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1859-12-15

AAN'S AA11'US ,SOui AOluc
yonr hearth bright and shining, your food
agreeable; Tor PHYS sake, tell her you
thank her, if nothing more She don't
expect it; it will make her eyes open wi
der than they have for ten years but it
will do her good for all that, and you too :"
1t seemed to Andrew that this sentence
was written just for him, and just for the
| occasion. 1t was the complete answer to
his question, "Praise her for what ?' and
| he felt 1t also as a rebuke. He read no
further, for thought came too busy, and
IN new direction. Memory was convic-
ting him of injustice towards his wife.-
She had always made his home as comfor-
table for him as hands could make it, and
had he offered the light return of praise
| or cOmmendation Had he ever told her
Of the satisfaction he had known, or the
comfort experienced He was not able
to recall the time or the occasion As he
thought thus, Mrs. Lee came in from the
kitchen, and taking her work-basket from
a closet, placed it on the table, and sitting
down without speaking, began to sew Mr.
Lee glanced almost stealthily at the work
IN her hands, and saw that it was the bo-
som Of a shirt, which she was stitching.
lie knew that it was for him that she was
| at work. ''Praise your wife" The words
were before the eyes Of his mind, and he
could not look away from them. But he
was not ready for this yet. He still felt
moody and unforgiving. The expression
of his wife's face he interpreted to mean
i'll nature, and with i'll nature he had no
patience. His eye fell upon the newspa-
per that lay spread out before him, and
he read the sentence
"a kind cheerful word, spoken in a
gloomy home, is like rift in a cloud, that
lets the sunshine through"
Lee struggled with himself while lon
ger. His own i'll nature had to be con-
quered first; his moody, accusing spirit
had to be subdued. But he was coming
right, and at last got right, as to will
Next came the question as to how he
should begin. He thought of many things
to say, yet feared to say them, lest his wife
should meet his advances with cold re
buff. At last, leaning towards her, and
taking hold of the linen bosom upon
which she was at work, he said, in a voice
carefully modulated with kindness
"lou are doing that work very beauti-
fully, Mary"
Mrs. Lee made no reply. But her hus-
band did not fail to observe that she lost,
almost instantly, that rigid erectuess with
which she had been sitting, nor that the
motion of her needle ceased.
"My shirts are better made, and whittier
than those of any other man in the shop"
said Lee, encouraged to 90 on.
care they? ?" Mrs. Lees voice was
low, and had in it slight huskiness. She
did not turn her face, but her husband
saw that she leaned little towards him
He had broken through the ice of reserve,
and all was easy now His hand was
| among the clouds, and few feeble rays
were already struggling through the rift
it had made.
"Ycs, Mary" he answered, softly, "and
| I've heard it said more than once, what a
| good wife Andrew Lee must have.
Mrs. Lee turned her face toward her
husband. There was light in it, and light
in her eye. But there was something in
the expression of the countenance that a
little puzzled him.
sDo you think so ?" she asked, quite
soberly.
"What question ~ calculated Andrew
Lee, starting up and going round to the
side of the table where his wife was sit
ting. "What question, Mary he re-
peated, as he stood before her.
| ado you ?" 1t was all she said.
dyes, darling" was the warmly spoken
answer, and he stopped down and kissed
her "How strange that you should ask
me such question p
off you would only tell me so now and
then, Andrew, it would do me good y and
Mrs. Lee arose, and leaning her face
against the manly breast of her husband,
stood and wept.
What strong light broke in upon the
mind of Andrew Lee. He had never Civ
en- to his faithful wife even the small re-
ward of praise for all the loving interest
she had manifested daily, until doubt OF
his love had entered her soul, and made
the light around her thick darkness. Nc
wonder that her face grew clouded, mol
that what he considered moodiness and
ill nature took possession of her spirit
"You are good and true, Mary, my own
dear wife. | am proud of you'll love
you--and my first desire is for your hap
piness. Oh, if l could always see your
face in sunshine, my home would be tht
dearest place on earth"
GLOW precious to me are your words o
love and praise, Andrew said Mrs. Lee
smiling up through her tears into his face