Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-12-23

81 Win 9 deprecatlng SMILE
al ought not to let those old though
is strike the light out of the day for m
r ought II"
a SNo, Jerome, nor She caught h
hand and kissed it as q mother might
lie child's.
al had almosed ceased to make holiday,
/ he added, gravely, putting his foot up, re
tying the leather strings of his heav
shoes, and looking down on his fisher
mans rig with secret complacency.
"ShaIT we go down? There are fore
9 boding signs in the sea that 1 would wisl
], to study"
E Late in the afternoon of that day, Cap
/ tain Lufflin, coming up the rocks from til,
beach (for he had spent the day measuring
the advancing tide, saw a queer-shapec
cart or van drive up to the side door, and
a woman with divers bundles alight and
go in About an hour after, Madame
Jacobus came out to him, a woollet shaw
over her head, and stood beside the gar.
den-fence with him, pulling the heads of
the dead hollyhock-stalks as she talked.
al We a story to tell you" she said, her
voice thick at first, and her face hot.
"Eh2 About yourself, Charlotte 2" The
Captains small eyes kindled with curiosity
and he pushed a log for her to sit down.
Go on, my dear"
"About ourselves-M. Jacobus and
me,"-with another pause.
II perceived" said her fathers friend,
preparing fer the confession of some i'm
prudence, "that your married life has
been peculiar modelled after the ideas of
young people, 1 suppose"
al do not know" she said, absently.,
She balanced herself more comfortably
against the fence, and went on with her
story with a quiet unconsciousness that
baked Lufiiin's intention of censure.
1--WE have been poor in the two or three
years just past" she said,-n wanted
enough to satisfy even his favorite Saint
Simon's theory. My husband is no Of
"Financier ?' gently suggested the
Captain.
"No. He could beard the world in de-
fence of an idea; but for bread and butter,
ah-hl I'm rougherl 1 ought to have been
the man for thatl About a year ago he
was offered a chance to go with a geologi-
cal party to Brazil. I was glad of that.
The air and sights of our close court were
killing hin. l wanted to finish some
work L had to do, and them
She stopped a scarlet flush broke over
her neck and face.
"Yes, child ~
"God was very good to us,"-in an al
most whisper. "Six months after nv
husband left home, He gave us another
You never told me this" cried Luf1in
Il never told Jerome" quietly. ~ put
my baby out to nurse, where it could
breathe air, and not poison,-not far from
l have left it there since. May be
it was wrongi' said poor. Charlotte, hiding
face in her hands, with happy laugh.
at was a within, 1 know. 1 may have
wronged him, but 1 had a fancy to give !
his home and his child both upon this
Christmas day" 4
The Captain gasped, took a fresh bit of I
,obacco, but said nothing. I
There is no more t~osay,-but you want
o see the baby p suddenly. |
Certainly, Charlotte, certainly,-see the =
And the old Captain followed her,
,lancing about him in a mild imbecility .
# establishment. :
Cold bless my soul " he broke out at i
asst. "The idea of springing a house and 4
baby on a man in one day 1t assuredly {
child, the most unprecedented whim-h
"Yes, yes" lodging suddenly into a
DOM, and bringing out a bundle of white \
lnen and wool. She stood in the passage
IA window, the red evening light falling q
bout her. Z
"It's a boy" she whispered, lifting off a
he covering, HE is very like little Tom" a
AN inexpressible W on her face.
Eyes" said the Captain. He had meant t.
} say a few sensible words to bring her to g
eason about this matter; but, instead, he 4
BOX up the little white foot thrust out of "
ne blanket and kissed it sheepishly, look Z
lg askance at the woman's figure and face y
ent over the child, beaming with a rare 8
nd tender beauty. e
They SAID little after that. The mother Of
God playing with her baby, touching its re
1eeks and chin until it laughed. Her soul a.
to be in her fingers, her pure pas b
on to envelOp the mite of flesh as the CT
eak sunshine did herself, and to hold it ~
life. There was something in this wife u
ld-mother-love which poor Luf1in did e.
t understand. Id
every well" he said "fll go now. God n
ess you, Lottyl You'll let me have a h
Iare in this youngfello here, Ell p-and b.
Cited down the back stairs, leaving her pl
the narrow hall. "0ld Mounchere er
icobus must have been a good fellow |
thought, 'to have deserved all this. h'
cd deals SO differently with different IN
en- p al
She had nothing more to say about it, ~
adame Jacobus had told him; vet, stand 60
g there in the quiet cold night, within a m
W steps of the closed door behind which an
har h1rchan1 h. f.oA -. A. a. a.
g house she had worked hard to buy him, fu
e child in her arms she would give him
morrow, she thought she had touched FL
this hour the very depth and heighth of ~
at is worth all the pain that's gone ~ ~
worth it all, " she said again and again, ba
the boy so closely that he cried. lila
hen she turned to the window, the cold at
d gathering night somehow made her ne
me more real, the future alive with ba
and good possibilities. - w
it was q f0rahn1'-6, 1oNengeIul "A
rht-eatsfde the little panes of the ssu ~
ssage-window she could see the gray Ges
lis of the house and the bare trunks of M
) trOes darken and draw apart in the mr.
Il light. There was no mellowRess in ter
outlines of rock or beach; they doomed gie
HAIsn anu threatening. from the low,
ICY horizon came at intervals subdued WI
lghs of wind that broke on the project eq'
headlands with a muHled cry. The an
or grew chilly to her feet the strips of t Srl
pet shook in the gusts; and the passage ~
5 dark, but for a cheerful glimmer of
under the Professors door. Charlotte
shivering with her baby into the -
rse's room; and when she had watched
safe into its cradle, came out, going =
hin through the hall to the library. AS p
touched the do%or-handle, she checked
'selfin singing some song, growing col
ess as she thought what it was,-an old
ty with which she used to lull little ~
m to sleep, but never had sung since n
N. But in a moment a curious smile L
ne on her lips. THAT is all right" she low
d opening the door. From that mo- TO- :
mt her little boy and poor Tom, dead No
the city graveyard yonder, were as one the
the mother; she nursed them in her e zip
lrt together. tall
TT..T,yoI .,,-g ,,oL dau