New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-11-10

J I "
share when she was trying to keep peace
but though it might cut her to the heart
she never retOrted. Before the first yea
was out there were nights when she Ia,
awake, hearing the harsh-voiced clock upol
the stairs strike hour after hour while she
listened with heavy heart for the sOunt
OF certain unsteady footsteps on the grave
outside.
'"But he IS not 90 blame poor fellow,
she would say to herself, with teVerlsh sad
ness. "If he had the chance, lie would bt
right enough. He is all 1 have, t0o-al
but father-and | could never love hin
less. Ihave heard women say men wearIed
them out of their love. Lem could never
weary NE. 1t seems somehow as 1t | could
bide whatever he did" And then it might
be that OUT of her faithfulness would grow
a certain peace and Lem, coming home al
midnight, would lind her asleep, with a Gu
riOus quiet on her face, almostlike shadow
| from another world; and even while lie did
not understand it. he would be stirred at
heart, and would awaken her in his rough,
loving fashion, by bending over the clumsy
old bed and lifting her on his arm.
Still 1t was very natural, where fWO I'M
| c0nquerable natures were set against each
| other, that bad should run to worse, and
| that Tabithas burden should become
! heavier than ought but woman love could
have borne. And one terrible night, when
- NIiICSt oLOi IL " dS OllSltlC u )Oll inc
| barren m0Orland a tierCer storm ragged
| within the old farmhouse. When it ended
| Iabltha lay upon the tiled floor of the
| kitchen, struck down by a brutal, blind
| stroke from poor mad LENS hand; and her
! mother stood upon the threshold, facing
| wind and storm, as she flung something
! ike a maledictiOn after the poor, desperate
! fellow, who from that wretched hour was
| lost to them, as it seemed, forever.
From that UiUif kDnpr Duun npvpr raj l.
| lied. lie had been feeble for months and
under this last blow he sank. When he car
ried TabitlIa's senseless form over the
threshold Of the kitchen he crossed it for
| the last time. He never went into it again,
and month afterward he turned his face
to the wall at the close Of one dreary day.
and died without a word, which might have
brought him nearer in this solemn last hour
to the woman with whom he had spent so
many wretChed years OF bitter life.
LET Tabltha wait on me-" he had said
early in the day; and they were the last
words he had said to her.
This was eight years ago. and these eight
years Iabitha had lived through in the
farm house with no other companion than
the old woman, who never seemed to yield
in her stern hatred Of the man her child
loved with so simple and entire trust
Poor Tabitha. her ignorant faith in her
recreant husband knew no faItering, even
at the worst. She was SO sure that he would
come back again some day a wiser (she
never sand ga better') man. 1t was only
question Of time to her unsOphisticated
mind. He would be sure to come; and so
she waited, day after day, hoping against
hope. Women OF greater spirit might have
died-beaten their hearts out against the
walls Of their dull prison; women Of IOttier
mind might have learned a lofty scorn of
the man who could so desert ard outrage a |
faithful lpva. hJ,+ Fol i+ln', Il
couraged spirit
1t had been a weary day for her this one,
which had drawn to its close with signing |
winds and beating rain. It was dFeary |
season OF the year, and, apart from this
TaOitha had remembered what she fancipd |
her mother did not, that this night eight
years ago poor Lem had dashed out into the
storm in the height of his tempestu0us
wrath-thc wrath in which he had aimed
the MAD blew which had fallen upon his
wife instead OF her mother. She had awak-
cned to the memory of it early in the gray
and her heart had failed her hcay-
lily every hour Of the day, so that it was no
wonder that she was pale and silent when
the night closed in about them.
She stood by the fire a minute after her
mother had spoken to her, and she half for
got herselfin gazing at the leaping blaze
md the bright bed Of red hot coal beneath
But her reverie did not last long She
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