Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1872-11-22

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when he turned to her, gave him a
motherly kiss. Her keen eyes had
seen already the patches on his
coat, and that Susan and the chill
dren, July as it was, were still per-
spring in their winter clothes.
The water stood in her >eyes with
all their keenness.
"Now, could anything be better
than this?' cried Ben, flinging hat
and valisc in one corner. "All here
together once more! had no hope
of seeing the doctor tonight. l tell
you, doctor, that offer of yours was
the plank to the drowning man: !
had well-nigh gone under. And
you're just at supper! We're always
just in time, Sue. Here Joe, and
Jim, and Molly" ticking them oil
with enormous slices Of bread and
jam. "We're all half-starved-for-
got somehow to bring lunch"
"What about the lost trunk?" in
terposed Melicent.
"Oh! it will turn up sometime.
put the matter into the hands of a
cabman down there, an honest, reli-
able-looking fellow. l couldn't stay
all night. What became of the
check is the mystery. l did not
put it in the unlucky pocket, Sue" "
His wife laughed, giving the baby
a lump ofsugar.
"Eh? How's that, Pilley?'
GA pocket Of mine, out Of which
nothing comes at the right season.
Cost us dear, though, lately. You
heard of the chance l lost in A
college? No? Vacant chair of
astronomy and natural sciences.
Why, SAUL" encrgetically, "their
observatory l consider equal to
that Of any in the country. They've
one lens there which a man would
give years of his life for the chance
of using"
"Was the professorship offered
you?"
eyes. The most absurd mistake! !
The trustees wrote to me making
the proposition, and of course l ac-
cepted. 1t was just after l closed
my school. put my letter in this
pocket. No, did not neglect to
send it, but when l did 1 forgot to
put a stamp on it. 1t was too bad,
too bad!" growing serious. ''They
waited until their patience gave out,
and then Boehm, German from
Bonn, was pushed in by his friends.
A month afterward my letter came
out of our village Post Office quite
clean and fresh"
"Thc salary was large, I sup
pose?"
"Ycs. But one can make money
anywhere. But Such lens"
"When will your furniture be
here, Susy?' said Mcliccnt, to break
the awkward pause.
Ben and his wife glanced at each
other and laughed. "To tell the
truth, we have none," said Susy.
"Ben being out of work of any sort
for so long-you understand. It's
all gone somehow"
"Oh! we'll soon bring few traps
together" said Ben, rising from the
table. "Well, boys, l am delighted
to be with you once more. I've
been anxious to find out what you
think of Darwin's last step, eh %
was obliged to leave home next
morning for couple of days, and,
when returned, the Pilleys were
established in No. 32O.
"We will drop in and look at
them," said Saul, who had come to
the depot to meet me. When we
reached the door, the sound of the
violin met us. The floors were
carpctlcss. The furniture consisted
of half a dozen chairs, table and
iron bedsteads. But the windows
were flung wide open to admit the
balmy evening air. And the chill
dren in their winter clothes tumbled
over each other in and out, while
Ben tiddled, and his wife, soft and
sweet as May rose, sat placidly
beside him.
"But | am more and more in love
every day with your Pontefract
Woods" said Ben, after the first
welcome was over. "Stifled? Not a
bit of it! There's something vitaliz-
ing in the very pressure of human
life about YOU. It's stimulant.
Why, at home you know how used
to creep out of work and be off to
the woods half the time. l could
not help it, Lathrop. Nature has
her grip on me. But here. when a
thousand or more Of us men set off
to our labors in the morning,
feel quite as though l were march
ing in an army. | keep step with
humanity, ch?"
"What about the work when you
reach the Officer
"Oh! it's mere bagatelIe," in
differently. "Plenty Of time for
study. Pve found treatise Of Van
Schurz, by the way, in the Philadel-
phia Library that I've Wanted for
years"
"What do you think?" said Saul
anxiously, after we had gone out.
GAS | did at first. 1t was mis-
take"
"Thcy would have starved if
had not brought him here"
''Bctter for a man to starve than
to attempt another work than his
own. There is so much force vast
ed. Either the man or the work
ends in ruin"
every good in theory. But what
about the starving wife and child
ren? Bcsidcs," continued Saul,
when he found l had nothing to say
'sthe chief of Ben's department tells
me that the work is, as he says, a
mere bagatelle to him. Pilley is no
dreaming book-worm, after all, but
a man of sound ability and large
grasp of thought"
said no more, having certainly
no right to interfere. But the be-
lief was an old'onc with me that
every master workman in the world
is fitted by God for an especial task
and quits it at his peril for any con-
sideration Of comfort or even life.