American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-11-09
VOL. NH.

constant wear and strife made him trfl
hard and rough too. and then cam
Tabitha's burden-a burden she bore lon
Z i'm the accomplishing humility of love
He was fond enough Of her yet, and kindl,
by fits and starts, but he was not rs kindl,
, as he had been. just now and then
passionate word fell to her share whel
she was trying to keep peace, but though
it might cut her to the heart, she ncve
retorted. Before the first year was on
! there were nights when she lay awake
hearing the harsh-voiced clock upon tn
stairs strike hour after hour, while sh
!. listened with a heavy heart for the souno
| of certain unsteady footsteps on the grave
outside.
..But he is not to blame. poor fellow
she would say to herself. with feverisl
sadness. If he had the chance he would
be right enough. He is all have. too
all but father-and could never love hin
less. I have heard women say mer
wcaried them out of their love. Len
could never weary me. 1t seems some
how as if | could bide whatever he did
And then it might be that out of her faith.
fulness would grow a certain peace, and
Lem. coming home at midnight. would
find her asleep. with a curious quiet on
| her face almost like Il shadow from an
ether world: and even while he did not
understand it. he would be stirred at heart
and would awaken her in his rough, low
ing fashion, by bending over the clumsy
| old bed and lifting her on his arm.
Still it was very natural, where two UNI
conqucrablc natures were set against each
other, that bad should run to worse, and
that Tabitha's burden should become
heavier than aught but wOman-love could
have borne. And one terrible night.
when winter storm was raging outside
upon the barren mOorland. fiercer
/ storm ragged within the old farm
house. When it ended Tabitha lay
upon the tiled floor of the kitchen, struck
down by brutal, blind stroke from poor
mad LENS hand; and her mother stood
upon the threshold, facing wind and
storm, as she flung something like a male
diction after the poor desperate fellow,
who from that wretched hour was lost to
| them, as it seemed. forever.
From that night Roger Dunn never raj
lied. He had been feeble for months, and
under this last blow he sank. When he
carried Tabitha'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 bit
ter life.
LET Tabitha wait on me- he had said.
words he said to her.
This was eight years ago. and these
eight years Tabitha had lived through i'll
the farmhouse with no other companion
than the old woman, who never seemed to
yield i'm her stern hatred of the man her
child loved with so simple and entire a
trust. Poor Tabitha her ignorant faith
i'm her recreant husband knew no faltering.
even at the worst. She was so sure that
he would come back again some day a
wiser (she never said 'better'') man.
1t was only question of time to her un-
sophisticated 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 ont against the walls of their dull
prison; women of lOftier mind might
have learned =. lofty scOrn of the man who
could desert and outrage a faithful love;
but Tabitha's life had not encouraged
spirit.
1t had been a weary day tor her, this
one. which had drawn to its close with
soughing winds and beating rain. 1t was
a dreary season of the year. a id. apart
from this, Tabitha had remembered what
she fancied her mother did not, that this
night eight years ago poor Lem had dashed
out into the storm in the height of his
tempestuous wrath-the wrath in which
he had aimed the mad blow which had
fallen upon his wife instead of her mother.
She had awakened to the memory OF 1t
early in the gray morning. and her heart
had failed her heavily 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 fer, and she half
forgot herself in gazing at the leaping
blaze and the bright bed of red coal be-
meath. But her reverie did not last long.
SI,<a nl-a n
just the least faint sad ghost OF color.
s'I-Iwill go and hurry Hannah with the
tea" she said. 81 dare say you are ready
for it, mother"
The old woman's eyes followed her rs
she left the room. There might have
in them, but it was only a mOmentary
wavering, if it was one at all. When the
door closed upon the small, staid, yet al
most pathetic figure, her expression was
as cold as ever, and she drew her chair
nearer to the fire. shutting her lips as il
to hold some Pickering feeling within
bounds.
When their one serving-woman entered
with the tea-tray and its hOmely appurte-
nances, she did not look round, nor was
Tabitha sure that she had noticed them
until she herself carried the old blue china
cup full of hot tea to her side, and spoke
to her.
quite submissive to either notice or
neglect; 81 made it extra good tonight.
it is so cold and bleak outside"
She took it from her hands without
thai ks; and after seeing that it was to
her liking. Tabitha went back to the little
black japanned tea-tray and took her seat
behind it, as was her custom. She could
not cat much, however; somehow or 9th
err she felt restless. Her appetite was
gone and she even found herself starting
now and then quite nervOusly at the sounds
in the kitchen-Hannah moving to and
fro, and an occasional rafting of some DO
nestle utensil.
1t was great start she gave when the
door behind her really opened and Han
nah spoke to her in her usual abrupt man.
ner. ''There's man in the back-kitchen,
Tabitha, she said; "a sort of tramp. He
wants to get place to sleep in. He says
he can pay for it. -
Tabitha looked at the tall figure in the
high-backed chair in some nervous trepi-
dalton. She had borne the household
burdens for years, but she had never held
the reins of government in her hands.
Mother" she said, ''would you mind
it? It's dreadful night, and he must be
tired, poor fellow, if he has walked far.
Has he walked far, Hannah ~
From Stonecrough."
''He could sleep in one of the upstairs
rooms" hesitated Tabitha, meekly.
Tell him he can stay" announced the
mistress, land give him his SUPPER
query, and after one other glance at her
mother, Tabitha turned trifle nervously
to her tea. Experience had taught her
that comment WAS unnecessary.
But accustomed as she was to her moth
er's moods, it seemed to her, as the night