The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-03-15

means. He has his redeeming trail
after all. I.believe he will do bett
if you will try to help him. "
e I know Josiah is one that bears encou
d 4 agenent.a Nabby.nf79a isHGi slnH
! SWeii' squire, I'ir think It owe
& \ Anyhow Pm obieeged to you. "
3 talk so sorter comfortln' to q bod,
Il Your mothers own son just Il
0 same good heart. Would you be ab
3 to eat some of my cheese, squire"
3 "Try me and see, Nabby,n said tt
squire, smilingiy, mot impervious
Nabby's compliments. Nabby mad
1 her exit just as Mrs. Hesley rushe
) in, full l-oflHsifaly Indignation that th
, squire hSd bSena allowed to- see
Client"
Nabby's home was over at th
lnCorners, Y three miles from the wi
iage.. She walked rapidly along i
the fast thickening darkness, wit
the steady, strong gait becoming th
self-reliant woman that she was. VI
Il even her tunimaginative nature We
4 not proof against the depressing iD
fuence Of the chilly, raw Neyembe
evening. The wind whistled througl
the bare tree branches, which creake'
and groaned mournfully, and wave
wildly up and down in the dim ligh
overhead. The wind seemed to cher
ish a special spite against Nabby. /
blewiher bonnet OF and her hair int,
her eyes, struggled madly with he
shawl, took her breath away, an(
firmly resisted her every step
Finally, it began to send ispitefu
dashes Of cold rain-dr0ps in her fac
rain that seemed almost to freeze q!
it fell. 81; .,as l,., -.,.,. ,isI,.t
:'Josiah used to come after me viii
an umbrella when I was caught Ou1
in the rain,p thought Nabby. ''Ht
after all. dunnO's he ever gave me
a cross word in his life, even when
he'd been drinkin'." rs
Here the driving, sleety rain and
piercing wind pouneed down upon
Nabby with renewed fierceness, hust-
ling her madly in fiendish glee.
| IAN awful night to be homeless,
Nabby," something seemed to say.
II don't care, said Nabby to her
self, beginning to feel cross again and
generally ill-used as she grew wetter
and colder. ''It serves him right.
He's made his bed, and he can lie in
it." - =. ~, - ..'
At the "Corners" light streaming
cheerfully out into the night from
other homes made Nabby's little
house look particularly gloomy and
uninviting. Nabby fumbled under
the mat FOR the door-key, fumbled
with stiffened fingers for the key
hole, and finally succeeding in un-
locking the door, felt her way in
through the little entry. ~.
There is always something sun
canny" about going alone at night
into a dark and shut-up house. Even
people of the best regulated minds
experience vague suspicion of some
thing behind them, sense of possible
ghostly hands about to clutch them
in the darkness. Nabby was q
woman, like Mrs. Edmund Sparkler,
with no "nOnsense about her." but
nevertheless, a cheerful tale she had
read only yesterday in the Chronicle,
about burglar and a lone woman,
kept coming into her head, and she
carefully avoided the thick blackness
Of the corners and the pantry door as
she greped around the kitchen for q
candle. OF course the fire had gone
out. - SEA
"Two heads are better than one, if
one is q sleeps head" Nabby might
have been heard muttering out in the
woOd-hOuse as she stopped painfully
down, picking up chips; by which
Oracular utterance / suspect she was
thinking what a good supply OF
kindlings Josiah always kept on hand
for her, and how much more COM
Portable it was in the old times COM
ing home to a house bright with light
and warmth, and Josiah's welcome.
For Josiah cherished the most pro-
found admiration for Nabby-an ad-
miration not unmingled with awe.
He thought her most wonderful
woman. She was Just as beautiful to
him now as in the old courting days,
before the brightness and quickness
of the black eyes had degenerated
into sharpness before the smiling
mouth had acquired its hard, firmly
set expression, before there were any
WlIAhIcS III IllC Su1OOIh IVlChCou1
People thought Nabby had done well
in marrying Josiah Gould-a pleasant,
good natured young fellow that every
one liked young mechanic, not
very rich yet, it is true; but, with a
good trade and such wife as Nabby,
there seemed nothing to prevent his
figuring as lone of our first citizens"
Anybody can be somebody in this
country if he is only determined. But
that was exactly the difficulty with
Josiah. He never was determined
about anything. He fell into the
habit of drinking because he lacked
sufficient strength of will to avoid it.
Then Nabhy's sharp words, and his
own miserable sense of meanness and
self-contempt, of utter discourage
ment and despair, drove him lower
and lower, and he sank down supine-
ly into the slough Of despond with
out effort or hope. --.. .. 4
BY a beautiful dispensation of
Providence, whenever a poor, shift.
less, good-for-nothing man is sent
into our world, some active, go-ahead
little woman is invariably fastened
to him to tow him along through,
and keep his head above water. It's
for the best, of course. What would
become of the poor fellow without
her? At the same time, she some
times finds it little hard.
Nabby was ambitious and proud
spirited, willing to work hard, to
save, to do her part-anxious to get
on in the world and stand well among
the neighbors. The fact, gradually
realized, that in her husband she had
no help, no support, only drag and
burden, and finally q disgrace, had
been a disappointment embittering
her whole nature. To have a hus-
band that no one respected, that even
the boys around town called Isl
Could" was dreadful to Nabby. Per-
haps it was hardly strange that she
grew hard and bitter.
Meantime Nabby had succeeded In
starting the fire, and, having changed
her dress, sat down to dry her feet
until the tea-kettle boiled. But even
the ruddy light and warmth with
which the kitchen now glowed could
not fend of the dreariness Of the
night. The rain I" tapped With ghostly
finger-tip upon the window. pane, and
the windhowled and walled around the
house like the spirits Of the lost plead
ing to ba once more taken back into
human life and warmth. Such wind
stirs in even the happiest heart . vague
sense of loss, of change, Of all that
goes to make up the unsatisfacton-
10 - A