The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1872-10-24
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/, was droafY work cutting carpet tag'
nightAfier night, with ber boy away in
lbs arIpy, and long lists q killed and
wounded hllng TIE newspapers SIZE
had cot uP Alyn's little eoai Il va.
the Grst coat he ever had, aud she &c
melnbered how proud he had been Of the
bui,ous aud pockets, sud it went 20 hcr
heart 70 shred Il into Sits
The room where Patience Tanning sa'
was very small ana humble. II was the
lrsi room .be bad furnished with things
eked out and sersped together by thc
hardest ofloil For more ihan twenty
wears she had lived IN the dlapidaled
gray farmhouse, in narrow rouBd Of
duties, ceuteIfng at the cradle Of hef
child, aud later ABOUT the bed OF her sick
husband And yet she bad tasted keen
" most of the joys and sorrows that be-
long TO wouan's lot Her sphere bad
never seemed mean or inadequate to her
self; for holding her child IN her arms,
she ieit that she possessed all the dignity
and honor that earth has TO bestow.
Int the tears would drop sometimes
now, ar Patience rat alone at her work,
in the slender ray Of the candle. There
were vine shadows where the row Of pot
ted plants had been, for Il was spring,
and the geranium and heiotropes were
out in the little door yard beds, aud she
rested in the longer twilight ead lived
over the life she had led, first as wife,
theu a mother, afterward lonely widow
with her boy away at the war. Patience
had always lived in others. 1t seemed
as though her heart lad no separate ac-
ton or its own, and received It's pulsa-
tons from the beating hearts Of those
she loved. ..........-.. -
When Washington was threatened and
danger menaced the Pennsylvania from
tier, Alvin had grown moody at home
because she opposed his wish to
join the volunteers. IL was The dark hour
other country's peril, and Patience had
wrestled and struggled aud prayed until
she gained strength to let her boy so oui
Of her arms. She had given her eve
lamb; she sat alone.
Hel farm consisted OF few acres Of
rather stony land that lay close to the
house where she lived. Her husband
had been cooper, working at tubs and
barrels off and on the busy time of year,
and Alvin had learned the trade too; but
the little shop was closed now; and the
fields were let out Oh shares, and ever
since he wore the coat of army blue her
boy had sent back his pay to the widow,
and her cruise and basket were never emp
ty. Her neighbors were very kind.
Abiah Williams, who lived on the next
place, had banked up her house in the
fall, and dug and stored her winter veg
etables and in The spring, as soon as the
ground grew mellow, he came with bis
team TO plow her garden. By carpet
making and odd bits of sewing, Patience
was able to supply all her slender wants.
Not a penny of her boys earnings had
ever been touched. That money was sa-
cred. Patience had already spoken 10
Enoch Hobrook about putting it out at
interest. In the long winter evenings,
when she only heard the slow tick Of the
clock in the corner, OF the sough of the
wind in the pine trees, her brain was bu-
sy with plans for her boys future.
Deacon spicer brought the paper in
every third day, after he had spelled il
over for an hour or two at home. The
news had travelled two or three hundred
miles by rail and stage before it came TO
her hand; but Patience watched for il
with beating heart. The account of a
bloody battle generally drove her to bed
with bad headache, caused by the har-
der aching Of her mother heart. Rachels
sympathes were mainly on the mothers
side; she did not think so much Of the
stricken wives or desolate young maid
ems mourning over their dead. She had
one of those intense but narrow natures
which Puritanism develops, with little
Imagination, but strong aud ieryent feel
ings. Her mind was SO deeply religious
that the whole Of life was invested with a
sort Of sacred ardor; even her JOY found
expression in some grand old covenant
er's hymn, that seemed to fill the pauses
of the wind in the forest grove near at
hand. . ta H.#@ #.#
Patience had looked forward many
times to the possible harm that might
come to Alvin She had thought Of her
loneliness that perhaps might end only
with the grave; and bow ia some distant
autumn day when the eriokets were chirp.
iug IN the slubbie, she might feel glad
that she had plucked out her heart and
given to God, remembering that he
who would save his life must lose it.
But there we're other days when a So
Der gIadness eolored her mood, aud the
sublime old hymns that told Of persccu-
tion aud victory over death came rolling
out on her rich voice, Then il was easy
for her 10 believe that Alvin would be
spared, and she thought of bis home-con-
ing a. ola second birth, when the Lord
would again put him into her arms as a
free gift VITA her deep heart, that took
such eager bold Of what it loved, kind.
ling and warming a. # held, she pictured
the life that they would lead together,
aud slowly pieeed oul story ofexqui-iie
Kind 10 ihat liglc whitewashed room
where all bis history hAa written Itself
A certain nsrfuBue,s uf vision, az wei