The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-02-17

list as Mrs. HoSley rushed 10, Idito
wlicly Indignation that tho Squire haG
been allOwedto see q "client'' t-lE..
Nabbys home was over at Tic sCor
ners" three miles from the village. Shl
walked rapidly along in the iast.thickcn
ing darkness, with the steady, strong gait
becoming the sell.reliant woman that shI
was. Yet even her imaginative naturI
was not proof against the depressing In
iluence oil the chilly, raw November even
ing. The wind wLtstled through the bar
tree branches, which crcaket and groanet
mourniully, and waved wildly up and
down In the dim light overhead Thu
wind seemed to cherish q special spite
against Nabby. II blew her bonnet d
and her hair into her eyes, struggled mad
ly with herfOr her ahGwl, took her lbreatl
away, and firmly resisted her, every step
Finally, II began TO send spitelul dashes Q
cold rain.drops in her iace-rain tina
seemed almost To freeze her hS ~ fell. act
Josiah used 70 come after me withaI
umbrella when ! was caught out in TN
rain" thought Nabby, "uc was Away
real kind and good to me, after all. 7
dunno's he ever gave me q cross word II
his life, even when he'd been drinkin'."
Here tho driving, sleoty rain poured
down upon Nabby with renewed fierce
ness, bustling her madly around in liend
ish glee.
IAN awful night to be homeless, Nab
BY" something seemed 70 say. - NJ.
al don't care, y said Nabby TO heIsel
beginning To feel cross again, and general
ly III used as she grew wettcr and colder
ut serves him right. He's made his bed
and he car lie in it,"
At "the corners" the light streaming
chCerlully out into the night from othei
homes, made Nabby's little house look
particularly gloomy and uninviting. Nab
by iumbled under the mat for the door
key, iumbled with stifTened fingers for the
kGy.hOle, and finally succeeded in un.
locking the door, felt her way through The
little entry. Tl
There is always something 'uncanny'
about going alone at night into dark
and shut-up house. Even people Of the
best regulated minds experience vague
suspicion Of something behind them-a
sense of possibly ghostly hands about tC
clutch them in the darkness Nabby was
q woman, like Mrs. Edmund Sparkler
with mo nonsense about her" but never
theless, a cheerful tale she had read only
yesterday in the Chronicle about u bur
Iglar and lone woman kept coming into
her head, and she carefully avoided thu
thick blacknesS OF the corners and thu
pantry door Us she grouped around the
/ kitchen for candle. or course the fire
had gone out
1.-TWO heads are better than one, il 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 ut
terance l suspect she was thinking what
a good supply oil kindliDgs Josiah always
kept on hand for her, and how much
more comfortable it was in the old times
coming home to q house bright with
light and warmth and Josiah's welcome
4 For Josiah cherished the most profound
admiration for Nabby-an admiration moi
unmingled with awe. He thought her 70
most wonderful woman. She was just as
beautiful to him now rs in the old court
ing days, before the brightness and quick
ness Of the black eyes had degenerated
into sharpness, before the smiling mouth
had acquired its hard, firmly set expires
sion, before there was any wrinkles in TIKI
smooth forehead. People thought Nabbt
Ind done well in marrying Josiah Could
u pleasant, good natured fellow that every
one liked; u young mechanic, not very
rich yet, it was true; but, with goot
trade and such u wife as Nabby, there
seemed nothing TO prevent his figuring a!
zone of our first citizens"
Anybody can be somebody inthis coun
try if they arc only determined. But tina
was exactly the difficulty with Josiah. HI
never was determined about anything
lie fell into the habit of drinking because
he lacked sufficient strength Of viii t.
avoid it. Then Nabby's sharp words ant
his own miserable sense OF meanness ant
selfContempt, Of utter encouragement ant
despair, drove him lower and lower, and
he sank down suplnely into the Slough o
Despond without effort or hope.
i by beautiful dispensatiOn Of Provi
! dcncc, whenever poor, shittless, good io
nothing man is sent into our world, soml
active, go ahead little woman is invariably
fastened to him to tow him along through
and keep his head above water. Its FOL
the best, of course. What would become
OF the poor fellow without her? At the
same time she sometimes finds 1t little
hard. tt++ -
! Nabby was ambitious and proud spir.
tied, willingto work, TO save, to do hel
part-anxious to get on in tho world and
stand well among the neighbOrs. The fact
gradually realized that in her husband
she hadno help, no support, only a drag
and burden, and finally disgrace, had
been a disappointment embittering hel
whole nature. To haRea husband thai
no one respected, that even the boys
around town called "Si Gould" was
dreadful TO Nabby. Perhaps 1t was hard
" strange that she grew hard and bitter
Meantime Nabby1 had succeeded Ii
starting the fire. and having changed hel
dress, sat down 10 dry her feet until the
tca.kettle boiled. But even the rudy
light and warmth withwhich the kitchen
now glowed could not iend Of the dreari
ness Of the night. The rain tapped
with ghostly finger tip upon the window
Epane," and the wind howled and walled
laround the house like the spirits Of the
lost pleading 10 be taken back into hu
man life and warmth. Such . wind stir
even in the happiest hearts a vague sens
of loss, Of change, Of all that goes TO make
up the unsatistactoriness Of life. 'Deat
sorrows creep forth from their graves OF
such nights, and stalk up and down the
echoing chambers of the heart. 81
| Nabby could not help wondering whert
Josiah was to, night, 1t was 30 lonely
sitting there with no one to speak to
sllstening to the moaning wind, the creak
ling ofthe blinds and the loud ticking o
IihG clock. -
I"And Thanksgivin' o COMM" though
NObby. IA pretty Thanksgiyin' / shal