Wilmington daily commercial., 1876-11-07

sturdy Geordie.
'She is your own mamma" Marian said,
resolutely-trying to do what her mother
would have wished "shes not the dear,
| sweet mamma whom God gave you first
and then took home TO heaven, because, l
| do believe, she was too good for this world;
| but she's your new mother, whom papa
| thinks it best for you to have. We ought
| to know that papa'e Judgment is better than
ours and he's been too good father to
| us all our lives for us to have any right to
| suppose he is not doing now what he truly
| thinks will be best for u.s.
The words had cost Marian great effort
but she had uttered them quietly and reso-
lutely. The boys felt that she was in earn
| est, and went away to dress, with new
| sense of trust in their father.
"But, mother it is so hard ~ Marian cried
| out, when she was left alone. "How can
| I? o, how can L? And she thought-no
| doubt it was her own excited fancy-but
| she thought she heard voice say,-a dear
voice, whose tones she would know out of
| all the world, ,-''But the end is peace"
Night brought the new mother. The
boys had been growing reconciled to the
idea of her since Marian's word of an hour
before, and they ran to meet her with smil-
ing faces. Marian tried to go forward, too;
but it seemed to her that her feet we're
fastened to the floor, and it was all she
could do to stand still, and keep the tears
| back.
"Here are the boys" she heard her faith.
/ er say, cheerfully. No doubt he and his
bride kissed them but she could not see,
she was for a moment very, very dizzy.
"And here is Marian, in the same cheer
full voice; my one daughter, and my faith
full housekeeper."
Marian looked up struggling with herself,
| and saw her new mother. Her own mann
ma had been, perhaps, not beautiful, but
| lovely-a woman whose sweet charm every
beholder must feel. If this one should be
younger and handsomer,a "a fiighty girl bride,
Marian felt that all the grace in the world
| would not keep her from hating her. But
she looked and saw that she might have
trusted her father. The new wife was a
| large, fair woman, not beautiful, but with
noble and serene face, where large and
generous thoughts had their home. She
| was certainly not younger than Marian's
own mother had been; and in the sober
richness of her dress, there was none of
that girlish fiIghtiness which Marian had
dreaded The girls judgment was forced to
approve, but her heart was alien still She
went forward step, and put out her hand.
No doubt Mrs. Grey understood her feeling
for she made no ardent demonstration.
She only bent a ittle,-she was a tall
| woman,-and touched her lips to her new
daughters brow; and then she said some
thing about the pleasantness OF the house,
and Marian took her up stairs to her own
room.
She looked around as she entered it, and
saw the white chrysanthemums cleaning
everywhere. Marian, who was furtively
watching her, thought she grew a little
pale but she only said very quietly
"My father brought me home a new
mother, Marian, when was just your age.
understand it ALL"
Marian's heart warmed towards her lit
tie then but it grew hard and cold again
when she went down stairs, for she found
her father in the parlor, looking unmistak.
. | al hanr1U heart
mo thought for the dead, who had lived
there \. ith hIm so long In that moment
she felt as if she hated the newcomer
: Her father drew her towards him.
"Well, grille, surely you like her ~ he
asked eagerly.
She Withdrew herself from his arm.
81 am not man. think l was not
made for forgetting" she answered cooIy.
Her fathers face darkened. He spoke
with a tone different from any she was &C.
customed TO in his voice.
} ''Marian, you knew your mother we'll.
Do you think she loved me 30 selfshly
; that, since could not have her, she would
prefer that l should live out my life alone
If that we're so, she must have changed, in.
} deed for she always thought of herself
/ last"
) Marian could not reply, for just then the
new mother came down stairs, and took
) what was to be henceforth her household
place. 1t was not in the chair that had
J |
} that by seme delicate tact or was it only
that she was another mould of woman from
the first wife, and her taste was different
, Marian never knew.
Time went on, Marian went back tx
> school; and she really enjoyed her freedom
3 from care, her opportunity to return to thu
3 books she loved. Only there was cold
3 hard spot in her heart, and she would no
> own to herself that there could be any gaiI
in the coming of a new mother into her owl
mothers place. All the winter passed, anC
: the spring and the summer. Marian wal
3 perfectly respectful, perfectly obedient, al
) ways kind; and yet her father, who knew
o her so we'll, knew that she was no more lik
4 the real Marian than stone statue is like
living woman after whose graces it is mod
9 elled. 1t was one bitter drop in the swee
: cup of his new domestic happiness.
With October he was taken very i'll.
Q typhoid fever, which had been prevalen
i that fall, seized him, and for long time
:; there was great doubt whether he woulC
y recover Then for the first time Mariai
o realized what their household had gainet
o when the new mother came into 1t. Sh
herself would have done all she could; bu
Q she lacked the wisdom and experience
r which made Mrs. Grey the most perfect
Q nurses.
"Will he get better Is there an,
d hope ?" she asked the old DOCTOR whom sh
s had known all her life, one day when he wa
8 "If he does," was the answer, "his wifi
r will have saved him. Such care neve
g saw"
d Marian went out into the old garden. Il
s was the first week in November, and the
}. white chrysanthemums were all in flower
8 Would she be gathering them next to pu
g on her fathers coffin o what would tht
d world be worth then Had she made hin
9 happy this last year ? asked her conscience
II If he had been happy, surely he did no
e owe it to her. She had been thinking o
9 heself all the time, of her own pain, ant
" loss, and heartache. II he got well, woulC
: he forgive her ? If he died, could she eve
forgive herself
t; She stood there, leaning sadly over tn
/ white flowers, which meant death TO her
| She did NOT haar anv annrnaching fnOLfau