Smyrna times., 1876-11-29

PA~ooAASs
go, she shall have them ALL" she cried,
'passionately; "and much good may they
do herl They are funeral flowers. 1t is a
bad omenI'' =. .-...
Then she went out and gathered them,
every one. She made bouquets of them for
the mantle; she put knots of them in the
looping of the window curtains, and glass
full upon the bureau. Everywhere in the
new mothers room cleaned their white
nsss-ft alike for the bridal or for burial
In the parlor below she would have none of
them. That was garnished with the fire.
tinted leaves she had gathered in the late
September, and with the pale bleached
ferns she had brought home in October
ferns that seem always like the ghosts of
the dead summer, holding none of its
warmth or brightness, but only hint of its
vanished grace. Then she went into the
kitchen with the pretty little mistress-of-
the-family air which became her so well.
=" Bridget" she said, Mrs. Grey will be
coming tonight. Let us give her good
supper, she will need it after her journey;
and them" she added, her native honesty
coming to the front, 81 don't want her to
think no one knew how to keep house here
until she came"
Bridget understood and smiled. There
was no danger but the coffee would be clear
that night, and the waffies light, and the
broiled chicken done to turn.
Then Marian went into the. parlor, and
sat down in her mothers chair. Her eyes
filled with tears, as they had so many times
that day. She closed them, and her
thoughts went back to the hour when her
mother had bid her, goodbye. She
thought the whole scene over, as she had so
often, and seemed to hear every one of the
words afresh, in her mothers low, tender
voice. And, somehow, new sense of her
mothers meaning came to her. "You
must always think of yourself last" her
mother had said. Was she doing that now ?
Was she not thinking of herself frst-of
her own pain-of the wound to her self
love in being set aside where she thought
she had done so wefl-of having some one
else nearer her father than she was---of
being no longer at the head?
"No," she cried, hotly. ats not that; it's
having some one else in my own mothers
place. He had 30 right-no right"
But tender, unseen presence seemed
near her, all the while breathing gentler
thoughts. Something told her that hel
mother up in heaven would not be jealous
for herself; and something else asked her i
she were sure she could so devote all hel
future to her father as to keep him from
needing that companionship which is the
very life and soul of the living. She would
not yet confess it, but she knew, in the sou
of her soul, that she had been wrong; and
as she got up to call the boys, she said t.
herself: "Think of myself last; yes, | cal
try to do that for your sake, dear mother
, and for your sake will keep the boys a
happy as can. If they are too young ant
unreasoning to feel it all, SO much the bet
ter; you would not want their hearts to ach
as mine does"
! She went to the door and called the littl
1 fellows playing outside, and they hurrie'
in. . et
, ''Come boys" she said you must 60 AM
/ dress. 1 want you to look nice when you
n new mother sees you for the first time"
r The boys looked at her curiously. Nc
e at all in this tone had she spoken of the nsV
4 cOmer before. Was she going over to tn
$ enemy7
"She ain't my mothsr--is she ?" sal
e sturdy George. ~
4 "Shs is your own mother" Marian sale
10 resolutely-trying to do what her moth'
- would have wished; "she's not the dea
Il sweet mamma whom God gave you frs
30 and then took home to heaven, because,
4 do believe, she was too good for this worlC
d but she's your new mother, whom pal
10 thinks it best for you to have. We ougl
=. to know that pappa's judgement is bett
ID than ours, and he has been too goo
40 father all our lives for us TO have ar
N right to suppose he is not doing what
or truly thinks win be best for us" !.
~ The words had cost Marian great effoi
il put she uttered them quietely and resolut
er ly. The boys felt that she was in earnei
or and. went away to dress, with anew sen
Ia Of trust in their father. '' h
~ "Bur, mother, it is so hardr' Marian cri
Oh out, when she was left alone. How can
IN o, how can n And she thought--no dou
10 It was her own excited fancy--but s
sil thought she heard a voice say-a dear Vol
Z. whose tones she would know out Of all t
10 world--"But the end is peace" aa
cd Night brought the new mother. !
fE boys had been growing reconciled to
ou idea Of her since Marian's word Of an he
YES before, and they ran to. meet her W
NV smiling faces. Marian tried to go forwa
an. too /; but it seemed to her that ber feet w
Of fastened to the floor, and il was all 1
could do. to stand still, and keep, the te
II back.
est. gilsHere are the boys she heard
red father say cheerfully. No doubt he .
sral his bride kissed them but she could
,er see, she was for a moment very, very dii
ona Y nh hare is Marian n in the same ch,