The Red Cloud chief., 1876-01-13
swell, nv dear" said the old gentle

very near death just row."
Whereat the story, with 'ue enlarge
ment and variation. was told him with a
pretty pout.
The father smiled, but also he fur
lively wiped away a tear.
"Well, madam" said he courteously,
"accept my cordial thanks for looking
a ter my little madcap Belle. She's my
only child, you see, and as full of
FRANKS as any dszen."
Belle playfuiIy put her hand over her
mouth. 81 won't have my character
traduced where they've been so good to
me-" sic cried. "And oh, father, isn't
this a beautiful place-such a view of
the water! l mean to come down here
every day and do my sketching."
"I'm afraid" said the sire, shaking his
head, "that this good lady will have
cause to wish she had thrown you over
board"
ooh, no, father; she likes me and 1
like her. and I've fallen in love with
Ten long ago, you know
Tom blushed painfully. Something
strange and new stirred In his mind.
Compliments did not sweeten his
thoughts as they did Lis mothers, for
Tom had never seen better days, ard felt
as if he were being made a jest of.
A week passed. during which the
young girl strOlled almost daily to the
cabin. When she was there Tom sell
dom entered the house. He had grown
shy and sulky; he sat on the shore
darkly b%-ooding, or went of silently to
his fishing,
One morning Belle and her father de-
parted. Belle kissed the withered cheek
of her friend, and that was all. For
when mention had been made of helping
her substantially, the widow had drawn
herself sharply up, ali the lady shining
in her eye.
81 may have seen my best days." che
SAID, "but 1 haven't come down to that
yet. And if / needed any reward, I've
had it now," sho added, as she felt the
soft blood mantling in the cheek that
Belle had kissed.
Long after the two had left, Tom went
about with a CLOUD on his face, and in
his ears were ringing those hooking
words: sim in love with rOm." A
digust for his fishing life and for him
self and for all their miserable sur
roundings of poverty filled the lads
heart with an unwonted bitterness.
"Mother,' SAID he q day, as he sat
darkly brooding over the hearth, "you
said you were a born lady; why didn't
you make Il gentleman of me9"
81 hadn't any money left when you
came," said the widow briefly,
"Then it's money that makes people
gentlemen and LADIES'"
~ don't KNOW said the widow, puz.
zled; "thcy somehow mostly have it,"
One day Tom came and told her he
was going to sea. There had been a
man down looking for hands, and he had
taken Tom gladly, for Tom was a handy
fellow at almost any kind of sea craft,
and would soon make a good seaman.
sand you must just bide here pa.
tiently till l come back, mother; for if
there's better days anywhere, 1 shall
bring 'em with me, be sure"
After that the sea looked Dluer and
colder than ever, and the SOLITARY wo-
man lived a sort of hermit's life. No
CHEEKY voice of gossiping neighbor
lighteued the dreary cabin, no children
p~rattled about her; and only Belle, the
bright, blithe hearted lassie, seemed to
remember to cheer her with a letter now
and then. Belle was away now visiting
some distant friends, but in her kindly
heat she kept a corner, it seemed, for
the poor old woman who had saved her
life.
Three yeari-four-passed away, and
daily Of a summer afternoon you might
have seen the widow sitting in her door
way, eager and hollow eyed, looking out
tor some possible ship that might be
Toms. Tom was not a good correspond
ent, but occasionally up at the little
Postoffice a wandering epistle waited hes
trembling hand. She was growing very
old and feeble now; but Tom was getting
up in the world. Tom was first mate of
his ship, Tom was a success, Tom was a
gentleman, and oh, above all things, Tom
was coming home!
Not every one watches in vain, though
we may not always be looking in the
right direction. 1t was so with the
widow. iAs she Sat n day, with strain
ing eye gazing on far off sun lit sails,
and seeing how some of them lowered
nearer and nearer, and some, alas! took
wing farther and farther away, the door,
way darkened suddenly; there came
rushing upon her, as if dropped from the
clouds, a plump, dark eyed, rosy checked
lady, who flung herself into the arms of
the watcher with a cry of joy.
"Oh, mother" she exclaimed, half
sobbing, half laughing-"oh, mother!
don't you know mel Why, I'm Toms
wife, and I've Brought Me captain with
me-"
Mother" said Capt. Tom, that night,