The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1877-04-25
MAGGIE RYAN.

" But just let me stay until morning.
ma'am. It's cold, dreary and dark along
the road, and, indeed, I've no place to %
but Widow Yarrow's, and that's miles
away"
So spoke sad, worn looking woman.
standing on the threshold IF we'll TODD
farmers home, just as the last rays of
light were fading from the evening sky.
The person she spoke to, o large woman
in white, lowered dress and white
apron-the mistress of the house-turned
away pettishly.
"You came at night, Maggie, it seems
to me you con go at night. You don't
suit. never saw such shiftless WAYS in
my life. And Jane Smith is here, and
I've only one bed for the servant, and I
can't expect tidy girl like Jane to sleep
With-well, with strangers. I've paid you
for three days and goodness knows, you've
worried me out of my senses since you've
been here, and I can't keep you another
night; and the earlier you 20, the sooner
you'll get there, wherever it is"
"Well, that's true, anyway. Then.
ma'am," replied the woman, "and you are
mistress in your own house; but God
knows, its not a dog I'd be drivin' out at
night" Then she tied her little pittance
in the corner of pocket-handkerchief
and she walked away out of the gate and
up the road, not looking back once. Her
heart was heavy as lead, and she was an
cry at world that hat been very hard
one to her. -.
" Three years since Pat went away,"
she said to herself, "and never a word
from him. He's dead, no doubt; and it's
the last kind word I've heard. I wasn't
shiftless and good for nothing to him.
Maggie he'd often say, I'D change you
for nobody's wife, Och, he was the man
and as good to me when was faded and
worn out with the hard livin' and rarin'
and losin' the children as he was when
was purity girl, with cheeks like roses,
and he was boy courtin' me- Och, Pat,
where did you 60 at all? You died in
ditch like dog, maybe; for all these
hard-hearted gentle folks care we all
might die"
She turned and shook her fist back at
the house she had just left, only bit of
the roof visible over the rising ground
now.
" My heart was aching for the childer
and for Pat" she said; s'but you could
have no patience if peratie was burnt, or
towel not that smooth. You sent me
out with the night falling. Bad luck to
ye and all your like"
Then she plodded on again; but the
woman she had left was not as bad as she
had fancied her. In her thrift and tidi-
ness she could not understand this untidy,
careless being. She knew nothing of the
misery at her heart, or the sorrow that
made her forget the pots and pals. She
was actually half afraid of her, and anx-
ious to get her out of the house. She had
felt it great mistake to hire tramp
from the road, as it were, and she had
paid her and was conscious of no cruelty.
The daylight fled apace; the moon,
risen long ago, became visible-a faint
streak of new moon that set. in a little
while-only the stars were left-and
Maggie, wandering on the road with her
bundle under her arm-a bundle of rags
and odds and ends tumbled together in
an old flannel penticoat-began to lose
her knowledge of it. Here and there she
saw lights in window, but they were no
promise of hospitality to her. If she could
get to the Widow Yarrow's, that person
age, who took the laborers to board,
would let her lodge while she could pay !;
but where was the widows cottage-to
the right or to the left? She could not
tell in the darkness whether she had taken
the proper turning. Hard by was rush
ing sound, as of water. Danger there,
perhaps. The railroad was somewhere at
hand, and though Maggie felt that the
world was poor place, she did not feel
ready to meet death yet. -
" I'll just drop down in the grass some
where" said the poor woman. "And God
between me and harm. If I could find a
bit of hay now, 'twould be comfort"
She stretched forward, peering through
the darkness, and her foot struck some
branches that lay upon the ground with a
cracking sound.
"What's that?" said voice very near
her in a sharp whisper.
It's an imp of squirrel" said another
voice. "Go on with your work Jim. The
train will be along in fifteen minutes. Up
with that rail. Hi! Well have them
this time"
"Hold yonr tongue, fool" said the
first voice. "You're half drunk. I told
you I thought it was STEP"
And now Maggie, who had sunk flat
upon the ground, knew all. Those who
whispered near her were rain-wreckers.
"I'll make no noise," said she. otis
none of my business"
But lying in the grass, the sharp strokes
OF steel on steel smote her ear; she could
not forget them. And suddenly it came
upon her that it was neither more nor less
than murder that she was waiting there to
see-that in lying quiet while it was done