Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1878-11-06

"You would see II you had TO cook in the
hot kitchen as do" responded Mrs. Barney
more shortly than her wont. "Im glad TO
have whatever ] can get most quickly and
easily. When we have summer kitchen
we can begin to live as other people do"
If we amt all old as Methuseler," com.
planned Master Tommy, in an undertone
which was perfectly audible; "anyway, the
chickens will be, If we can't have any cooked
till that time" lie had shifted the odois of
the baking on his homeward way from
school, and settling his juvenile mind upon
chicken pie for dinner, had been grevousy
disappointed.
Warm and weary with her mornings work,
the questions and suggestions fretted Mrs.
Barney. She felt wounded and aggrieved,
too, as she moved about silently after dinner.
No one seemed TO see that she cared as
much for things nice and comfortable as
did the others, she said to herself. She
cared far more, indeed, siuce she was willing
10 do without much now, and work and plan
for the sake of having things all that could
be desired by-and-by. How many present
comforts and conveniences she had foregone
for that Those very cellar stairs, toward
whose dark and tortuous steps she was tend
ing, were an example they could scarcely
venient place. Mr.. Barney had wanted to
remove them, but she would not allow him
to incur the expense because second re-
moval might be necessary when the house
was thoroughly re-arranged. Now she had
preferred to submit to the discomfort all this
time
Too long a time it proved, for even while
she meditated an insecure board slipped
beneath her feet, plunging her down the
dark narrow stairway against the rough
stoue-wall, and then upon the hard floor OF
the cellar. One swift moment of terror, the
crash of the dishes that fell from her hands,
flash OF excruciating pain, and then she
knew nothing more She did not hear
Nelles wild cry from the room above, nor
see her husbands pale face as he lifted her
in his arms.
When she returned to consciousness
strange voice-the physician's-was saying :
mo bones broken, though it's a wonder
her neck wasn't, falling the way she did"
Slowly she opened her eyes upon con-
fused mingling of anxious faces wet cloths,
of arnica aud camphor, and gradually she
comprehended what had happened, aud her
own condition-not dangerously injured but
bruised aud famed, and with a sprained
ankle that would keep her a prisoner for
some days at least 1t was sudden pause
in her busy work-an enforced rest She
scarcely knew how TO bear it for a moment
as she remembered all she had planned TO
do, until second shuddering thought sug-
gested that she might have left it all for
ever; then she grew patient and thankful.
Yet it seemed strange to be lying quietly
on the lounge in the best bed-room-the
room that had been kept so carefully closed
to preserve its furniture until an addition
to the house should transmute it into back
parlor; to watch through the open door
only spectator while Nellie fitted to and
fro in the kitchen beyond, spreading the
table for tea.
How good the children were that evening
and how tenderly thoughtful her husband
was coming to her side again and again
talk or read to her They had not found
much time for talking and reading together
these late years, she aud David she had al
ways been so busy when he was in the
house. She had dreamed of leisure time
coming, though, when they should have
many evenings like this, except the illness
She had not thought much of illness or acct
dent coming to mar her plans, or of death
suddenly ending them. But it flashed upon
her now how many little loving words and
Offices and daily eujoyments had beer
crowed out of their home, and in that brief
retrospective glance she understood the mean
ing and the earnestness of sister Searl's en-
treaty.
"Why, it's all kind of real nice and joll,
it you wasn't hurt" declared Tommy, un
able to express his enjoyment of the pretty
room and the unusual family gathering an,
more clearly.
Tears gathered in the mothers eyes, bu
she had found her clue; and she meant t.
follow it. She had ample time for though
in the days that followed, when she wa
only able to sew little now aud then, OIL
the garments for Tim, or look over seed
for Nellie's vine-planting; and slowly bu
surely she learned her lesson, and bruugh
it back to health with her-to gather lite
pl-asantness as God sends his sunshine
day by day.--Pacifc Eoangei.