Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-06-01

"Of course you can, my dear lady-in this
cold autumn Wea her people ought to eat
twice as much as they do in warm. Let me
/ dare say"
Yes, my poor husband was very fond of it.
He used to say that no one understood curing
ham and drying beef better than l."
He was most sensible man, am sure l
drink your health, madam, i'm this CIDER
he took long draught and set down his
us it like nectar"
The widow was feeding Bowse and the cat
(who thought they were entitled to share of
every every inca meal eaten In the and nd DID not
hardly have known what nectar" waS-sO it
was quite as well.
.Eine dog. maam,and very pretty cat"
sigh followed the answer.
HAh! your husband must have been very
The blue eyes looked at her 80 long that she
grew fluTried.
rs there anything more 1 can get for you,
finished"
She rose to clear the things away. He as
sisted her, and somehow their hands had
queer knack of touching as they carried the
dishes to the pantry shelves. Coming back to
the kitchen, she put the apples and elder back
In heir old places, and brought out a clean
pipe and box OF tobacco from an arched re-
cess near the chimney.
My husband always said he could not sleep
after eating supper late unless he smoked
she said. Perhaps you would like to try it
sir
Not if it is to drive you away" he an
sWered, for she had her candle in her hand.
Oh nO-I do not object to smoke at all"
She put the candle dOWn-SOme faint suggeS-
ton about 'prOpriety' troubled her, but she
glanced at the clock and felt treasured 1t
was only half-past9 9.
Come, sit down, " he said, pleadingly. ITS
N OF la e-and when man has bean knocking
about il California and all sorts of places, for
a berth like thiS-and to have a goOd-natured
pretty woman to speak to once again."
California? Have you been in California;"
she exclaimed, dropping into the chair at
once.
UnconSciously, she had long cherished the
idea that Sam PaySOn-the lover of her youth
with whom she had so fOOlishly luarreled, had
R PIC fa n Tent atIer many Wanderlnss IN
who, with something of Sans looks and ways
about him, had always been sOiOurning in
that countIy-and who very possibly had met
him-perhapS had known him intina ely. At
that thought her heart beat quick, and she
looked very graciOusIy at the baardy stranger
who WHIP ed in Mr.. CObb'S dressing gown,
Mr.. CObb's chair beside Mr.. Cobb's wife.
smoked Mr.. Cobb'S pipe, with such an air of
feeling most thoroughly and comfOrtab ~ at
home!
the last six years. And before that | went
quite round the w0rld-in whaling ship"
GOOD graciOuS!'
The stranger sent a pun OF smoke curling
gracefully over his head.
It's very strange, my dear Lady, how often
you see one thing as you 90 wandering about
the world after that fashion,
Aud what is that?'
Men, without house or home above their
heads, rowing here and there. and turning up
life as general thing, and making fortunes
just TO fling them away again-and all for one
reason. You don't ask me what it is. NJ
doubt you know already very Well"
81 think not, sir
Because woman has Tilted Them
Here was long pause, and Nj. Co5oS pipe
emitted short pulls with rapidity., A guilty
conscience needs no accuSer, and the widows
cheek was dyed with bushes as she thought
OF the absent Sam.
II wonder how women manage when they
get served iH the same way" said the
stranger, musingly. You never meet them
roaming up and down in that style"
mo, said Mrs. Cobb, with some spirit; "if
and bear it in the best way she can. And
there's more women bearing such thingS han
We know of. l dare say
Like enough. We never know whose
hands get plnched in trap unless they
scream: And women are too shy, or too SEN
sible, which you choose, for that"
Did you ever, in all your wanderings,
meet ary one by the name of Samuel Pay
SOM" asked the widow, uncOncernedly.
The stranger looked toward her-She was
rummaging her dra yer for the knitting work
and the needles in motion, he answered her
"PayS0n? Sam PaySon? What! He was
my most intimate friend! Do you know
him?''
"A little-that is, used to when 1 was a
girl Where did you meet him?"
- He went with me on the whaling voyage I
tod you of, and afterward to California. We
had tent together, and some other fellows
with US, and we dug in the same claim for
more than six months"
- suppose he was quite welr2'
"StrOng as an OK, my dear lady"
And-happy?" said the widow, bending
close over her knitting.
"Hum-the less said about that the better
perhaps. But he seemed to enjoy life after
fashion Of his And ne got rich out
Mrs. Cobb did not pay much atteation to
that part OF the story. Evidently she had not
finished asking questions. But she was puz-
it out beautiful.
"Was his wife with him in Californian"
The stranger looked at her with twinkling
:" His wife, ma'am! Why, bless you, he
"Oh, I thought mean heard"-here the
little widow remembered the fate of AnaniaS
and Sapphire. and stopped before she told
such tremendous fib.
Whatever you heard of his marrying, was
all nonsense, l can assure you. 1 know him
well, and he had no thought Of the kind about
him. Some of the boys used to tease him
about it.but he very soon made them stop"
"HOw?'
He just told them frankly that the only
woman he had ever loved had Tilted him years
before, and married another man. After that
no one ever mentioned the subject to him
again except me-"
Mrs. Cobb laid her knitting aside and looked
thOughtfully into the fire.
"He was another specimen of the class of
men l was speaking of have seen him face
death score of times as quietly as face the
fire. 1T matters very little what takes me
off, he used to say; I've nothing to live for,
hon. ot,a1 boo