Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-02-20
Gales ano SItettbcs.
GALL0W Uses.
A STORY OF STRUGGLES AND SUCCESS.

"Hush, Liz Don't stir the fire. lt'll
last as long rs she does. Let her rest
Liz left the chimney and crept back to
her place beside the almshousc Keeper ;
wife. The faint spark of life they had
been watching since the dull winter night
closed in was pickering still, though the
old steeple clock had just tolled one, and
the wood on the queer black andirons had
dropped into embers on the hearth.
Its slow work. whispered the keep
er's wife. 1--WE might Slip down stairs
for a cup of something warm while She
sleeps, and never be missed. p" and the two
stole noiselessly from the room. The dull
cracking of brand as it broke and fell
on the hearth was the only sound left be
hind them: but the eyes the keepers wife
had said were sleeping. slowly unclosed
soft brown ewes and fair Young face
how had they ever come to such place
A slender hand busted itself tremblingly
at a ribbon that had escaped the sleepy
Watchers eyes-a ribbon with something
hanging from it that CLEANED in the flicker
from the hearth and voice called softly,
Phil -
A child stirred in its sleep. then rose
and came quickly to her side.
my darling. Kiss me good night once
more 1t is the last time, and be quick.
for the kitchen door below creakcd again
the keepers wife and Liz were coming
back. Good night, my darling and
the trembling fingers fastened the ribbon
round his neck. "and remember. BE al
ways good and brave for my sake and for
the dear Chrst's.''
They've neither of 'em stirred. " whis-
pered the keepers wife. I'VE might have
had another cup and no one the wiser"
One by one the dark winter days slipped
away; grass andviolets began to appear;
every one felt like beginning life over
again. and so did Miss Judith PophurSt.
with the rest 1t took good deal to stir
Miss Judith to such point, but when She
once did make up her mind to ANYTHING
she was ready for it; and she marched
with firm step to her bureau drawer
There were queer things in that bureau
it seemed to have the same taste for old
ways as Miss Judy herself, and ont came
a long. yellow straw bonnet that poked a
hands length over her face, Il round silk
mantilla that reached just to her waist n
peaked, green parasol and pair of black
lace mitts.
There was something else, too, that gilt
tered as she lifted the mantilla. and Miss
Pophurst shut the drawer very quickly
when she saw that. That was Toms
sword. How proud she had thought ali
her life was going TO be with Tom-.lust
the same as "a son to her; but when ut last
that endless war was over, his colonel sent
his sword home to Miss Pophurst, and that
was all.
Miss Judith was IL quick walker. and
that yellow straw and peaked parasol
flashed along the sidewalk like the turn of
kaleidoscope, till the rap of the sharp
knuckles gave the almshouse keepers wife
a start.
Miss Pophurstr' she announced grim
". IL heard you had boy here
THE lands sake, yes and have had,
as you might say, for some months past. "
do YOU want him o. asked Miss Pop
hurst. crisply, with a snap of her black
eyes.
The keepers wife answered with sig
nificant little cough.
Then do said Miss Pophrst step
ping i'm with one foot. 81 want some one
to take care of my COW, and "A glitter
from the hastily shut drawer seemed to
tremble before Miss Judith's eyes as she
alded-'and to love"
The next day was a busy one with Miss
Judith Pophurst; she had made up her
mind again.
That child's going to have decent
clothes to his back Ridiculous toggery
he's got on!'' And the boards of the at
tic floor creaked, as with lips drawn very
tight she marched over them to a trunk
that had not been opened since Tom went
10 the war Her fingers trembed. but
what she had to do she would do quickly
and almost before the creak had died
away she was seated in her rockingham
again with one of Toms full-grown suits
in her lap, and paper pattern she had
used for him twenty years before in her
hand.
She shook thread of bright golden hair
out of her scissors and began to rip for
sensible clothes and curls did not 90 to-
gether. and she had been shearing them
off until only a bristling little thickness
of tawny white was left in their place
She drew her chair softly little nearer to
the bureau drawer; it was so hard to see
anything that had been Toms falling in
bits but some things the Keepers wife
had said. seemed keeping time with her
scissors as they went.
you see, ma'am. it's what might be
called a providential accident, the snow
storm coming on and the stage going no
further, and so that young thing being
thrown on our hands that night She was
looking for her own folks, that was plain
for she kept whispering to herself, Il must
see him tomorrow for my child's sake .
and her very last breath was to cry out en-
treating like and sudden, Father But
this being AN inconvenient world, altogeth-
er not the best, why you see by daylight
she had taken a journey quite another
way"
Summer days are long, but they slip
away after all, and the evening came when
Miss Pophurst's precious COW come home
with twig OF crimson maple leaves hang
ing from her mouth, and the next day The
Elm Tree School mustered its desertcr,
and began again.
''Its just as well. =" unused Miss Judith
standing at the window with "A broom il
her hand and proud satisfaction in he
heart, as she watched her new charge hur
rying toward the school 1.-THE boy ha
such an uncommon laundering to find SOM
company of his age. That always was