Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1879-04-10
Abuse of the heart" He shook his
head slowly. do not get at your

precious gift of your life-robbing her
own heart, and making it desolate that
yours might be rich with blessings.
Dying, SO to speak, that you might live"
A look of almost blank surprise came
into Cleveland's face, but he said:
"That is sentiment"
If give shock to your heart and
partially paralyze it, so that it beats with
pain and sends only a feeble current of
life through your body, will you call
that mere sentiment, George Cleveland?
And is the heart within the heart, and
from which it has organism, and life.
and power, less vital thing less sus.
ceptible of hurt or paralysis? Your
thought and consciousness are on lower
plane than had imagined"
I" perhaps they are, and perhaps you
can enlighten me-" was the answer made
with some constraint and with slight
fretfulness of tone.
The lady sat silent for few moments:
she then said, speaking in achanged and
more pleasant voice:
Marie seems to grow love]ier day by
day; every time meet her see some
new grace of mind or charm of manner.
call you one of the most fortunate OF
men,"
"And 80 am" was the warm response.
" l look at her, sometimes, half in won
der and half in gladness, and then think,
with q new Joy, she is mine, sill mine,
mo time coming when she will turn
from you and 60 to another" eco to
another" There came a fash out of
the cloud which had swept into the young
mans face.
GAS she went from her mother to
you"
For little while a silence fell be-
tween them. Swift changes were pass.
ing in Cleveland's face.
"From the mother" resumed Mrs.
Ray, "who bore her in pain, and cared
for and nurtured her through al the
years of helpless infancy and Childhood.
From her mother, who watched over her
with loving soIicitude and tireless
devotion all along her path of life,
guarding her from evil, drawing to.
wards her all the ministries of good
within her reach, and moulding and
fashioning her with a wisdom born of a
love which no mans heart can measure
or comprehend, into a being of such
loneliness that your heart bowed down
before her as if she had been an angel
From this mother she went to you!
Was nothing hurt in the transition Z?
Were no chords rent? No hearts strick.
en-? No life made desolate? Think Of
her going from YOU"
George Cleveland sat as one who had
been stunned by sudden shock.
"And think" continued the lady, "of
a man accepting this transfer with lust
a cold Thank YOU" and then turning
away from the giver without touch Of
gratitude, or the feeblest sense of obi
cation in his heart"
when did you see your mother,
Marie?" asked Cleveland, as he looked
across the table at his wife that evening.
There was new quality in his voice.
A something that caused her to look at
him intently.
"She was here yesterday" Marie an
swered.
"How is she?" The interest ex-
pressed in her husbands voice sent a
quick throb to Marie's heart.
"About as usual"
"Some one said she was not looking
very we'll"
The young man saw change in Ma
rie's countenance. It was half surprise
and half alarm. Swift as the movement
of thought had the inner and now
clearer sight of the daughter passed to
the mothers place. The face into which
she had looked with her natural eyes, on
the day before. How much more she
saw in it now than then! No, she was
not looking we'll. A feeling of anxiety
crept into her heart and began to shad-
ow her face.
"Her life must be very lonely now
that I'm away from her." said Marie, a
slight culver in her voice. Il wonder
sometimes that she's as cheerful as she
is"
eyes, it must be great change for
her, greater, perhaps, than We have
realized" remarked her husband, speak
ing in repressed tones, as one trying to
hide some feeling.
Little more was said during the meal.
Both were absorbed in their own
thoughts; thoughts which neither was
ready to unveil to the other.
"Suppose we call round and see your
mother this evening"" said the young
husband, as they arose from the table.
" We haven't been there for can't saw
how long"
cob! Shall we? I've been wanting
to see her all day. Poor mother. /
often think how lonely her life must be.
She was quieter than usual when she
was here yesterday, and didn't take us
much interest in things as she has been
in the habit of doing. And now re-
member, that it struck me once or twice
that she had an expression in her face
which I had never seen there before. and
which I did not understand"
"No, Marie had not understood the
meaning of what she saw in her mothers
face at their last meeting. The afflu-
ence OF her own life had given her no
measure by which to estimate or deter.
mine the poverty of her mothers life.
Feeding herself upon the mama of love,
and with its rich juices coursing through
her veins, how could she know that her
mother was wasting from stat walton be-
cause food had been withdrawn and de-.
nied-the food of her hearth
"MotherV The heavy eyelids un-
closed and lifted themselvesslowly. Had
she been asleep in the great arm chair?
Or only lost in a waking dream of her
own delight.
"Oh, mother! My dear, dear mother!"
What a Wild passion of love expressed
itself in Marie's voice as-s she drew her
arm about her mothers neck and held
her face closely to her bosom.
When strong feelings had died away,
and the mother sat quiet in her chair,
and Marie's eyes looked steadily into her
face, its paleness smote her with a sud-
den fear. And how wasted it seemed;
how transparent the skin; how strange
and hungry the eyes that never turned
from, their intent gaze into hers for: a
moment.
!" Mother!" it was George Cleveland
who had uttered the word. No son
could have spoken it more tenderly.
he bent down and laid kiss upon her
forehead. How swiftly her eye turned
from Marie's face to his. What the
young man saw in them was a parable,
only the closer and lower meanings Of