The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-04-02
]. \. BAKER and J. |. CHRISTIE, Propristors
nYou win win the prise," affirmed

"You win win the price" affirmed
sister Anne, the practical:
eff ] do, fshali buy baby new cap
a,id muff," said Agnes, merrily.
A month later the little clerk brought
home letter. 81 was tempted to open
it, because it bears the stamp of Long &
Co., he exclaimed.
Agnes took the missive, her fingers
trembled, and the color rushed to her
cheeks. Accepted" she said, after a
pause.
ave were sureof it, responded sister
Anne and Humphrey in unison.
" Have you seen the favorite easter
card of the season, ladies?" inquired the
clerk of fashionable store.
With these words he displayed the
design of Agnes Clement to bevy of
young ladies'.
Glow pretty" exclaimed one.
"The most charming means of atoning
for the delinquencies of the past year
in letter-writing," said another
81 will send one to May and Harry,
girls, added third. "They must not
consider themselves forgotten, so far
away, and the Easter card will remind
them"
"Of spring bonnets trimmed with
yiolets and roses" interrupted the first
speaker, laughing. "The Punishment
must be poky enough, even if they are
still bride and bridegroom. / do not
believe HarIy's lungs were really affect
ed after cold; his parents are SO fussy,
you know, because he is an only child. /"
On Easter-eve the snow of late and
severe winter still fingered about the
little town of the far west, noted for the
purity of dry atmosphere.
The young wife, May Hartwell, put
aside the book she had been reading
aloud, for her listener had fallen asleep.
Her fair face was unclouded by anxiety
or trouble. She smiled as she looked at
her husband. She had developed the
qualities of good wife and nurse, thus
tested by experience, although her pa
tient gave her little trouble, except to
amuse him. Suffering had not married
him; no painful cough racked his frame.
He was fatigued, listless and preferred
the sofa, where he rested while making
plans for the future. Now he slept,
with the light touching his graceful head,
the rich Persian colors of his dressing
gown, and the gray fur of the rug spread
over him. Certainly he was trife deli
cate, and it was wise to cure symptoms
of illness in time. Had she not added
her solicitations to those of his family by
fastening her marriage in order to take
care of him?
She left her seat, and went out noise
ha lott
were distributed in the hotel. At the
stairway she paused, and looked down
into the lower hall. Half an hour earlier
the doctor-a cheerful presence in the
lives of the two young strangers-had
called, bringing with him friend, quite
by accident, as he happened to be in
town. This friend, an older physician,
had conversed chiefly with May, and
about the east. She now perceived the
latter standing beside the great stove in
the hall, warming his hands, and while
she hesitated about descending the stair
case in consequence, he was joined by the
other physician. The illness of the land
lady's baby explained their detention in
the house.
"Well, what do you think of the
young man above stairs ?" inquired the
resident doctor, in low tone.
"Quick consumption, as you say.
He may last fortnight, and he may be
gone tomorrow, was the grave response.
May drew back, shocked and grieved,
and returned to her rooms. Who was
the yoang man above-stairs She did
not know. Tomorrow she would ask
the kind doctor about him. Perhaps he
was poor and alone. Harry still slept,
and she resumed her seat. Then, with
her dimpled chin resting ON her hand,
she suffered thought to bear her back to
her distant home, the bevy of young
friends who had remembered her in the
shop the Easter season. The clock
struck eleven. Decidedly her invalid
should be in bed, but she was reluctant
to disturb his refreshing slumber. Again
she rested her dimpled chin in her palm;
her own eyelids closed.
A sensation of cold and fear awakened
her. "Harry! Where are you, dear ?"
she said, bewildered by sleep and fright.
The lamp was burning low; the clock
struck one; and the luminous Wilderness
of the outside world, where all nature was
yelled in snow, invaded the silent room.
May approached the sofa. Harry still
slept. His face was pale, and the fea-
lures appeared sharper, pinched, as if
the cold of the night had chilled them.
Midnight had sounded and it was already
Easter day. May knelt beside the couch,
and softly chafed the cold hand, as gen.
tie means of awakening him. Then he
opened his eyes and looked at her. There
was something so profund, steadfast,
and strange in this gaze that her heart
ceased to beat; words of enderment re-
manned frozen on her lips. Suddenly an
awful change swept over the young mans
face; terror dilated his beautiful dark
eyes; a quivering light irradiated his
pinched features.
arms about her neck, and leaned his head
on her shoulder.
Silence succeeded. The lamp waned;
the white arctic light invaded more bold
ly the chamber. What had happened
What dreaded presence and power was
was here? The head ON Mays shoulder
became heavy, inert; her lover, BRIDE
groom, husband, was dead. Stunned
and crushed by the overwhelming blow,
she did not yet recognize the truth in its
full significance.
A lifetime of anguish may be COM
pressed into twenty -four hours. Thus
the young wife occasioned more anxiety
to those about her than her dead in the
following days, after her discovery on
Easter morning, stretched insensible be-
side the sofa. Plunged in the depths of
despair ormaddened by grief, she crouch
cd beside the bed, silent and frozen, or
threw herself prone upon the floor, tear
ing her hair. She demanded of the kind
doctor, with haggard eyes, if the young
man above-stairs had been her own hus-
band, and he endeavored to soothe with
out understanding her. She besought
the inanimate clay to forgive her for
sleeping. 81 did not know we should
have only few moments more together
before our life was ended" she moaned.
Then she demanded quickly of her COM
panions, the earth, the sky:
"Where has he gone? How shall I
ever find him again 2"
Words of consoation and resignation
fell ON deaf ears. The landlady and the
women wept in helpless sympathy, but
May shed no tears. The doctor alone
retained his usual composure. How
often had he witnessed similar scenes!
kilograms were sent and received,
friends were Fastening to the aid of the
living, and to obtain a last glimpse of the
dead; all those silent and professional
duties were transpiring about her, of
which she took no heed. She chung
desperately to her post beside the bed,
and remained there, dry-eyed, wild,
launching those reckless reproaches ut
God and man which frequently mark the
passionate ebulitions of first grief. If
there was merciful Savior, who heals