The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1880-01-15
CHARLIE DUN.AN;;S ,LEsSON.
The room looked cozy in the twi
light, though tine furniture was shabbv

Ok anu Plaiu. All open WOOu-urc,
burning brightly on brass anairons.
polished till you coult. see your face in
them. was not the suggestion of fashion
or high art. but a necessity, resulting
from stormy night in October. and
further rom the fact that wood was
cheap in that locality. Brass andirons
were an everyday affair, and had been
for fifty years. never having been dis
placed by modern heating monstrosities,
or consigned to the garnet as relic of
barbarism, and brought from thence as
an evidence of culture. The old lounge.
even though it was just the place to
dream in, and the chintz-cushioned
chair in the corner. with the white
haired granddame in it. limited in some
mysterious way of welcome for all
who entered.
Busy fingers had been at work, for
>potless hearthstones are not the result
of chance, nor do tea-tables, covered
with snowy drapery, and glittering
with glass and china, drop from the
clouds. The supply wss limited, it is
true. but the old blue chin an inherit
ance from the forehanded ancestors,
would have been a God-send to con-
noisseur. with even crack or two to
advertise its antiquity. But our grand
mothers. as q rule, washed their own
Tea things, and cracks and inches were
not in vogue. The storm beat against
the window pane, and the wind .came
whiStling down the chimney iii an ac-
gressive fashion that caused the hickory
logs to blink with amazenlent. 81 and the
well-bred Tabby to elevate her back in
dignitied protest. AT the kitchen door,
with shawl drawn over the bright curls,
and blue eyes peering into darkness,
stood Maggie. the household. fairy,
eagerly listening.
"Why don't Charlie come?' she
sighed to herself, and turning, went
into the fire-lighted room thatanswered
so many purposes in that small house,
hold. She. knelt by the CHEEKY blaze,
shivering more from the chill within
than the cold without.
Grandma 8 eyes Enclosed, and the
placid face bent over the girl, almost a
child in years. woman in capacity for
suffering. What is it, Maggie?" and
the withered hands gently smoothed the
curls that, the wind had been~taling
such liberties with. y
40. Grandma! Charlie hasn't come
Vet and it's almost nine O clock. He
promised so faithfully to be at home at
i've. and now-Im afraid, Il afraid
and the words died away in shifering;
moan.
afraid of what, Maggie?' StH
She crouched still lower. till the
little head lay in grandma's S lap, and
whispered. " That he's not himself"
What does that sentence, coined. out
Of love 8 vocabulary, mean tossmanH a
hearth" Indefinite ii expression, sharp
lv defined as the lightning's track in the
misery that 10 brings, it is the watch-
word of despair to wrecked lives and
blighted homes. Grandma knew now;
there was no need of words. But
grandma also knew what Maggie had
not yet learned-that through the con-
tlict cOmeth victory. &. sgE Sc, 10y 81
Poor childr' she softly said, and
bending, kissed her. for one of the
charms that made her almost sacred in
Maggie's eyes was the knowing when
to be silent. The old-fashioned clock
licked on; the winds howled vet more
iiercely and Charlie still delayed his
coming. Mrs. Duncan drank the cup
OF tea that Maggie gently forced upon
her, and ate a morsel of the dainty
toast that the little housewife was SO
skilled in making. The table, with the
cloth upon it, was pushed aside, and
gave the room that ''waiting look"
they knew too well. Ten-eleven-
and still they moved not, listening,
as if beating hearts .Sal batsd sbreaiA
would hasten 6efootsteA of Ahe wan
derer. nhS VS. q
At last he came-Charlie-but not
hin'se!t-as Maggie phrased it. Strange
eyes looked finto hers, a&dsthdse dbl.
thick tones were surely not the ones
that said "good-by'' so gaily in the
morning, and warned her not TO grow
old and gray with fretting. No need
to bring the table near the fire., he
could not eat, but throwing himself
upon the chintz-cushioned lounge, Law
in dreamless slumber, while Maggie
wept the night away. t-sist.rI'7o ,
Her only brother, her handsome
Charlie! When both father and mother
died and left them alone in the world.
with only grandma to look to, the MEM
Dry of that dying mothers words,
While you live, Maggie. care for
Charlie" night and day in the years
that had come and gone. HAD beer the
motive power for action in the young
girls heart. To live for and with him
embodied all of Joy that earth could
give. And Charlie, kind-hearted, hand
some Charlie loved her in return, but
not as sisters love. Not alone to Maggie
was he the hero of the hour, for that
strange fascination which often proves
the bane OF its possessor, winning the
hearts Of old and young alike. was his