The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1881-02-11

| f'' N'l'h NOu lODk Illtn IOl
better, for worse DO you think. your
SELL 1t is quite right to break your con
tract because it proves the worse for Won
-because you are the strong one and he
the weak one of the twol That doesn'
strike me as good Bible doctrine. Nabby
we that are strong ought to bear the in
flrmities OF the weak, and not to pleas,
ourselves you know
well, | dunno, said Nancy, twisting
the corner of her shawl, obviously. !
hadn't thought ont in that light, | mus
say. It's so aggravatn' to have such ;
man for husband. Besides, dunno,
he'd come back il wanted him to-
Hasn't he been back at alp
why, yes, he came back once for Z
pair OF pantaloons. But | didn't take nc
notice of him
Now, Nabby, you may depend upon
1t, 1t wasn't the pantaloons he was after
lie wanted to see if You wouldn't relent
II he comes again be little pleasant &c
him, and I'll warrant he will stay. Give
him another chance, Nabby Josiah
isn't the worst fellow in the world by
any means. lie has his redeeming traits
after all. / believe he will do better il
You will try to help him. You know
Josiah is one that bears encouragement,
Nabby.'
We'll, Squire III think it over. Any
how, I'm obliged to you. You talk So
so sorter comfortin to abody. Your
mothers own son; just the same good
heart. Would you be able to eat some
OF my cheese SQUIRE
Try me and see, Nabby, said the
Squire smiling, not impervious to Nab
bys compliments. Nabby made her exit
just as Mrs. Hosley rushed in, full of
wit"ly Indignation that the Squire had
been allowed to see n client.
Nabby's home was over at the Cor
ners, three miles from the village She
walked rapidly along in the fast thick
cning darkness, with the steady, strong
gait becoming the self-reliant woman
that she was. Yet even her unimagina-
tive nature was not proof against the de
pressing influence of the chilly Novem-
her evening. The wind whistled through
the bare tree branches, which creaked
and groaned mournfully and waved
wildly up and down in the dim light
overhead The wind seemed to cherish
Il special spite against poor Nabby. 1t
blew her bonnet off and her hair into
her eyes, Struggled madly with her for
her shawl, took her breath away and
firmly resisted her every step Finally
it began to send spiteful cold rain drops
in her face-ran that seemed almost to
freeze as it fell.
Josiah used to come after me with an
umbrella when was caught out in the
rain, thought Nabby. lie was always
real kind and good to me after all. I
dunnos he ever gave me cross word in
his life, even when he'd been drinking.
Here the driving, sleety rain and
piercing wind pounced down upon Nab
by with renewed fierceness, hustling her
madly in tiendish gee.
An awful night to be homeless, Nab
by, something seemed to say
i don't care, said Nabby to herself,
beginning to feel cross again. and gen
orally ill-used as she grew wetter and
colder, 1T serves him right. He's made
his bed and can lie in it.
At the Corners, light streaming out
cheerfully into the night from other
homes, made Nabby's house particularly
gloomy and uninviting. Nabby fumbled
under the mat for the door key, fumbled
with stiifening fingers for the keyhole,
and finally succeeded in unlocking the
door, and felt her way through the little
entry.
There is always something uncanny'
about going at night into a dark aud
shut-up house. Even people of the best
regulated minds experience vague sus-
picion of something behind them,a sense
of possible ghostly hands about to clutch
them in the darkness. Nabby was a
woman, like Mrs Edmund Sparkler, with
no nonsence about her; but, nevertheless
cheerful tale she had read only yester
day in the Chronicle, about burgular
and lone woman, kept.~;oming into her
head, and she carefully avoided the
blackness of the corners and the pantry
door, as she grouped around the kitchen
for candle. OF course the fire had gone
out.
Two heads are better than one,if one
is sleeps head, Nabby might have
been heard mutterng out in the wood
house. as she stopped painfully down,
picking up chips; by which oracular ut
terance suspect she was thinking what
a good supply of kindlingsJosiah always
kept on hand for her, and how much
more comfortable it was in the old times,
coming home to a, house bright with
light and warmth, and Josiah's wei
come.
For Josiah cherished the most pro-
found admiration for Nabby-an admi-
ration unmingled with awe. lie thought
her Il most wonderful moman. She was
just as beautiful TO him now as in the
old counting days before the brightness
and quickness of the black eyes had de-
generated into sharpness; before the
smiling mouth had acquired its hard,
firmly set expression, there were any
wrinkles in the smooth forehead. People
thought Nabby had done well in marry
ing JOSIAH Gould--a pleasant, good
natured young fellow that every one
liked; a young mechanic not very rich
yet, it is true; but with good trade
and such wife as Nabby there seemed
nothing to prevent his figuring as 'one of
our first citizens.
Anybody can be somebody in this
country if he is only determined. But
that was exactly the difference with .Jo-
siah He never was determined about
anything. He fell into the habit of
drinking because he lacked sufficient
strength of will to avoid it. Then Nab
by's sharp word, and his own miserable
sense of meanness and self-contempt. of
utter Encouragement and despair drove
him lower and lower and he sank down
supinely into the slough of fdespond, with.
out effort or hope. ... .I'...
by a beautiful dispensation of Proyi-
dence, whenever a poor shiftless, good
fornothing man is sent into our world,
some active, go-ahead little woman is
invariably fastened to him to tow him
along through, and keep his head above
water Its for the best of course.
Whnt xrAn1I hn.n,.,o r Al