The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1881-04-15

Bible and the newspapers all my life,
but never even knew the names of
books, now my greatest treasures, till
Ruth thought ''reading would be COM
papy" for me. Little Ruth. even she
does not know the world she peopled for
me in her loving care for my loneliness.
When she was busy about her house.
work, her baking, her washing and IRON
ing. she left oil the doors standing open,
that l might still hear her CHEEKY voice
as she sang or talked to me. Then.
when all her work was done, she would
put clean white apron over her black
dress, and sit close beside me, stitching
busily on the household linen, while |
read aloud whatever had most pleased
me in my morning studies.
She devised little dainty dishes TO
tempt me to eat; she put saucers of
flowers on my table, that l might cheat
myself into fancying was out doors, as
their perfume crept ont on the air; she
assured me, petted me, loved me, till
even my misfortunes seemed blessings
drawing us nearer together.
And when she was all the world to me,
all that saved me from misery, John
Hayes asked me to give him Ruth for his
wife. 1 could have struck him dead
when he stood before me, young giant
in strength, with his handsome sun-burnt
face glowing with health, and wanted to
take away my one blessing, my only
home CHILD.
81 will be true son to you, Mr. Mar
tin, he said, earnestly. II will never
take Ruth from here; but let me come
and share her life, and lift some of the
burdens from her shoulders.
/ laughed bitterly. knew well what
such sharing would be when Ruth had a
husband, and perhaps children, to take
her time and her love from me. But L
was not harsh. did not turn this
sutton from my house, and bid him never
speak to Ruth again, much as L longed
to do it. / worked more cautiously. L
let him go from me to Ruth and when
he left her and she came to me, all rosy
bushes, to tell me, with dropping lids
and moist eyes, of her new happiness, j
duty till she believed herself monster
of ungrateful wickedness to think of leav-
ing me or taking any divided duty upon
her hands.
wept, asked her if she could face her
dead mother after DESERVING her helpless
father L pointed out to her the unceas-
ing round of wifely duty that would keep
her from my side, and proved to her that
the duties of wife and child must clash,
if undertaken under such circumstances
as were proposed.
The loving, tender heart yielded to me
and John was tearfully dismissed.
Through the warm autumn months, when
the corn ripened and was garnered-
when our crops were blessed and the lit
tie bank fund was increased by the price
of the farm produce-Ruth grew very
quiet and subdued. She was not sad,
having always CHEEKY word and pleas
ant smile for me; but the pretty rose tint
loft her round cheeks, and l no longer
heard her singing at her work. When |
read the best pages III my books to her,
L would see her eyes fixed dreamily on
some far-away thought, her work lying
idle, till she woke with q start ut my
fretful questions.
For 1 grew fretful and trying in those
days. l wanted her to give up womans
dearest hopes and sweetest affections,
and be the same sunshiny Ruth she was
before my hand tore away her love
dreams. L wanted her to put away all
the loving tender ties of wifehood and
motherhood, and pass her life in devo-
ton at the armchair of q paralyzed old
man. And when she complied, with
gentle. touching submission, then l
wanted her to be the bright, happy girl,
who had resigned nothing, and who
could nurse sweet girlish fancies, with
John for hero. An unreasonable old
tyrant, wasn't j?
The winter came in early that year,
and before Christmas everything was
frozen up tight, and the cold was intense.
We piled up coal in the stoves. listed
doors and windows-that is, Ruth did
the work, and 1 enjoyed the result; but
there came one cold day-one Friday
when it seemed no Goals, no listing,
could conquer the cold. Children
froze on the way TO school that day, and
were found, stiff and stark, leaning
against the fences. Food froze on the
tables Ask anybody in Maine if they
remember that black Friday, and see if
some mothers eyes will not fill as they
think of the little scarlet-hooded figures
brought to their doors, white and rigid,
that had lifted rosy, round cheeks for a
kiss only few hours before.
On this cold Friday, Ruth hurried
through her work in the morning, max
ing my room the warmest place in the
house, covering my armchair with soft
woolens, and moving it near the stove.
/ would have il face the window, for my
glimpse of outdoor life was too precious
to resign; but was not, as usual, near
it, for Ruth said there might be a
draught.
When all was done indoors, / saw from
my chair Ruth, with scarlet cloak and
hood Throwing over her. going to the well
with an empty bucket. She stepped
along quickly over the hard. frozen
ground, and was admiring the trim
little feet and the dainty figure, when I
saw her slide to the two steps that were
above the well walls and fall. She had
slipped, and she lay doubled up between
the two wooden steps and the rough sides
Of the we'll. as if she could not rise. Two
or three times her hands clutched the
lower step, and she raised herself half
way up, only to fall back again, as if her
limbs would not support her.