The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1881-04-22
LITTLE RUTH.
AN OLD MANS STORY

l know / was selfish old idiot, now,
when look around me and see the mer-
cies given me in my helpless oldage, feel
the warm love around me on all sides,
and realize the desolation my own hand
reached forth to grasp but I was blind
to the future in those days when I so
'early wrecked all its happiness.
* was how it happened: After Mar
f.. 5S1$ my wife, I mean, with whom
forty happy years of my life were spent
and all my children were dead or mar
ried, excepting Ruth, there fell upon me
the heavy misfortune that has chained
me to this chair, or my bed, for fifteen
weary years. / had been Woodworking
man all my life-a wheelwright by trade
with large family to rear, to clothe,
TO feed, to educate, and, ali me one by
one to bury in the old churchyard, till
only Mary, James and Ruth, our baby.
were left to me. Mary married, and
went with her husband to the far West.
James took his small fortune of few
hard earned dollars, and left us for the
golden land of promise, California, and
only little Ruth was left us. Then the
angel of death came for Martha, and
only six months later | was stricken help.
less with paralysis.
L am reconciled now to my hard fate.
and can sit here happily, glad that my
eyesight is still good, nay right hand free
and that have learned in my old age to
love books, to enjoy reading, and even
writing, es I never did in the hard-work-
ing days of my youth. But in those first
N1NOnkhC nE l,,IO 4
toss and turn in my nervous torture was
denied me, nay sufferings were simply
horrible, No agony of pain, no torture
OF flesh or bone, could equal the dread
gul pressure upon my strong limbs, that
held them motionless, dead, in spite of
my efforts to move them one little inch.
have tainted with the frightful efforts
have made just to lift once the feet thai
had carried me miles in day with un-
wearied ease.
But even IN that time OF rebellious
nnurmuring, Of bitterest repining, there
was some consolation. First, there was
Che house and five acres of land, my very
own, free of debt or mortgage, and
mail sum iii the bank, the interest of
which lifted us above actual want. Then
I had Ruth.
She was just twenty when her mother
died, and others beside her father
thought her face the fairest one for miles
around, She had the bluest eyes, like
the little patches of summer sky, and
hair that WIS the color of corn silk, and
nestled In little baby curls all over her
sh!ead-rebellious hair, that would never
te straight under any coaxing, but kinked
up In tangles that were full of sunlight
Her skin was white as milk, with cheeks
like the heart of blush rose, and her
smile showed She pretiest rows Of pearly
teeth / ever saw.
She coaxed from me my wicked re-
pinlngs by coming to me for directions,
making nue. feel that my head was still
needed to direct the work, though my.
feet would never more carry me over the
Goor-siA, Then she fitted up for me
large back room that overlooked most Of
the farm, and had Silas, our head man,
mt me up every morning and put me in
deep-cushioned chair by the window.
where could see the barn, the poultry,
yard, the we'll and the fields Of waving
corn and wheat She made me feel my
self OF Importance by giving me thus the
mastery over my own little domain; and
she brought up her own meals to eat
with me In the room where my infirmity
held nae prisoner.
You must understand what Ruth was
TO me, or you will never understand the
simple story have set myself to telling
you. She taught me to use my right
hand without my left; and if you want to
appreciate the difficulty, tie your left
arm down for one single hour, and try
now often it will unconsciously strain at
the cords. She brought me books from
the village library, and opened to my
Old eyes and brain field of pleasure
never before explored. I had read NV
Bible and the newspapers all nv life.
but never even knew the names of
books, now my greatest treasures. till
Ruth thought ''reading would be COM
pany" 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 all the doors standing open.
that might still hear her CHEEKY voice
as she Gang 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 I might cheat
myself into fancying was out doors, as
their perfume crept out on the air; she
assured me, petted me, loved me. till
even my mlsfortunes seemed blessings
drawing us nearer together.
Aud 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. ! could have struck him dead