River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1881-05-26
dunno's he'd come back if wanted

! 1dSn he DeeD Dack at alIf
why, yes, he came back once for a
pair of pantaloons But / didn't take
no notice of him"
''Now, Nabby, you may depend upon
/ it, it wasn't the pantaloons was after.
/ He wanted to see if you wouldn't re-
lent. If he comes again be a little
/ pleasant to 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. He has his
redeeming traits, after all. / believe
he will do better if you will try to help
him. You know Josiah is one that
bears encouragement, Nabby."
"Well, squire, I'll think it over.
Anyhow, I'm obleeged to you. You
talk so-sorter cCmfortin' to a body.
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. smilingly, not impervious to
/ Nabby's compliments. Nabby made
/ her exit just as Mrs. Hosley rushed in
full Of wifely indignation that the squire
had been allowed to see ''client."
/ Nabby's home was over at the "Cor-
ners." three miles from the village She
walked rapidly along in the fast thick
enng 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
/ depressing influence of the chilly, raw
/ November evening. The wind whistled
| through the bare tree branches, which
/ creakcd and groaned mournfully, and
waved widely in the dim light overhead.
/ The wind seemed to cherish a special
| spite against Nabby 1t blew her bon
net off and her hair into her eyes, strug-
gled madly with her for her shawl, took
/ her breath away and firmly resisted
| every step. Finally it began to send
! spiteiul dashes Of cold rain drops in her
| face-rain that seemed to freeze as it
fell
"JOsiah used to come after me with
an umbrella when | vas caught out in
the rain" thought Nabby "He was
always real kind and good to me after
all. | dunno's he ever gave me cross
word in his life. even when he's been
drinking"
Here the driving sleety rain and
piercing wind bounced down upon Nab
by with renewed fierceness, hustling
her madly in iendish glee.
can awful night to be homeless, Nab
/ by" something seemed to say.
Il don't care" said Nabby to herself
beginning to feel cross again; and gen.
orally ill-used as she grew wetter and
colder at serves him right. He's
made his bed and he can lie in it.
At the Corners" light streaming out
cheerfully into the night from other
| homes made Nabby's little house par
ticularly gloomy and uninviting. Nab
by fumbled under the mat for the door
key, fumbled with stiff fingers for the
key hole, and finally succeeded in I'M
locking the door, and felt her way
through the little entry
There is always something 'uncanny
about going alone at night into a dark
and shut-up house. Every person of
the best regulated minds experience
vague suspicion 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 nonsense about her."
but nevertheless cheerful tale she had
read only yesterday about burglar
and lone woman, kept coming into
her head, and she carefully avoided
the blackness of the corners and the
pantry door as she CROPPED around the
kitchen for a candle Ofcourse the fire
had gone out.
1.-TWO heads are better than one, if
one is a sleeps head" Nabby might
have been heard muttering out in the
woOdh3use, as she stopped painfully
down, picking up chips; by which orac
ular utterance | suspect she was think
ing what a good supply of kindlings
Josiah always kept on hand for her, and
how much more comfortable it was in
the old times, coming home to u house
bright with light and warmth, and Jo-
siah' welcome
FoI Josiah cherished the most pro-
found admiration for Nabby-an admit
ration not unmingled with awe. He
thought her a most wonderful woman.
She was Just as beautiful to him now as
IN the old cOurting-days, before the
brightness and quickness of the black
eyes had degenerated into sharpness;
before the smiling mouth had acquired
its hard, tirmly-set expression; before
there wereany wrinkles in the smooth
forehead. People thought Nabby had
done well in marrying Josiah Could
pleasant, good-natured young fellow
that every one liked, a young mechanic,
not very ric yet, it is true; but with q
good trade and such wife as Nabby,
there seemed to be nothing to prevent
his figuring as zone of our first cIti
zens."
Anybody can be somebody in this
country if he is only determined. But
that was the difficulty with Josiah. He
never was determined about anything.
He fell into the habit of drinking be
cause he lacked sufficient strength of
will to avoid it. Then Nabby's sharp
words and his own miserable sense of
mcanness and selfcontempt, of utter
Encouragement and despair, drove him
lower and lower into the slough of
despond without effort or hope.
BY a beautiful dispensation of Prov
idence, whenever a poor, shiftless, good.
fOr-nOthins man is sent out 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. 1t is for the best,
| Of course. What would become of the
poor fellow without her? At the same
time, she sometimes finds it a little
hard
Nabuy was ambitious and proud
| spirited, willing to work hard to save,
to do her part-anxious to get on in the
world and stand we'll among her neigh
/ bors The fact gradually realized, that
/ in her husband she had no support
only drag and burden, and finally a
/ disgrace had been a disappointment
embittering her whole nature. To have
/ a husband that no one respected, that
even the boys around town called Isl
Gould, was dreadful so Nabby. Per-
haps it was hardly strange that she grew
/ hard and bitter.
Meantime Nabby had succeeded in
starting the fire. and, having changed
/ her dress, sat down to dry her feet until
| the tea-kettle boiled. But even the
rudy light and warmth with which the
kitchen now glowed could not send oil
the dreariness Of the night The rain
tapped with ghostly finger tip upon
the window-pane,' and the wind howled
| and wailed around the house like the
1 spirits of the lost pleading to be once
more taken back into human life and
warmth. Such wind stirs in even the
/ happiest heart vague sense of loss, of
! change Of all that goes to make up the
unatis of life. Dead sor-
,,,,, y,,.,,.,,, forth from, tbnir graves On