The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1881-07-28
SICK HEADACHE.
A Hysienic Love Story.

for full hour at least This was world of
scratching, they said to themselves, and eggs
were not built in day. Early to bed and
early to rise make fowls healthy and lively
and wise. The robins in the apple trees, the
swallows in the barn, the little brown
ph@bes that held town-meetings in the
meadow, had been piping and trilling that it
was day, day, day, till they half expected to
hear the noon bell ringing. The shy quail
in the hedge-row had called their warming
Of hot and dry, hot and dry" over and
over, to any ears that would listen. The
spiders had long since hung out their glitter
ing webs drying on the wild-rose bushes
The bells of the morning glory, blue and
side the buttery window, before the delin-
quent Aunt Larkin lifted the latch and en-
tered not as her wont was, quickly, as with
desire, but on leaden feet OF dull resolve
and looking white as her own linen.
There stood the row Of milk pals waiting
to be emptied, to be washed, to be spread in
the sum- already fierce and hot outside.
There was the long array of pans mantling
with yellow cream. There, in the corner,
waited the exacting churh, the dasher lean
ing toward her hand with what seemed a
malevolent readiness. As she took up the
skinner the kitchen clock struck six.
"Oh dear" sighed Aunt Larkin, morn
in lost, evenin' crossed
Butwhen, with conscientious care she had
stripped the third pan of its rich abundance
she laid down her weapons, SO to speak, and
capitulated to the one foe able to conquer
that resolved soul.
'"Thanny,' she called, at the foot of the
stairs.
eyes, mother" answered a cheerful voice
from among the lilac bushes, and brown,
curly head, set on the slender shoulders of
young manhood, showed itself in the door
way. What, another of the evil brood?
90 straight to bed, mother. I'll go right
over for Obadlah's Sarah I'll make YOU
some tea, and manage my own br akfast.
Don't you worry about me. But you see l
was right, mother. You must have a girl.
Shall / help you up stairs?"
mo, dear" You just see to yourself.
The coffee's ready and the bread is in the
stone pot, and there's plenty of doughnuts
and curraDt pie, and dried beef and cheese
IN the butteiy; and it you want to fry your
self slice OF meat, there's the fat in the red
jar, and the veals out in the spring house."
But though the mother instinct insisted
on thus making the way easy for it's young,
human nature shuddered at this catalogue,
and poor Aunt Lari1in staggered to her bed
too horribly ill to speak again for hours.
Sight and sound were alike dreadful. The
swift jingle of the wooing bobolink swinging
outside in the golden ropes of the laburnum
pierced her sensitive ears like the steely clash
of swords. And the droning hum of bees,
plunging deep in the white sweetness of the
syringas, was as the bray of a trombone.
Her heavy limbs ached, to ache the more as
she tried to rest them in new positions It
seemed to her that the deadly nausea was in
her feet, in her arms, in her spine-every-
where.
That the. entrance of any human being,
even her beloved Thanny, would be unen-
durable, she knew. But oh, if some phan-
tom, some invisible, inaudible agency, would
but turn the swivel Of the blind, where ray
of abhorrlble sunlight was already creeping
in! How could she ever have let that bottle
of Bohemian glass stand on her bureau, even
though Ihanny had given it her, filled with
cologne for her poor head! Its vivid red
seemed to smite her through the cloud of
dull pain above her brows. And if she shut
her eyes, it did but glare the redder. Than
ny brought her the tea, and it was vile.
Presently Obadiahs Sarah came creeping in
with demonstrative quietness, in shoes that
creaked and gown that cracked, to set down
a tinkling tray by the bedside. Aunt Larkin,
who would have mourned over a lie as overa
lost soul, had she been capable of telling
one, feigned sleep to dismiss that amiable
vandal. But when she opened her eyes and
saw the yellow butter, the deep blue plate,
the brown toast, the red milk pitcher, the
black earthen teapot, she felt that sex alone.
not gratitude nor Christian grace, bridled
her tongue from profane and vain babbling.
Meantime. nature, who did not include
sick headache or any other mortal malady
in her scheme of existence, went about her
usual business. The sun mounted higher
and higher, cattle browsed, sheep fattened,
buds blossomed. crops grew. Among these
the the plantage at the village academy flour
lshed apace. Here lay the daily toll of Mr..
Nathan Larkin, assistant principal, a sensi-
tive, conscientious fellow, of indomitable
will, loving work, and toiliug to kindle in
duller brains and lighter natures his own en-
thusiasm and his own resolve. The Rev.
Edward Granniss, DID,. Phi. D.. LII. D.,
principal OF the Quaboag seminary, being q
gentleman of phlegmatic temperament, much
addicted to heavy dinners at MONDAY, was
quite willing to let his esteemed young
friend do most of the pulling of the double
team, especially through the hard places,
though simply for his own improvement, of
course
Thus the youth. taking no rest, spending
OF his intense personality with prodigal read
mess, 1nhertting from his mother set of
tense and swift-responding nerves, found
himself besct once a fortnight or SO, by the
same tiend, sick headache, which had de-
vastated years Of her useful life He was
young and heroic. Sometimes he could
grapple with it. hold it still, and, thus ham
pered, go through the routine of his work
after dull fashion. Sometimes he Welded,
undergoing fortunes greater than his
mothers, as his imagination was more vivid.
But, either way, he counted a month out
OF each year al unredeemed sacrifice to this
Moloch.
On this summer day he felt wonderfully
alert and alive. The boys thought he made
Caesar and the Anabasis almost interesting.
with his vivid sketch of the splendid life Of
the republic, and his showing up of hot
headed Cyrus, and cool, cruel, able Arta-
xerxes, long memoried" for his wrongs.
But in secret he was much disquieted. For
Miss Allis Putnam was to come that after
noon, and he felt that his poor mother would
worry more than was needful. Not that he
had not his own mispiyincs 4 sfronc