The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1882-12-28

at, then, if his wife did not fully sympa-
thize with him in his extremity, and if
being of an affectionate disposition, 30
far as she had anything to impart, hay
ing impaired that also to her son. she
wrote little surreptitious letter.
she who had usually not thought nor
deed nor an emotion Of her own.
any DARLING Boy: send you all
my love. Any wife you choose &c
marry Will be the dear daughter to your
mother"
That was tho letter 50 secretly; it
meant volumes to her; it meant volumes
to her boy. She was frightened, to a
trembling ghost Of her ghost like self
asked the footman to drop it in a street.
box, for she felt that if her husband
knew it would not be immpossible Tor
him to blow out her Pickering flame of
life altogether, or stamp its feeble spark
into the earth He never had struck
her, but she never knew what he might
! do do yet.
The fathers letter, when it came, was
not at all expected by Hero Ven More,
| nor was the mothers a surprise. She
most MOI divinely fair.5 Her superb mould
ings would have fed sculptor's eye with
rapture, her superb coloring would
have driven wild another than Titan;
the great braids upon her head seemed
made of strands OF spun gold; she wore
them likes crown, as became daugh-
ter OF the royal tribe of Judah. She Tas
undoubtedly Jewess: but as Miriam,
as Deborah, as Susannah may have done
she had the large beauty OF that Clyt1e
In her sundower whom some think TO be
Isis in her lotus She waited in her ID
theirs shop, and she sold Mr.. Van More
| pair of gloves there.
He had given his purse some time
! was waiting in this little place till he
should receive fresh remittance from
his father. When he saw Hero he had
something else 10 wait for. He hung
round the shop corners, and when she
| went home he followed her. Vera in
cessu ratuit dea-she stepped as if the
earth were air; he said to himself that
it was because his heart was under her
feet. He knew intuitively that she
would not give him a second look.
What were the Van Nores out
here in the wilderness? He
was able to see, for all bis deficiency,
that she was on higher plane of being
than his own. But If he could not hope
he could at least suffer; he could gaze at
the star he might not win. He bought
another pair Of gloves All, heavens! to
feel the touch of those fingers Of hers as
| of his hand The next day he bought
| another pair. Before he was through
he had bought the whole stock OF gloves
| in the shop
Of course this attracted her attention,
| and she made some inquiry concerning
him. You had better 60 away" she
| said, when he came in again. "You do
not need gloves, or ties, or any OF our
goods. You are making yourself ridicu-
lous."
II have.snothing to do with It," he re-
| piled. II was made 50 when was
| born"
And so one word led to another and
| in the course Of time he had told her his
story, which somehow seemed full Of
wrongs, the story of rather feeble
minded youth who had been snubbed
and brow-beaten and ill-used by dis
appointed father from his birth. Her
heart was stirred with pity; she let him
come to the house. Hope bounded with
in him. If the star should fall from
| the sky to his arms! He wrote
his father-l forgot to say that he
| could write-that he wanted his influence
to help him marry the most lovely, the
| most Virtuous, the most brilliant OF WO-
| men, who waited behind the counter OF
| her fathers little Jew shop. The answer
| to this letter made his hair stand on end.
| Cold, sneering, vindictive, cruel, threat
| ening-what should he do but show it to
| her? Her blood would have been cold
| and thin stuff had that not made it boil.
Il can never 90 back to him. It is the
| last blow he shall strike me-"
"Would you be happier here in the
! shop helping met" see asked.
Beyond measure" he cried.
! So she told him to see her father that
| night. She meant about the situation;
| he meant about wife And her father,
| in as good and strong contempt as Mr..
Van More himself could feel, .:aere d
| the fellow from the hous.
>"The worthless varlet" cried the old
man. "Can he earn his salt? What do
| care for his name and family and his
! entuiled moneys-the dog of a christian!
he can have them ali; but he can't marry
| my girl to an idiot!'
| "he is not ali idiot, father" said Hero.
There Is more in him than any see,"
/ and she calmly canvassed the subject,
HE has been made to look up I'LL he
! does not know how to look straight ahead.
| Some day he will assert himself"
| "You" said her father. "You? be-
{ Iieve you care for the Iout! When YOU
/ have sweethearts to fill regiment!
! When you can marry any man III the
: country!"
II don't Know" she said II AIN sor-
} ~ for him: l care to have him happy
\ he has had so much unhappiness And
\ at that moment they heard groan out
/ 81 le, and they run to the door to pick up
4 More Van More, helpless and just re-
\ turning to consciousness, with broken
leg.
Hero installed herself as his chief at
\ tendant In the long hours of patient
| pain, in the devotedness of his silent
worship TO her, something stirred her
heart that us not pity, Heaven knows
what it was. There are some strong ma
! lures that must wrap themselves about
/ the weak. The first time he could
| stand on his feet again they were mar
/ ried. And then More Van More went
down to help her wait behind the coun-
ter in the shop where she consulted
him and referred to him and honored
! him till she was likely to make others
share the strange respect she had for
him. "He is single hearted" she said
\ ~ OuC "a AC1 OAA AVVOA IA GIA8S pAA Q
community, who felt the right to make
some outspoken complaint, che is up
| right; be is unselfsh He is kind to the
fly on the wall He loves me and no
other. What more do l want in hus-
| band? He suits me. And as for his re-
| ligion, what does that signify when, at
! any rate. We both worshi the same
God"
| A year from that time Hero did not
1 go to the show much; she had little
| son-and not such very little one
| either-a bouncing magnificent boy,
| with his mothers coIors aud eyes, 1,i,;
! of life and Joy and spirit, and quite the
| most remarkable baby in the world.
And 20, when the child was six months
| old, it seemed to More Van More in his
! happiness that he vas wrong to deprive
| his family of the Blessing of knowing of
| such a blessing, and he wrote home for
the third time, but this time to his
mother. This was shaking the red flag
in the face of the bull. Mr.. Van More
trampled up and down his wife's sitting
| room awhile, reared and stamped and
| snorted and beloved, and not till he
! had reduced her to teara for havinp