The Red Cloud chief., 1882-10-20
AFTER THE SALE.

The wa-on. " tn high fansa site ioad
oi h,n.c bold goods. Il at the gate;
The shadows 4 rrken down tn road:
Why does tn. old man ~sift
Uurcau. bcfstcsd. rockin ~ ehnif.
l.pturned table with heels I'm air
Whatever the grud2ing fa,cs would spare.
Lies huddicd and heaped and ;umbIed there,
4 mechanically freight!
"of all hi. riches" the team.tcr said.
NOW only fhi. precious pile rrmsins!
a blanket and ted for hi. old gray head,
For all his lifelong pains.
Mari ease. J own; b.i they say that Pride
Musi have a faiL" His ropes be tied
in the chill March wind. Hurry up he
And gathered in the rcins.
Tho old wife bows her stricken face
On the doorstone. weary and worn and gray.
The old man ling ~ about the place,
Taking n ias, survey:
Looks IN once more nj the great barn door.
tn the empty NOW and the vacant floor:
All tho gains OF his life have gone before,
And why should ne care 20 stayS
Only n stool with q broken log
Is left. and a bucket without a bail.
The harness IL gone from hook AMI peg,
Even the whip from it, nail:
Dreary shadows hang from tho wall.
No friendly whipny from shed or stall.
Nor unmi ked h.ifcr's welcoming call;
The poultry aud pigs have vanished, ALE
Swept out by the sberfn's sale.
Back 90 the door-yard we'll he goes
For n parting hook, "a farewell drink.
How driDpingly that bucket rose
And poised for him on the brink
In the summers gone, and FLASHED his feet
when the men ca ne in from the harvest heath
How blc~scdly cool the drsught, how sweet,
It's misery now To think.
What scenes OF p, 'ccful. prosperous life
Once hlled the yard. 50 q solsie now!
When he often would say TO his pleased. proud
Tint tn. farm appeared. somehow,
More thrifty and CHEEKY Than other mems,
NTH its cattle In lgssflre an 4 sy m /. tK t..ua
Blca'ing of latDbs and cackie of hrns,
And wcIistored crib and NOW.
The early years Of their PROUD success.
The years OF failure md mutual blame,
Are past. with the toll ti,st was happiness,
And Tho strife TINT WIZ sorrow and shame.
She came tn him hopeful aud strong and fair
Now who is the sad wrath sitting there,
With her burden of grief and her old thin hair
Bowed over her feeble Trainer
"Do you remember This we'll" he saId,
Was sunk thnt summer when Jane was
She used o. stand in the old housc-shed
And blow the dinner-horn
In after ycars-or climb "a rail
Uf The door-yard fence for "a CHEEKY hail
Then run to the curb for a trimming pail,
When ! came up irom the corn
WHY think of her now2 against whose name
His lips and heart long since were sca'cd:
VIII Sc memory i'm their lives became
\ sorrow that never has healed.
sirr step II ON the cracking stair.
Her g1riisb image iS c~serywher.
u" hears her laughter, n sees her hair
flow inck in the w.ni, ~ she comes To bear
His luncheon 10 the field.
"'Twas n terrible wrong.' The old wife
spoke,
swaying her gaunt frame to and fro.
I'm say q now Her strained voice broke
Into a wall of woo.
cit haunis me awake. It haunis me asleep!
And silence hiss been So hard Ia kc;p-
80 iong.-But there il n grief too deep
For ever a man Co know
A quavcr OF anguish shook hIs tone,
HIS look was pierced with n keen rcmorsc:
>1h he blame, ] suppose, was NIL my own:
And have no hsari, OF course.
Or at Hcaycni nor any grief to hidcI"
Lifting his gloomy hat SIDE.
lie looked up. hagg trI ami hoilow-eyed.
Liz" one " hose burn NJ soul h al dried
Hts tears at their very source.
no! I don't mean that" she wcpt,
I've felt y"i suffering many a day.
And often nj night when you thought ! slept,
And whrn I have heard you y ay,
Until 1t seemed that my hear; would burst
And ~ for the blame. you know. Mt first.
:. 4 claimed sou were right and did my worst
To force her Ia Obey.
FOR III dream of our lives had been to make
our Jane a lnly az for a lord:
Our sch ,nc- were all for otr childrcn's sake,
And ID seemed "A cruel reward
To sec her with careless Sc ,rn refuse
For all tn" arguments We q uld uS--
The mtn yJu most approved. aad ,hooso
IN" one You most hbhofrtu.
hut WHEN she hal chosen and MI was done,
You needn't have been 80 b ird II al stern;
Ne might have Ia given tho poor dear q N =,
And welcomed ncr T. turn.
You nc'cr oomid know what -ho wa To me.
lou never viii know d Nv I ycRra 10 sec
My ,hild gr in how hpmcsickly
iyrain, and ycarr, aud ycarni
"Shr ohoSs for herself, and who can tcII7
Sh" irnvcd your WI, it's true. AMI yet
She pay, for ali that. have chosen well.
And how cap we ioryrtg
W chose for Alice, an unHwarcs
iu'hcd with her into u rich man : slarcs,
who tangled us mp ia his loose affairs,
And dragged US down with dcht.'
Well, wcl--with a heavy sigh-"Lct's go,
haven't been always wise. An. Jane!
Some things mi MT not hc dona just 81,
II they Were to do ara N.
Hut Alice is deaf AMI IN" farm Is gone;
our hopes, and all that we built them On.
IN 'ids. wealth. are scattered hithcr and yon,
And only ourselves remain.
"Thcsc houghs viii Blossom aud fruits will
Tho same. When | changed ihc orchard
And {. need il all with goo I stone wal,
Aud p' nnoi the garden plot.
An built IN arbor and ilautci trccs,
And made a home for our pride and ease,
strangers who knew ~ not,
."oihers n reap whera we have sowu;
hut others never can an icrStand
Nhat "aichful csrs these hcics have known,
Or how I loved the land.
Tier" maids vii! mary and babes I've born,
IT sun viii shine on the wheat aui corn,
4 srups b. gathered AM sheep bc shora,
But 10y a strangers hand.
"Come. Wife" WITH hittcrst vain regret,
Remembering ell good things that were,
Tn old man vet can half forg I
His woes, in pity OF her.
she entered. a Young mans happy bride.
She crowned his home with hope and pride,
And now goes forth 10y an old mans side,
weary waude pr.
With slow. disconsoiate, broken talk,
They look their last and pass the gate;
TIE wagon il gohe and they must walk
\ mile, and it's growing late.
She Tears n parcel, he lifts "A pack,
But what d. they see there. up the track,
Against the sunset. looming 5lacky
lis strangc! IN wagon is coming back,
With lis melancholy freight.
And wha, is the driver shricking out2
Now Heaven. for n moment, keep them
Turn alout: turn about.' they hear him
shout
As he fiourishes whip and rein
home and a good friend yet. you'll
find" |
Acoach is following close behind:
Afare-a Nuice-Oh. Heaven he kind! |
TN, Ups that trrmtic and tears that blind!
oh, breaking hearts, IT'S JANE.
~ II. Ifoirt'ftd9S. ta Oas Continent
LEO.
Ford Bonnie: may live to be very old
, Mal-Ee is going on fifteen now
bui it is likely hat he will always recol-
hct what occurred upon a certain dark
evening in August two years ago.
Ferris father aud mother were travel
ing in Europe that summer; hence Ford,
VINO was all the rest of the year a board
irg-school-boy of the first water, spent
h vacation at his Uncle Peppers eoun-
Try place.
ford's chief companion from day to
day. rs he scrambled among the rocky
sparS. Was Leo. Leo was a Scotch gray
hound. Major Peppers particular pei.
Now one curious trait of his did equal
honor TO his head and heart. He had
lnnn ho..1La ~ Rla.l.e III oll.- s-suaxo L