The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1882-02-10
would only be little kind to him. ! am

/ saw the old man flush with ange
and shrank back In alright at what
had said, and read, as I thought, th,
Harry's mother also looked very niue
put out.
81 don't behave half hard enough |
him." said Harry's father; "and as
not knowing him, seeing that L nurse
him when he was BARN. and b
mother sits there, / think, youn
woman, that we ought to know som,
thing about him. /"
l feltso hurt that got up and wante
to put on my things andIgo, but the oil
people wouldn't hear Of it and. q
Harry's father cooled down, he lit hi
pipe again, and begged me to come AM
SIT by him at the window, and wouldn
let me work any more, while Harry
mother came and sat on the other side
and held my hand till it was time to &c
out supper, but still Harry did not com
back. ssa
/ jumped up and helped Mrs. Smitl
lay the supper-table, and Harry's fathe
would not wait, Sc we had supper
though was SO miserable could hardl,
eat bit, and kept CHANGING at the ole
man as if to ask his pardon for speaking
as l had.
had to be back at 10, and there were
two miles to walk, SO Mrs. Smith begged
me stay all night.
oh, no, | said, I" / must be back.
"Well, my dear, perhaps on areright,
she said. Father, as Harry hasn't
come, will gou walk home with her %
" was just going to offer to, mother,
he said, gruf1y.
sob, no, | cried. 81 can find my
way back quite right, and there's moth.
ing to mind i though all the time was
trembling with dread at having to &c
alone.
" If the young fellows don't know how
to behave themselves, the old fellows
do, don't they, mother ?" he said, in
quite a CHEEKY tone. "No, my dear.
I'm not going to let you cross them
fields alone, nor to leave you till you are
safe indoors"
l resisted feebly but Harry's mother
took her husbands side, aud to nv great
delight she kissed me warmly and af-
fectionately when I left. while the old
man took his stick, drew my arm
through his, and trudged along by my
side, chatting away pleasantly about the
changes that had taken place since he
was boy. He kept this on until we
were nearly at my mistress house, when
he stopped speaking for moment. and
then began again, talking in a very firm
and serious tone.
We didn't think much of your
coming, my dear-the wife and for
Harry's such Eighty fellow that we ex-
pected the girl he chose would be about
the same. But | am glad yoa did come,
my dear, and | am sorry spoke so hot
about Harry"
"An n9lf so yUa 'neeuRt be, he said,
-.~i.ly. like you for it, and it was
very nice, and you are agool, brave,
little woman. But, look here, my dear,
don't be in hurry. I am sorry to say
it, but my Harry is not the man to make
a girl like you happy Now take my ad-
vlce-don't be in hurry"
ooh, Mr., Smith,, I sobbed, for his
words cut me to the heart.
" L can't help saying it, my dear, and
now good night and God bless YOU
You're very nice and good little girl"
He drew me toward him and kissed
my cheek very afectlonately, just as if
| had been his own child. Thon he
waited till he heard the side door opened
and closed, and as soonas could [ went
to my room and cried till my heart was
ready to break.
The months went by, and Harry
seemed no happier at home, while when
l took the old peoples part he grew an
CRY and reproached me for not caring
for him and leaning to the other side.
Old Mr.. Smith came to fetch me home
once, and Harry fetched me two or three
times, and used to wonder how could
have been so mistaken in people who
seemed to like me better every time I
went.
I know one day thst there had been a
terrible upset at home. for, as Mrs.
Smith had told me, Harry had been
neglecting his work terribly, and taken
to going to the public house.
Then couple of days passed, and I
aletter for me which seemed at the time
as if it would nearly drive me mad, for
it was from Harry, telling me that he
could not put up with their ways any
longer, and that he had enlisted in the
TIL regiment of foot.
l asked leave to go out, and went over
to the town to find out that neither Mr..
Smith nor Harry's mother had heard of
the step he had taken, while, when I put
the letter in their hands and watched
their faces, | threw my arms around
Mrs. Smiths neck and we mingled our
tears.
cts very hard, very hard, we heard
the old man say. g / began as labor
er, and I've worked up a. nice business
of which I'm master, and there it is for
my son when I die, but he prefers to be
a scamp"
It was miserable night that, and the
old man walked home with me almost
in silence.
"Don't fret about it, my lass" he
said; perhaps it's all for the best"
Not fret? How could / help fretting.
Harry had his faults, knew, but he
was my sweetheart, and who, asked
myself, wasperfect? Are you surprised;
then, when [ tell you that, after six
months service with his regiment, when
he kept on sending me letter after letter,
telling me how bitterly he repentel the
step he had taken and how miserable
life he led, that I should listen to his
prayers to find the money to buy him
off?
He knew I had few savings, and L
told myself that they were his, and paid
the money willingly, for he told me that
he could not exist away from me any
longer, and that if I did not buv him off
he should desert.
Yes; I paid the money, and he came
back home to work, on a-.d off, with
little more steadiness, while, poor, weak
girl that | was, refused to see how he
was changed, and loved him more than
ever.
Then he began to talk of our being
married, and, though old Mr.. Smith op-
posed it, Harry's mother was quite eager
that we should be wed. She thought
that, once he was settled down, he would
be steady and keep to his work, and /
thought the same.
just at that Tina my mother died
my father had gone years beforehand