Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1883-05-21
there was no time. l sometimes

VI ciiS CheAt
on day after day, and alas, night
after night; and I trembled for her
reason. Then something prompted
me to break the pause that followed
by saying, "You must miss the little
ones the dear God has taken from
you, very much"-and | was sorry
the next instant, for a great spasm
of pain swept across her face; but
with it | had learned the secret of
her weariness. She said with evil
dent effort:
81 have not been strong since baby
came and went. And / must get
well, there is so much to be done be-
fore winter sets in.' She opened
her eyes-brown eyes they we're
and I thought of Alice Cary's lines:
"Her sick soul aweary with waiting
Came up to look out of her eyes"
Jenny, the dairymaid, came in for
some directions and l went up stairs
with that look haunting me. A few
DAYS later she was feverish and de-
cidedly worse.
II wish you'd 60 in and see her, if
you wouldn't mind" her husband
said, as l inquired for her as usual
after supper. Then, instead of put
ting on his broad-brimmed hat and
following his brother to the barns, he
took it off again and fingered the rim
slowly. / waited, for | knew he
wanted to say something. Farmer
folks are generally very silent. ST.
lence is the rule, conversation the
exception. And when they do speak
they have something to say. So I
waited, and he said, after clearing
his throat and looking out of the
open door:
''If she would just cry or sleep.
She has not shed a tear since the
baby died. | thought she bore up
real well, but a woman who came
over to help lay it out said she hoped
she'd have crying spell soon.' l
didn't think so much about it then,
but | reckon 'twould have been
better"
HAS she no mother or sister to
come and stay with herr" [ asked.
He shook his head.
Her mother died soon after we
were married, and she was an only
child. / have sister, but she has
little children and could not come
even if Minnie wanted her. Our
farmhouse is unusually far away
from any neighbors, and those near
est have never been such as she was
used to, or cared to see much. |
never realized until lately how lone
some she's been"
thought of the years spent in this
isolated life. The leaving all girl
hoods associations and friends in
the distant New England State, and
coming to this new strange life; of
the babies who had come like CLEANS
of sunshine, and then were snatched
away, to leave the lonesome monot-
ony almost uncomfortable of the set
tling down to hard, unceasing work
that filled the empty hands but not
the aching heart of the last baby,
who had come like whole flood of
sunshine to the lonely house and
mother heart, and the three months
in which she held her darling close
so close! and then-oh, how could
it be the bright, beautiful boy must
be laid with the others, in the grassy
slope. l thought of all this as l left
the dining room and crossed the hall
to her door, The warm sunset came
in through the western window. She
was lying with her face toward it,,
the far-away hungry look in her eyes.
"Mrs, c." l said, as | took her
thin, feverish hand in mine, "is there
no one who could come and stay with
you; whom you would love to have
near you and care for you?"
"No one," she said wearily.
"How you must wish for your
mother now," l went on.
"Mother," she repeated, catching
at the word. Mother? Yes. 1t is
mother / want now. How | do want
her | need mother now"
1t was woman of thirty-five ly-
ing before me, yet it did not sound
childish. 1t came to her like a fresh
thought; as of something so impos-
sible it had not occurred to her. If
I could only bring tears to her eyes,
| thought, as | remembered her hus-
bands words, "If she would only
cry or sleep" A silent prayer went
up from my heart to the pitying
Father in heaven, and like an in
spiration came those beautiful verses
of Elizabeth Akers Allen.
''Do you care for poetry?' | asked,
as she started to turn the subject.
II used to-" she answered.
"Now if you'll close your eyes and
try to sleep, l want to repeat some
to you, / know you'll like. She
smiled sadly, shut them and reste6
her cheek on her other hand like g
tired girl. And l began:
Backward turn backward. o Time in your fight,
Make child again just for to night;
Mother, come back from the echnless shore,
Take me again to your heart as Of yore,
Kiss from my forehead the burrows ofcare
Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair,
Over nv sumber your loving watch keep.
Rock me to sleep. mother, rock me to sleep.
How still she was. 1t seemed a.