The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1883-03-02
THE ODD SENTENCE

II shall co." he said, with frown.
lit will pass an hour away"
"Very WE'LL" answered the young
wife. s'Good-bye, Maurice
And then she went on patiently with
her sewing; and if she did give very
small sigh, Maurice did not hear it, for
it was lost in the noise which he made
with the door, and Carrie did not know
whether he had answered her goodbye
or not.
And then she was alone.
She looked very neat and pretty-she
generally did; but her face was rather
sad now.
The room in which she sat, though
small, was in the very incest of order,
the hearth clean-swept, and the fire
burning brightly. But of what use was
it alp Carrie felt inclined to ask her.
self. She had hoped, and tried, and
waited; but Maurice was just as cold
and unkind as ever.
She had married him--such short,
and yet such long time ago, it seemed
because he had asked her and because
she had loved him; and it had never oc-
Cured to her until lately that possibly
he might not have loved her, even though
he had asked her to marry him.
"But now bnoW that he did not"
she murmured, sorrowfully, to herself.
'.Just one woodland one look told me-"
And letting her work fall on her lap,
she sat in silence, thinking deeply.
But presently little cry sounded-a
tiny, helpless wall, and Carrie started
up, and a happy, anxious color flushed
into her face in moment.
She hurried up stairs.
'My baby!'' she uttered, softly. "At
least have my baby boy! And I will
hope on for all besides"
Disregarding conscience-stings, Maui
rice went on his way.
He chose to think that he was poor;
and he was inwardly, at every step he
took, bewailing his hard lot, and his dull
and cramped and narrow and-as he
considered it-even narrowing existence.
And where was he goingP
To spend the evening with some old
friends. who were--or he would have
said so-far better off than himself.
He had not yet learned that IA mans
life CONSISTENT not in the abundance of
the things which he possesseth. And
he lost the enjoyment he might well
have taken in what he had in the folly
Of forever regretting all that he had not
A few minutes later he had taken his
accustomed place in large and pleas
ant family sitting-room, and was talking
and laughing with his friends, and their
young sisters, as gayly as possible.
But while he talked, his glance wan
dered round the room, and rested again
on the mantle-shelf.
He knew the apartment well, and had
often compared it with his own tiny par
Tor at home, much to the disparage-
ment of the latter. He knew every ar
ticle of furniture and almost every orna-
ment. AT what, then, was he lookingp
AT O slate with a very pretty, orna-
mental frame, which hung in a con.
spicuous position over the mantle-shelf
On IL was written in chalk in neat,
round hand, the words:
''Made to tread those steps with sor-
row which / might have trod with de-
light"
Maurice read the sentence again and
again. He could not keep his eyes
from it,
Presently the youngest daughter of
the house - Annie by name--a lively
girl OF thirteen or fourteen, ran into the
room. She was q favorite with Maui
rice, and he with her.
"What is your opinion of our last new
ideap" was almost her first question as
she gave q little nod in the direction of
the slate. eve all think it lovelyp'
And then, scarcely waiting for any
reply. she chatted fluently on, giving a
detailed account of 'tbe odd sentence, {"
as she called it, from beginning to end.
'sAnd so,' concluded she at length,
''every day, directly the clock in the
hall has done striking twelve, any one
who plcases may write fresh sentence
on the slate. Something really sensible
and useful, of course, or papa will not
allow il to remain. have chosen some
thing for tomorrow If l can only get
the chance of writing it. Twill show 1t
to your
And she ran away, to return the next
minute with school-book of extracts,
in which she found and pointed out to
Maurice the following:
eff we examine the results of forbear-
ance, aud contrast them with the results
Of impatiencc, irritability, and intoler-
ance, the balance will be found to be all
on one side. Restraint in the expression