The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1883-10-18
He MADE IT CUT.
BY ANNA F. BURNHAM.

it'll-cut.
Il wish We hadn't writ so hard.
john" said his wife, piteously. "'Twas
all the worse for bein' so short. Your
brothers and / don't never mean to be-
lieve that Samuel meant to cheat We out
O. that $500"
"What did he mean thenY snapped
her husband fiercely, his square dogged
chin in the air as he combed his whisk-
ers upward, favorite action of his
when he felt particularly pugnacious.
Mrs. Macklefresh turned one of the
long stockings she was darning from
heel to toe and back again before she
answered:
didn't mean nothin' husband" she
said softly. ''We're all feller-mottles.
Some of us is human sometimes. He
thought he'd pay ye, expect, when he
borrowed it. Then he couldn't, that's
ALL"
II dunno anything about 'couldn' 'ts;'
l know about didn't" said John
Macklefresh doggedly, still combing
that perverse chin into the air. This
l know, he's got the two hundred, and
| hain't, and I'll never"
Don't, John, dearr' interposed his
meek little wife.
''Well, bein' deacon and "a"
Christian" suggested his wife, see-
ing he skipped that hard word.
II s'pose l can't say won't forgive
him. But they amt no commands be-
tween the leds of that air book about"
twenty-five cents to pay" said a
small, business-like voice at the door.
Mrs. Macklefresh turned the rough,
brown envelope over fearfully in her
hands, trembling as people do at tele-
grams. l wonder if the telegraph boys
ever get used to it.
Don't be bothering, Alice" said her
husband, pushing her aside, not un-
gently, though his words were rough as
usual.
This is what he read when he had
torn n thin outlet at The end of the en-
yelOpe:
Your brother Samuel died this morn
inc. Come 1T once.
The Western Union Telegraph Com
pany has good deal to answer for
but then so have q great many other
people. John Macklefresh did not
swoon away on the doorstep, or throw
up his hands with piercing cry. or any
of these things. He mechanically took
out quarter from his loose change
pocket, careful even in this moment to
count the pennies given in change, shut
the door. handed the dispatch to his
wife, and walked away to the window.
1t was only his heart tainted. This,
then, had come to the man he had said,
but a moment ago, he would never-no,
no, not that; he didn't say that-Alice
stopped him, you know. Besides, he
was a deacon and a-Christian. Alice
had said so.
But then he couldn't forget That
was what he was going to say when the
door opened. The Bible don't ask that.
Or, does it. when it speaks about God
casting our sins into the depths of the
sea-behind his back = remembering
them no more against us. Forget?
What was there to forget? He had lent
MS own brother 5000. Might have
given it TO him and never missed it.
Under his remorseless eye his great
fields stretched away, white now with
snow-white as the soul God had for
given, but yellow enough he knew as
summer came on, yellow as the gold
they would bring to his pocket. These
few poor, pitiful hillsides of Samuel's!
Why hadn't be given it to him right out
and saved hacd feelingsP There was
Johnny (named To- him) wanting to go
to college ever since he was out of pet
ticoats. Suppose he had given it to
him.
Misery-misery of remembering un-
kindness. when it is too late! And then
that cutting letter! Had it reached him
before he died, or was it only his poor
stricken brothers. family that would
read the brief, harsh words?
He turned to his vile, who Sat hold
doubling if she would be wise to speak
to him yet
Get your things on, will ye," he said,
in q voice that sounded dry and harsh
even to himself. "Pll be round with
Old Billy to the front door. Wrap up
warm and take soapstone. I'll have
the buffaloes. It's mortal cold"
She was ready and waiting when he
brought Billy around. The house could
take care of itself. She locked it.
They had some sixty miles to ride.
In the course OF it his tongue became
somewhat loosened, and he told in
broken and jerky sentences into her
sympathetic ear what little of the cha
otic grief and remorse he was able to
put into words.
'.My brother, after all. Used to play
together when we were little. Hum,
hum"
A man grows very tender when he
goes back to the days when he was
s.little."
Bought me pair O. skates once.
when l wanted some Older than me
Samuel was always a-making me
kites and whistles and all sich rattle
traps Never could seem to get along.
Big family? Yes. ought to have help
ed him. Amt man livin' could
scratch anything but moss off them
rocks he calls farm. I'll help the boys
-see'f don't"
1t was long, cold ride. Mrs. Mackle-
fresh wrapped the buffaloes higher and
higher till at last she was quite extin-
guished in their folds and her husband
thought on drearily alone.
Almost there. The house is in sight.
A long. low, unpainted affair. The old
est inhabitant could not have remem-
bered when its owner had had money
enough to paint it. Here at last.
"Who-o-a, Billy! You remember the
old hitching-post, though it is so long
since you've stopped az it. There has
not been pach visiting lately. Remem-
Der no" b-other used to rush out in his
old blue coat, Alice. and"
why. John! Why, Johnt"
MrS eElafrach ,-oco ~, /o,,t bo-
enveloping furs like startled Esqr.i.
maux. She pinched her husbands arm
Lysterically, and he in his turn rubbed
his eyes half out at the sight of the ap-
partition that confronted him.
Come in! come in!n it cried cor
daily. ''You must be half frozen, both
of YOU"
"How do you cone here?" said John
Macklefresh, fearfully, not stirring q
step in answer to this invitation.
How do you come, should say"
returned brother Samuel, for it was he,