Sacramento daily record-union., 1883-10-20
,. There was time enough for what she

now. There was time enough for what she
had to do. Once or twice she passed peo-
pie she knew and spoke to them as she
might have done on any other day. She
had left the most frequented streets behind
her. The road that lay between her and
her home was solitary one. She looked
on every side. She was alone. Her eyes
rose to the purple tops of the mountains.
and then to the sky above. Was God
there looking down upon her Ii He saw
her, He. surely knew that she could bear
no more.
"Good-by," she said aloud, while her
gaze fingered on earth and sky. Then she
lifted the deadly vial to her lips and drained
it to the bottom.
81 am out of their reach now" This
was the only thought of which she was
conscious as she walked onward. AS she
came in sight of her own house her chill.
dren met her.
Mamma" said Baby Maud with a
quivering lip, 81 so hungry"
Mamma" Charley added, "we haven't
had anything to eat since morning.
ct is true, said Susy. mora locked
everything up and told us to wait for our
uOLleTs one anu Iat9er are al
now, but they sent us out.
Mamma left baby" sobbed the little
one clinging to her dress, "and Nora's
naughty"
so God Upon whom will the children
call to morrow % she thought.
A deadly stupor was stealing over her,
but she fought against it long enough to
comfort the child then, walking with un-
certain steps, she entered the house and
sank down in chair by the open window.
Nora, who sat facing the door, was the
first to perceive her.
George p she exclaimed, look at your
wife !''
He turned, caught sight of her livid
face, and going to her took her by the arm
and shook her to arouse her. "Whst is
the matter ! What have you been doing,"
he said roughly.
81 know what she has been doing"
cried Nora. "She has been taking come
thing to put herself out of the way, and it
will be laid to me :" and actuated partly
by this fear, and partly by common bu-
manity, she hurried to her side and took
her cold hands.
"What have you done ?" she said and
excitement and terror brought tears to her
eyes as she spoke.
There was no response but Nora, with
quick intuition, slipped her hand into the
pocket in which she had thrust the empty
vial
"Look !" she cried, drawing it out and
holding it up "this tells the story. She
will be dead in an hour if we don't do
something to save her."
~, A-I ,H,k Ho
come of the children afterwards? Some
such thought hoated dimly through her
mind, while Nora, with frantic haste, ap-
piled all the remedies at hand. She did
not resist the girls efforts to bring her back
to life, even though she was conscious that
her husband stood apart as though indiffer.
ent to the result.
At last death was beaten back, and she
lay in her bed, conscious, but weaker than
an infant yet even then her husband
manifested no interest in her fate. Nora,
however, was kind and Susy watched be.
side her with unwearied devotion. Before
the end of the week she was moving about
the house again, trying, for her children's
sake, to retain her feeble hold on life.
There was a change in the atmosphere of
the household, partly because Nora seemed
less disposed to make trouble, and partly
because Sheldon absented himself from
home most of the time.
IF he would only stay away always
he and Nora-we might take little com.
fort" Susy said
In her heart the mother felt the same,
and when, without any effort on her part,
the family was divided, and she gathered
her children under roof that sheltered
her and them alone, she experienced such
a sense of relief and thankfulness as she
had not known for years.
4" Bury your love for your husband it
is the best thing you can do" So friend
had said to her long ago; and now, when
love lay IN the same grave with hope and
happiness, she found peace-the peace of
the dead. The time came at last when she
could meet and pass the father of her chill
dren, not only without any sign of recogni-
ton, but without single pang. Her
daughters grew to womanhood, beautiful
as their mother had been. Her son became
her stay and support, and last of all Baby
Maud blossomed into lovely maidenhood,
and was wooed by one who had put his
hand to the work of undoing the heavy
burdens of the victims of priestly tyranny.
give ner not only 10 you Dub to YOUR
work, " the mother said "God help you
both to remember them that are in bonds
as bound with them /"
Will not the reader say "Amen?" Will
not every wife and mother pray that "this
evil plant, whose roots have wound them
selves about altar and hearthstone, and
whose branches, like those of the tree Of
Al Accoub in Moslem fable, bear every ac-
cursed fruit, may be torn up and destroyed
forever '"-[The Continent.