The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1883-10-11
A TELEGRAM.

u dldn t. say n great many |
words" said John Macklefresh, in a |
slow, grinding sort of way, 8 but guess
it'll-cUt."
"Iwish ye 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 believe that |
Samuel meant to cheat We out O. that /
two hundred dollars"
What did he mean, then?" snapped |
her husband, fiercely, his square, logged |
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:
g Didn't mean nothin', husband - she
answered, softly. ''We're all feller-
notifies. Some of us is human some
times. Thought he'd pay We, / expect,
when he bOrryed it. Then he couldn't,
that's all. "
. dunno anything about 'couldn'ts;'
know about didn't" said John
Macklefresh, doggedly, still combing
that perverse chin into the air. This
know, he's got the two hundred, and
hain't, and i II never"
Don't, John, dearP' interposed his
meek little wife.
''Well, bein' a deacon and "a
Christian, p" suggested his wife, see
ing he skipped that hard word.
Il s'pOse | 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. / wonder if the telegraph bows
ever get used to it.
Don't be bothering, Alice" said her
husband, pushing her aside, not I'M
gently, though his words were rough as
usual.
This is what he read when he had
torn thin outlet at the end of the en-
velope:
Your brother Samuel died this
morning. Come at once"
The Western Union Telegraph Com
pany has good deal TO answer for
but then so have a great many other
people. John Macklefresh did not
swoon away on the doorstep, or throw
up his hands with piercing cry, or any
of those things. He mechanically took
out q quarter from his loose change
pocket, careful even in this moment to
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 momcnt ago, he would never-no,
no, not that-he didn't say that-Alice
stopped him, you know. Besides, he
was deacon and a-Christian!-Alice
had said so.
But then he couldn't forget. That was
l. L.. 4
door opened. The Bible doesn't ask
that. Or, does it, when it speaks about
God casting oar sins into the depths of
the sea-behind His back-remember-
ing them no more against us. Forget?
What was there to forget? He had lent
his own brother $500. Might have
given it to him and never missed it.
Under his remorseful eye his great
fields stretched away, white now with
snow-white as the soul God had for
given, but yellow enough he knew as sum-
mer came on, yellow as the gold they
would bring to his pocket. Those few
poor, pitiful hill-s.des of Samuel s!
Why hadn't he given it to him right out
and saved hard feelings? There was
Johnny (named for him) wanting to
go to college ever since he was out of
petticoats. 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 wife who sat hold
ing the dreadful envelope, sad, but
doubling if she would be wise to speak
yet to him.
"'Get your things on, will We" he
said, in a voice that sounded dry and
harsh even to himself. IN be round
with old Billy to the front door. Wrap
up warm and take a soap-stone. I'll
have the butfaloes. 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 loosed, and he told in broken
and jerky sentences into her sympathet-
ic ear what little of the chaotic grief
and remorse he was able to put into
words
MY brother, after all. Used to play
together when we was little. Hum,
hum"
A man grows very tender when he
goes back to the days when he was
little"
Bought me pair O skates once,
when / wanted some. Older than me
Samuel was always a making me kites
and whistles and all sech rattle-traps
Never could seem to get along. Big
family? Yes. / ought to ha' helped
him. Amt man Twin could scratch
anything but moss of them rocks he
calls a farm. I'll help the boys-see'f
I don't"
1t was a long, cold ride. Mrs
Macklefresh wrapped the bufialoes
higher and higher, till at last she was
quite extinguished in their folds, and
J.. her husband thought on drearily alone
Almost there. The house is in sight
A long, low, implanted affair. The old