The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1884-03-18
AT THE DELIVERY WINDOW.
The People Who Wait for the Let
,e,s That Never viii Come.

The People VINO Nai ioF INC hc'
tiers That Never viii Come.
"Perhaps you don't know it, but, tn
place to see tragedies OF real LIE like
panorama is right in here, " said post
office habitue before the general post
Office building on Park row.
How could one see tragedies in thu
postofllceP"
I'm show you," he said. Come il
here"
Damp stone corridors, very dirty
and chilly; jostling people, rude and
anxious; great dingy glass partition:
with square little hole in the bottom,
behind which were seen at intervals
the clerks faces. Nothing very tragic
about this"
"No? Wait bit. These are the
foreign delivery windows; people come
here to get foreign letters. They are
coming all thefime. 1t is an-unending
procession of tired feet. Watch'em."
We did There was woman lead
ing a little girl. She was watching her
turn to ask at the window. She was
dressed in rusty black. She had pref
ty, sad face with a few premature
wrinkles on it. She looked modest,
nervous, anxious. Presently she got
chance and went up and put her head
down to the little hole.
Anything for Mrs. John--?"
That's all we could hear.
Nothing" said the voice of the
o1a,.l- oftor n ~, c,,,apt'C Io1ou
The woman stepped back as if the
clerk voice had hurt her. She looked
down moment and then feeling her.
self jostled by some other anxious APP
plicant shrunk all together and went
away-like ghost.
'Do you see anything at thatP" ask
ed my companion.
Not much"
"Well, she has been coming for q
month, the day after every steamer.
She expects letter from her husband,
and she will never get it.
"WhyP'
Because when he went away he
never intended to write. He went away
with another woman. The wife hasn't
discovered the deception yet. You see,
he left her with kiss, promised to
write by the first steamer, and she has
been counting the hours ever since. |
call this tragedy. Whenever a heart
is torn to pieces slowly by villainy there
is tragedy.
''The clerk at that window gets to
know some of the sad white faces that
come regularly. There is an old wo-
man who sometimes-Ah! there she is
now, standing over there waiting for
her chance. Look at her."
We both stared at her in silence a
moment. She must have been 80. But
she was still hearty save for the traces
of sorrow and toll on her brown old
face. There was watery expression
to her eyes as if she was used to crying.
She was poorly clad. A faded shawl
was wrapped about her shoulders, and
on one Of the fingers of her bronzed
hand shone an old wedding-ring, worn
very thin.
''She comes once a week and asks
for letter from Frank" said my COM
panion, "but she never gets it.
"Who's Frankp"
swell, who can he be? Frank her
boy. All you've got to do is to look at
her to know the whole story. It's the
Oldest one on record. She bore him;
she nursed him; she wept and prayed
over him; she poured into him all the
affection of which mother is capable.
She worked till her fingers bled for
him. Don't you see all that? The first
thing he did when he was able to get
out into the world was to get into dis
grace. Then the whole world turned
against him. That is the whole with
one exception. This poor old woman
stood by him. She was getting along
in life, but she doubled her work; she
toiled night and day; she boarded her
pennies she denied herself the neces-
saries of life, but she got money enough
to set him at liberty and let him COM
mence over again. He ought to have
been the comfort and prop of her old
age. He wasn't. But she never up
braided him. All she hunpered for
was his love. All she asked of him
was to do right. But he never would
do right. Finally he went away, TAX
ing her last dollar. He had to 90. He
fed, in fact. But he told her he was
going to reform in a new land, and be a
man and come back some day and take
care of her. And she saw him off,
hung on his neck, could not tear her
Old arms away, you know, because she
hadn't anybody in the world but hel
Frank
We'll, he will certainly come bach
some time?''
NO his bones are lying white in tn
, uJ'tom Of the Gulf of Mexico. That
n mnele frank is, and the old woman
comes regularly TO look for her lette
lnat VIII never come. You'll see
good deal OF the emotional side Of If
at that wicket, if you know how to in
terpret it. "--Ne,c York World, W :"
Meaning Of "Mormon."