The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-12-23

mother whom he loved so dearly.
Everything about the house betokened
comfort, to say the least, and much
daintiness. 1t was quite delightful
place, and only the initiated would ever
have suspected the makeshifts with
which Mrs. Rolfe and Katie were so
familiar. 1t was the general opinion
that they were well-dressed = quite
charmingly so, in fact-but only gen.
ius could have turned out such hats
and dresses, such jackets and trousers
as did Mrs. Rolfe, with, as Katie some
times impatiently said, nothing but
everlastingly made-over things" Turn
ing, twisting and dyeing made them, in
the eyes of outsiders, quite new. But
Christmas was coming, and Mrs. Rolfe
had such desire to buy this, that and
the other thing-things that she knew
she could not afford, for it was about
all she could do, as is often said, " to
make both ends meet" First of all, her
children must attend school. An edu-
cation, in her code, stood next in order
after pure and holy life, though she
knew she did not live up to her belief,
for she looked upon her own murmur-
ings as a sin when she became her bet
bCl SClI. l. lulu WCIC oO many OCuuui-
full things for sale, and she had cous-
ms, uncles and aunts whom she wished
to remember with presents. So many
times she had given them little pieces
of her own skillful work when she did
wish so much to buy handsome things;
and there were Fred and Katie-why,
there was no end to the pleasures she
would shower upon them. And now
she, because of her inability to do
as she would, had positively clouded
their young lives by fretting over the
inevitable, feeling for the hour as if
nothing else could be so hard as desir-
ing to make elegant and valuable
Christmas presents when wholly I'M
able to; and she would not have been
selfish and remembered only her own
relatives and friends, for she never for
got for many hours at time that the
poor we have always with you.''
"There are lonely hearts to CHERISH"
thought Mrs. Rolfe, and who on Christ
mas can be lonelier than poor Ellen
Kelly, whose story she knew, and the
families where lived the little chill
dren whose singing had disturbed her
gloomy meditations and brought her
out of herself into a healthier atmos-
phere. She would that very night call
on the mothers and prove to them that
they had at least one new friend.
The evenings disclosures, though pa
thetic in the extreme, were to her a
source of good, for sometimes, notwith-
standing you feel much pity for the I'M
fortunate, your own blessings shine out
the brighter by the contrast. Mrs. Rolfe
could but feel sorrowful for them when
she found that the husband of one went
"down to sea Or, as the little girl
said, to heaven only few months
previous. They did not positively know
it, but nothing had been heard from
him since the day on which he, as per.
fectly at home as sailor can be, was
capsized. The others were picked up
and brought ashore after floating fol-
hours, and this seemed to be the only
reasonable conclusion to which they
could come. His poor wife could nc
longer bear the roar of the ocean, and
with her little children, came to the
town where Mrs. ROlfe lived and cas-
her lot in with her sister who, poor soul
was almost worse than widowed. Hel
husband had been good boy, of re
spectacle parents; then an honest younG
man, whose father and mother felt PROUD
of him-proud of his scholarship, proud
of his genius, for he possessed remark
ably fine mechanical talents-but wher
very sick, "near DEATH" they said, the
family physician prescribed whiskey
and in three years time it got such hole
upon him that for months, though h,
knew he was going straight to destruc
ton, he had not made the slightest at
tempt to conquer his appetite. His Who'll
moral nature seemed changed, ant
from a loving, kind-hearted man he be-
came very brute. To crafty an in
tolerable thirst seemed his only motiv
for work, for work at his trade he di,
for an occasional day, just to keep him
self in whiskey, but with, seemingly, NJ
thought for the poor wife and dear lit
tie children. 1t is hard to picture thei
misery; words will not do it. But man
there are, God pity them, who under
stand it by experience.
The day Mrs. Small and her children
arrived he was sufficiently under th
influence of liquor to appear half-idiotic
, Another glass or two would have trans
, formed him into such savage tina
, even in his own house there woul
l have been danger of murder; and Mary
his poor wife, with faculties all alert
{ lived in constant terror, yet she did nc
learn to despise him, thinking: " 1t
| not Henry, it is the drink" She cor
tinued praying and trusting that some
t how he would stop in his mad career
, yet knowing each day made it les
2 probable. His poor parents, when on
e visit to them, were nearly heart-broke
e at seeing their son in such deplorabl
/, condition, and their frenzied cry Wa
s dreadful" o that he had died whe
an innocent child" A terrible wa
| from these grief-stricken ones-oh, tn
d pity of it!
:, Mrs. Sandal, in fearful agon,
k greeted her sister and chokingly sale
n " Annie, there are more terrible grie.
d than widowhood. Charles was goo
# and true. DO not mourn so; you wi
i meet in better world" Her HUSBAND
half-stupid as he was, heard and SCENE
y to partially take in the meaning of i
n for, in dazed way, he muttereC
:, Good and true" +" better world" an
d then added: "No drunkard shall ent,
n the kingdom of heaven" A few da,
1t after Mrs. Rolfe, in her inimitable wa
d made the acquaintance of the inmate
e of the little house, and with ready Ia
showed neighborly interest in the
G and their children which proved that l