The Somerset reporter., 1885-09-16
SELECTED.
WHAT A TELEGRAM DID.

Il don't never waste words" said ole
Mr.. Brown, IN hard, driving voice IAN,
| hain't good at lctter-writin', but | reck
on this'n will cut ~
Its a pity you writ it SO hard, father,
said his young daughter, tremblingly
eth hurt her to the heart; she didn'
never mean to borry that three hundred
dollars, and then cheat you out o it"
She didn't, eli? Then why hain't tn,
money back in my pocket, safe ant
sound? It's year last Christmas since
she pestcred me bout it, and | hain't seer
hide nor hair ont yet; if that hain't &
clear case o cheatin', Fanny, I'd like to
know what ye call it,
The girl stopped churning moment
and wiped n surreptitious tear from hel
eyelids before she answered:
Call it nothing, father, but bad luck
when Sister Mary borryed that money to
lift the mortgage, she expected to pay II
back; but you know As how Brother
John he was took with the rheumatics,
and the overflow came, and the crop was
ruint, then she couldn't yap; that's all,
and God knows its enough
" 'Twasn.t my fault" snapped her IA
Their, ticrcely, rs he pounded on the kitcl-
en- table to give vent to his anger. Il
never put it i'll the agreement to low for
overfows, and rheumatcs, and SIGH like,
and never would ha' lent her three
hundred dollars if it hadn't been for your
snutlin' and pcsterin' And now We hear
it, gal, not anuther dime O my earnin's
shall they ever smell, and I'll never for
give"
The girl sprang up from the churn,
crying. No, father, don't say it-dont
don't say it, father; you'll be sorry some
day when its too late; besides, you're Il
church member, you know"
You're right bout that said Mr.
Brown, perversely; I'm church mem
Der, and don't owe nary person red
cent, and the Bible says, An eye for an
eye, and tooth for a tooth and I'm go
in to have it"
He pounded the table again with his
fist, after fashion he had of wanting to
pound something or somebody when he
felt particularly aggressive. But the
sound of his voice had scarcely died away
when there came n knock at the door,
and Que of those ominous yellow enve-
lopes, marked with the impress of the
Western Union Telegraph Company, was
handed iu. Mr.. Brown took it, and look
cd it over in Il helpless kind of fashion
before breaking the seal. How much to
pay he asked the boy; and passed over
to him the change with trembling hand ;
though it was characteristic of the man
that even then, with the knowledge that
the telegram must contain terrible news,
he was careful tn count the dimes as they
dropped back into his pocket
O those cruel kilograms! Do the COM
pany ever remorsefully count the break
ing hearts that are left in the wake of
their messengers? Mr.. Brown was hard
man, and loved his money bags over-wcll,
but somewhere beneath the rough out
ward crusts there was an abiding affection
for his children that needed something,
like the stirring of the soil around violet
beds, to loosen the selfish bonds. and give
his love Il human voice. And when he
read these words, MARY died this even
ing; come at once" IL great, sudden an
euish filed his breast, and silently hand
ing the dispatch to Fanny he walked from
the kitchen, and shut himself up in his
own room, where years before death had
made sundrv visits. He did not cry out
or fall, or make any sign that he was
grief-stricken, but he was hurt to the
soul, and great rcmorsc made him sick
and faint. He had never put it in the
agreement ABOUT SlckntSSi oNcTHONS, uiio
ruined crops. as he had Just said; neither
had he put in it" that Mary, in hci
Young, blooming matronhood days should
dic-his first-born How could he bear ii
and it was all the harder because of the
cruel words he had uttered while She lay
Law dead at home.
Did he say he would never forgive hel
did he realistically say thatt Fam,
had tried to stop him, and brought it to
his mind that he was church member
and Christian. As If father ought tc
be NEARLY Christian to his own child
Why hadn't he given her the money
Might have done so five times over ant
never missed 1t, And the old man groan
ed remorsefully as with these thoughts il
his heart his gaze wandered over the grea
fields where the cotton would soon be