The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1885-06-18

but / will go away for while. If /
might hear from him first could go
more conteptedly; If could hear that
he was dead would be glad; better
that than living and unfaithful." And
then Todd wiped away the mist that
was gathering before her eyes, and
took from q bureau drawer an old
rays Third Part Arithmetic" note
scrawled in crude. school-boyish
hand, and worn necktie. Each of
these articles had its history. She
loved to look at them while her mind
reverted sadly and lovingly to the mi
nutest details of that history. The
neclStie she had fashioned with her own
hands and presented to Oliver one
beautiful, snow-wrapped Christmas
morning. He had said many sweet
words to her when he received it, and
when he had lost it before her door she
had kept it as memento and re-
minder-as If love needed a reminder !
The note had been written by him, of
course, but the arithmetic was dearest
OF all. 1t spoke to her like voice
from the grave of the dead past. Five
years after Oliver had started to Cali
for'nia to seek for the wealth which he
was never to find, Todd had visited the
school one Friday afternoon to hear
the children recite those wonderful
rhymes that never grow old, because
the babes that repeat them are never
old, to listen to essays" full of
apocryphal devotion to the school
and the teacher, and to hear school
officers tickle the boys ears with
stories of the great and glorious
future in store for them. These master
pieces of skill and energy had nearly
lul!ed the gentle maiden to sleep.
when q certain committeeman, more
vehement than the rest, emphasized his
remarks by bringing his fist down on
the desk with a vigorous whack that
startled her into wild wakefulness, so
that she flung out her hands to catch at
something and the something happened
to be an old arithmetic with leaves
loose and soiled, back torn and covers
missing, which lay in dust-grimed
corner of the window. Confused at
having made herself conspicuous, she
turned the loose leaves aimlessly.
scarcely glancing at them, until she
CHANGED to see divers name. What a
start it gave her! 1t was almost like
meeting him Unexpectedly. She turned
the leaves more carefully then, looking
for the familiar doggerels that must be
there if the book had indeed belonged
to him; for, had she not studied with
him, and was not his book penciled
through with couplets that rung all
sorts of changes on her name and his
Yes, they were all there, all that had
not shared the fate of the covers. She
tucked the book carefully under her
shawl, with quick glance about her to
make sure that no one was looking,
feeling little guilty, but determined
to possess the treasure so thumbed by
his thumbs. And here it was and here
she was five years after, very much in
clined to shed tears over it as she read :
TO T. A.:
I've wandered over the sands
OF many "A distant sea,
And ever in my wanderngs
I've only thought OF thee
He had never wandered" more than
five miles from home at the time when
that production, of very doubtful pa
ternity, was written, but these were the
lines that Todd always read last before
shutting the worn leaves against each
other. and tonight she must light
little the darkness in her patient soul
bv reading them once again then she
wiped her eyes carefully, returned to
her guests, and made known to them
her intention of "goin' journeyin'."
Todd easily consented to the prear-
rangements of Mary and Mike, and re-
scented with all the strength of her
gentle nature hint by meddlesome
neighbor that she ought to have rent
for the use of her house and belongings
during her absence. So far the lovers
found clear sailing. The cloud that
rose on their horizon was no bigger
than womans hand, but it was large
enough to obscure their happiness in
murk of dismay. Todd insisted on
such an unlooked-for and uncalled-for
amount of preparation that Mary
said it was like piling a dozen
blankets on ones bed in July,
when one had slept comfortably under
only two all winter; and furthermore,
she insisted in doing every stitch of the
sewing with her own hands, and with
as much solemnity as if she was prepar-
ing her burial clothes. There was no
such modern invention as sewing ma
chine in the house, and the work pro-
crossed very slowly, with an occasional
hitch when Todd was not we'll, or to-
tai halt when she was quite i'll. She
never sent for physician at such times,
and if any one inquired what particular
ailment had got the mastery over her
she always replied that shed been
havin' a turn with her liver" though it
is feared that she had but faint notion
about the locality of that much-doctored
organ.
Finally the arrangements we're all
completed, or many thought they were,
when Todd became suddenly aware
that it was too late in the. year to un-
dertake a journey. and when spring
came the dresses that had been made a
year were pronounced too old-fasbioned
and new ones had to be purchased and
made. In truth, Todd was secretly
both hoping and dreading to hear from
the lost lover before going away. A
faint rumor did reach her at last it
said that he had been dead several
years. She bore it quite calmly. Ii
was easier to know him dead than to
believe him unfaithful. Her old unrest
gave place to a settled sadness-and