The Somerset reporter., 1886-03-17
Worn Out.

40, size was not strong. she had never
been very strong. Farmer Grey knew it
when he married her. Eight children
called her mother. She made all their
clothe, and did her own housework, and
yet mother WAS not strong
Farmer Gray said it often. and always
rcgrctfuly. Perhaps he was unsclti~h
enough To wish that she were stronger
for her own sake, but fear not He
was very robust, active man. and tx
cedingly anxious to get along" in the
world Therefore, | fear that his regret
for mothers feebcness was simpl, re
greet that She could not do more to aid
him in his getting along schemes
She herself regretted that she was not
stronger.
Father works so hard She would say,
Il feel that | am not As much help to him
as might he if were real stron.
woman.
What more would She have done"
What more could She have done And
most of all, what more should She have
done;
She kept the house in order She did II
loving, God-fcaring mothers duty by her
children. She was up early aud to bed
late. She was busy every hour Of the
day. She MIXED and made butter. work
ed in the garden. cooked for "handS. "
raised chickens, but never had dollrr of
her own.
She could, and did, when father was
rushed. go out into the fields and drop
corn for half a das, and then come into
her hot stulfy little kitchen and get din
ner for fourteen people, and yet-"moth-
er was not strong"
She often wondered if she would ever
be strong. She would sit down on the
kitchen doorstep some nights long after
all the others were in bed dreading the
coming of the morrow, and hoping il
wouldn't be so very hot. She was afraid
she might give out" She would lean
her aching head against the Imprinted
door frame, cross her tired hands listess-
ly in her lap, close her eyes, and won
der" about many things.
Some of her neighbors, with families
only half as large as her own kept a
strong hired girl in the kitchen the year
round.
She often wondered vaguely how it
would seem to have girl in her kitchen
she wondered how it would seem for her
to he away from home over night.
The fondest hope of her lie for ten
years had been that she might visit her
mother, who lived two hundred miles
away. She said she wouldn be afraid to
go "such long ways alone, and ia
thcr' had often said she should 90 if
such and such a thing turned out well. "
These things often turned out we'll,
but mother never made that visit, no,
never"
lone thing and another she said,
kept her at home;' and one day a ines
sage came bringing the news of her meth
er's death. She would have liked to 90
even then to see once more that beloved
face even though it was cold in death.
But father said that, seeing As she
couldn't do any good there was no use
wearing herself ont making the trip so
She stayed at home, grateful to father for
his thoughtfulness in not wanting her to
"we4r herself out"
But she was so utterly worn out one
day, so worn out in body and mind and
soul, that when she clasped her tired
hands over her breast in sleep they were
never unclaspcd again in this world
There was no response of Yes, I'm
coming" when father called her in the
gray dawn of November morning.
one Father who had truly loved her,
and who had helped her bear her heavy
burdens through all these twenty years
had called her in the night, and think
she was glad to say Yes, Father I'm
coming. IF,