The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-03-04

u,
D what the Lord provides, and other thing!
are murder; and he goes against his con
7 science in allowing relish Of dried tst
once in awhile; and the cows milk, ht
says, is a compromise, and he doesn't be
lieve in COMPROMISES" continued Pauliny
accommodating headlOng impetus with the
| rush of her thoughts. "And il l didn't
pasture her myself beside the road in sum
mer while I'm knitting my sale socks, sup
| pose we shouldn't have the cow. And al
for our knitting, it's that gets mother and
me every stitch we have to wear-oh,
oughtn't to be speaking sol" And she
| paused, her cheeks scarlet with her indig
nant thoughts and words, ashamed and
| frightened to think she had said so much
and her lover loving her better than ever
Don't you mind, Pauliny, don't you
mind. You needn't mind what you say to
me anyway, for you and l have been one
person ever since we could go alone" he
said. "And it's a long lane that has no
turning; and mean to try every traverse
and save every dollar to get ahead. so that
the time may come when we can have the
home of our own"
80, no. no, no." cried Pauliny "Pd
rather we stayed as we are forever, the
whole of our lives, than have you get to be
like father. And that's what it would end
| in. o yes, it would He wasn't always
so. When he was boy he used to fling his
| money about, and a beautiful woman, a
Quaker preacher that he met, reproved
him, and said when there was such a world
of misery and ignorance about US the fling
| ing away of money that would found
| schools and academies and make the pity
| of the world less, was work that pleased
the powers of darkness And it struck
poor father all of heap, he says he felt
| as II he'd been made over again that min
ute; and he's never wasted a cent since
| then. l wish he'd never met that woman w
| cried Pauliny, wistfully.
| 'She'S the only woman that ever touched
that old heart of his-if he's got a heart"
said JOram; and then repented him i'm
| mediately, for after all il was Pauliny' S
father, and he might be troubled by his
faults, but admit them never. ''Well, he
| sticks TO thing, anyway" he said, land
that's good quality. You come in for
some of that too, l guess, Pauliny, or
you'd never have stood so long for me,
without cent to my name!'
so, Joram! You're all want-you're
everything to mer' sobf ID Pauliny. Il
should die if l didn't have you to love.
| You're so good, SO noble, so kind, so true,
and | know my fathers daughter don't
deserve you. But L love you, l do love
| you. dear, with all my hearth
''Well," said Joram, Il don't know what
| we're waiting and hoping for. Well be old
| folks presently before we know it, and the
boys and girls Will be laughing at us for a
pair of old fools Let me see themr And
he grew red and angry at the thought.
81 suppose it's what Heavens for" said
nings here. o, Joram, just think of it, to
be together through all eternity It's worth
living all this life for, it's worth dying for!"
Pauliny had occasion to wish again that
| her father had never seen the heart-com
polling Quaker preacher, when her lover
left her at the gate. Her father was out
there in the snow Juggling away with
crowbar at the door stone. He had lost
| nickel piece that had slipped down under
the sill, and he was bound to get it again,
as he whistled between his teeth.
''Well, father" said Pauliny, there's no.
body can get it tonight, if you can't. So it
will be there tomorrow. And you won't
be wasting strength and losing sleep, if we
don't trouble about it any more now. A
nickel, anyway"
"a nickel, anyway" cried her father
You talk as if | was made of money Let
me tell you that a nickel is q coin of the
country. And there's no coin of the
country that isn't value. a nickel is the
price of a loaf of bread to the poor. The
interest of one nickel in thousand years
makes as much as five dollars, and I've no
idea of throwing five dollars away. l
should think you'd be ashamed to speak of
such thingl But there, I've no idea of
losing my sleep, either. So We'll go in,
Pauliny."
But Pauliny loitered a moment at the
door; there was something to her more
home-like than home in the depths of that
tlngling armament to which she turned her
gaze, and in its vaStneSS her fathers
thoughts and words had an infinite little
ness. whats this Smell!" she heard her
father exclaiming as she shut the door: ''Ill
be bound your mothers either been cooking
something to please that gluttonOus APP
petite of hers, or she's Just blown out
another candle. That's it!'' with some
thing like compromising exultatiOn in the
discovery at any rate. who's been in
here, Mrs. Prounce! Strange-company
always comes when I'm out and never
when I'm in Miss Purcell and the minis
ter; l don't care if they have! They, are
no better than other company that there
needs to be an illumination got up when
they come. l thought told you that when
company comes, and you're doing nothing
in particular, one candle is enough Here
you've been burning two, and you've just
blown the other one out. Don't tell me; |
know you have by the smell!''
Truly, father" said the meek, pale
wrath of a wife, whom long course of
privation and starvation and tyranny had
robbed of the little sense she had in the
beginning. I've only been burning one
candle. | cut it in two, and lighted both
pieces. That's all, really. It's only one
solitary candle. And blew the other piece
out as soon as they went Ibid, indeed.
do try to be just as economical"
"By gracious, but knew it! wonder
you've sconce enough to carry food to your
mouth"
Il haven't, sometimes" said the poor
woman, slightly turning.
well, you go to bed, now-rll shake
down this tire-Sitting here and wasting
heat as if you lived over a coal mine!
You've no need of candle any way-you
ought TO know the feeling well enough by
this time to do your knitting by firelight
The firelight's quite sufficient, and that
costs more than the knitting comes to
only knitting anyway to buy fnery and
foster wicked vanity. l ought to take
the knitting money away from you by
rights, grumbled Mr. Prounce, pottering
over the stove. IF it was only to save
your soul, that's what l ought to d."
80, Mr.. Prouncer' whimpered she, paler
yet in the dread of such a wretched antici-
patton. I'm sure Pauliny and l haven't a
ribbon or Hover to our names! All we
have is just common ten cent prints and
linen collars. And I'm sure I'm fairly
your daughterl'
Pm not. And you've no need to be
ashamed of my daughter, | guess. You be
ashamed of yourself, wasting your hus-
bands substance! You've wasted enough
in your lifetime to bring up and educate a
township. You've wasted enough in the
one item of candles alone, Mrs Prounce to
have dressed your daughter like princess"
And when Mr.. Prounce had shaken down
the fire he followed his wife, and carefully
denuding himself of the several newspapers
that, folded squarely over his chest and
shoulders, answered for the extra warmth
of an overcOat, he was soon lost in a pleas
ant dream of looking for his nickel and
finding it grown to big twenty dollar gold
piece. That's the interest," chuckled Mr..
Prounce, on waking in the morning Just
what told Pauliny." He pulled up the
curtain and looked out, perhaps to see if
the door stone were still there. Il guess
Wen have some haSty pudding for break
fast; Eve got some hard work ahead of me
and SOS PaulinYn be said and he 1xent ont