Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-09-08

"Oh, yes" she answered, "you
could come home easy enough"
The man WINGED, and his sallow face
Redeemed.
ST don't s'pose Pm a master hand
at gettin' livin', but tell We, NAL
why, fate is egin me. just as got
job across the river that felon come on
my finger, and when had a chance on
the bridge, out of twenty men, was
the only one the derrick hit when it
fell. You didn't ought to be castin' it
up agin me that he'd to come home;
it's fate"
"Call it by what nameyou like" she
answered bitterly, otis made an old
woman of me before my time"
He made no reply, but went out on
the doorstone, where the little girl
joined him, and presently his wife
heard him say:
"Daddy's goin' away. Is Capitola
sorry?"
"Real sorryl" said thechild; adding,
"What'll you bring me, daddy?"
Chow sh'd We like string of
beads ?" he asked, after some deliber-
alton.
"Blue beads?" cried the child, then
with the unconscious selfshness of
childhood.-"willy you go right Off"
Apparently he was hurt, for his voice
quavered as he asked, (Which would
ye rather hev-daddy or the beads p"
ooh, you'll" cried the child, throwing
her arms round his neck and pressing
her little face to his. So the hurt was
healed, and they chartered quietly to-
gether till supper time, at which meal
there appeared five black-eyed boys,
the pattern of their mother. People
said the banks blood had taken q turn
in the boys for they were as keen,
tough-limbed, energetic boys as could
be found in the county.
The following Monday Mr.. banks
started for Cooperville. AS he took
up his limp carpet bag, he said, by
way of feeble joke, CANT We sorry to
see me goin', Malviny?"
She looked at him a moment, then
said, coldly, "You'Il be back soon
enough"
He Strengthened himself and said,
with an air of decision quite unlike
himself, "You'll not see me again un-
til my work is Finished and so de-
parted, followed only by Capitola,
who went to the road with him, and
called after him not to forget the
beads.
Mrs. banks from her washtub
watched him going slowly up the
muddy road, and as she looked her
heart relented g. trihe toward him
the weak, kind-hearted, exasperating
little man. Hastily taking her hands
from the suds, she took q bottle from
the kitchen shelf and went to the
door.
"Johnny!" she called to the tangle
of boys before the door, 'fyour pas
forgot his liniment. Run after him
with it, for he'll be sure to get g. lame
back"
With a parting thrust toward his
brothers, the boy snatched the bottle
and sped away like q young athlete,
chin up and elbows back, as he had
seen pictures of runners.
When he overlook hisfather and de-
ivered his message, the latter seemed
really touched. Though Indifferent,
apparently, whether his house fell to
pieces or not, he was homesick outside
his own gate, and now was going away
sore-hearted at the evident willingness
of his family to part with him. The
attention quite overcame
him, and he looked round for some
thing to return in acknowledging
but the fields were bare.
Suddenly ne spied by the roadside
some pussy willows with their silvery,
fuzzy buds, and cutting off q branch
gave it to the boy saying, "Give that
to your ma, and tell her she's the best
woman in Meigs County,"
"Law!" said Mrs. banks, when the
boy burst in with his branch and mes
sage, "Tour pas getting silly in his old
age. [ don't want such truck In the
house." But after the boy had gone
she put it carefully in water and set it
on the kitchen shelf, and several times
she looked up at it with look on her
face which Mr.. Danks would scarcely
have recognized.
That gentleman 8 absence made very
little difference with his family, except
to Capitola. His wife scolded little
less, and the boys, who looked upon
him very much as another boy-only
one who liked to sit in the same place
too long-pursued their works and
sports as usual.
But the Thursday after his leave,
their outdoor fun was cut short by g.
persistent rain. How it did pour!
Hour after hour, all day and night.
Friday morning dawned upon sweep
ing mists of gray, and an angry, boil
ing food that crept, inch by inch up
its yellow banks, and night closed in
on the same picture. Saturday
morning the sun shown out bright and
clear, but on what scene of destruc-
ton. What had been a river was a
rushing sea, which had blotted out
field after field, and stopped just at
their own gate, and which carried on
it's heaving surface trees torn up bodi-
ly, great timbers, buildings and cattle.
Toward night a large barn came float
ing down, and lodging just above the
house, made a breakwater, round
which the waters whirled, bringing into
the harbor thus formed all manner of
wreckage. The boys watched eagerly,
cY>oo111 fipu of tho 0f firaunnd