The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1886-02-05

MEN, ARE POSSIBLE WITH GoD.
BLESSED Is THE MAN THAT wALKETH
NOT IN TIE COUNSEL OF THE UNGopIY.
WAS GLAD WHEN THEY SAID UNTO ME,
LET Us GO INTO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD.
Mrs. Browning went about all day with a
sorrowful face; and two or three times
when she came out of her little bedroom
her eyes were red. The boys were
troubled. Mother had not looked that way,
even during Eflie's sickness. The fact is
that then she had not taken time to cry;
she had just hung over Efiie, and planned
and worked for her comfort day and night.
Eflic was quite well again, and was fitting
through the house as gay as a bird; and
mother had much ado to keep back the
tears sometimes, before her. This, both
Alcck and Ben saw, and thought over for
some time, before they went out to the
wood-pile and sat down, one ON log. the
other on saw-horsc, and talked it over
Clearly something was the matter. 1t did
not seem as though it could be money this
time; for father was at work pretty stead
lily and it was astonishing how much that
printing press and the garden, and the
store work that Ben was doing, amounted
to. To be sure there was the doctors bill
for Eiles sickness; but the boys had them
selves heard the doctor say: Don't let that
| trouble you, Mr.. Browning; sometime, when
You can pay me as well as not, you may do
so; or you may pay me little at a time
and be II year about it, if you want to. .
| The boys knew their father would pay
just as fast as he could but he had look
ed grateful and thanked the doctor, and
spoken more than once OF his kindness;
that did not seem TO be thing for mother
to cry over.
The decision from the wood pile was,
that mother must be asked. the very next
chance they had alone with her.
The next evening after tea came the
chance. EiIic was playing croquct in the
next neighbours yard and Mr. Browning
sat ON the piazza, planning an addition to
the neighbours house Mrs. Browning was
mendine Alexis coat, and he, in his shirt
sleeves, leaned his elbows on the stand and
inquired, in the name OF Ben and himself
what was the matter. At first, the mother
they know that anything was the matter !?
What observing boys they must be They
mustn't watch mother so closely and find
ont her secrets. Then, twas nothing they
1 ont,I1 baI,,. xyac NJ, Ico IN .ra.,.v tIa,,
Well, since they insisted, she did not know
bat that they might as well understand;
perhaps they would all know-too soon.
Didn't they watch father too? Didn't
they notice how he was coughing again
this fall? beginning earlier than last fall ?
No, really, the boys, busy with their
mother, and seeing little of father, had not
noticed
"Well +" the mother said with a heavy
Sigh, ''such was the case, and there were
reasons why it was a more serious thing
| for him to be coughing now that it was
last winter. The doctor knew it was
serious, and had told him so; that was one
reason why the doctor had been so very
kind about the bill; he knew there were
more bills in store for them. Only a few
days ago she had coaxed and coaxed father,
until at last he had had a long talk with the
| doctor. and had been told Pierre the
mother stopped, her voice full of tears, and
her lips quivering so that for minute She
could not speak.
s'Told what - asked both boys at once,
pressing forward in their eagerness and
anxiety; sorry for their mother, but oh,
they must hear, right away, what this was
/ that father had been told; so she struggled
with her tears and began again. Told
| that his lungs were a good deal affected,
and that he could not hope to get well in
| this climate. If he could go to the South
| and stay all winter long, until the mild
| juno days come again, perhaps he might
get well: but here, with the hard winter
before him, and with the necessity of being
exposed to it, the thing was impossible.
And your father says he might as well have
been told that he must go to the moon as
to Florida for the one is no moro impossi-
bic than the other" And here Mrs. Brown
ing gave up to her tears for few
minutes Only very few, for Mr.. Brown
ing, warned by the gathering dampness,
ended his talk on his neighbours piazza,
suddenly, and came in, coughing. The
boys looked at him with wide-open, criti-
cal eyes and wondered how it had been
possible for them not to notice that he was
grow ing thin and pale.
Here, truly, was something to think and
talk about. they said little more to their
mother, except to learn that the doctor had
said that Western Florida was as good Il
place as any in the South, better on some
accounts than any other that he knew of;
and that the journey was long and eS-
pensiye one, and it would cost Il good deal
to live, and stranger could not hope to
get work. and in short it was utterly i'm
possible for father to go.
The boys had no answer to make to this,
for certainly it looked as impossible as any
thing could They had much talk together,
ont by the woodpilcor when husking corn;
they calculated all the money that they
| might hope to earn during the winter, and
wondered If somebody wouldn't advance