The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1886-10-08
NO ROOM FOR OLD MOTHER.

Il don't know, ma'am."
"Why, there are only two ways to go"
81 don't know. | was never on the cars.
I'm waiting for the train to go to John"
.John? There is no town called John.
Where is it?"
ooh, Johns my son. He's ont in Kan
sas, OH a claim
81 am going right to Kansas myself.
You intend to VISIT"
mo, ma'am."
She said it with a sigh so h~eart-burden-
ed the stranger was touched.
John sick?'
mo"
The evasiyc tone, the look of pain in the
furrowed face were noticed by the stylish
lady as the grey head bowed upon the
toii-marked hand. She wanted to near her
story-to help her.
Excuse me. John in trouble?"
"No, no; I'm in trouble. Troable my
old heart never thought to Sec"
1.-THE train docs not come for some time.
Here, rest your head on my cloak
"You are very kind. If my own were
so wouldn't be in trouble tonight"
"What is your trouble? Maybe | can
help you"
cts hard to tell it to strangers, but my
old heart is too full to keep it back. When
| was left a widow with three children, |
thought it more than | could bear; but it
wasn't bad as this
The stranger waited till she recovered
her voice to go on.
81 had only the cottage and my willing
hands. l toiled early and late all the
years till John could help me. Then we
kept the girls at school, John and me.
They were married not long 90. Mar
ried rich, as the world goes. John sold
the cottage, sent me to the city to live
with them, and he went West to begin for
himself. He said We had provided for the
girls, and they would provide for me now
Her voice choked with emotion. The
stranger waited iii silence.
Il went to them in the city. | went to
Nary's first. She lived in a great house
with servants to wait on hcr--a house
many times larger than the little cottage;
but ! soon found there wasn't room enough
for me-
The tears stood in the lines on her
checks. The ticket agent came out softly,
stirred the fire, and went back. After a
pause she continued:
Il went to Martha's- went with a pain
in my heart | never felt before. | was will
ling to do anything SO as not TO be a bur
den. But that wasn't it.. | found they
we've ashamed of my bent old body and
withered face-ashamed of my rough,
wrinkled hands, made SO toiling for them
-
The tears came thick and fast now. The
strangers hand rested carcssingly on the
gray head.
AT last they told me | must live at a
clearinghouse, and they'd keep me there.
l couldn't say anything back; my heart
was too full Of pain. wrote to John
what they were going to do. He wrotc
right back. a long. kind letter, for me to
come right to him. always had a home
while he had a roof, he said. To come
right there and stay as long as | lived;
thai his mother should never 60 out to
strangers. So Pm going to John. Hes
got only his rough hands and his great,
warm heart, but there's room for his old
mother, God bless him"
The stranger brushed a tear from her fair
| check, and waited the conclusion.
t'Somo day when | am gone where I'll
never trouble them again, Mary and Martha
will think Of it all. Some day when the
hands that toiled for them arc folded and
still; when the eyes that watched over
them through many a weary night are
| closed forever; when the little. old body,
bent with the burdens it bore for them, is
put away where it can never shame
them"
The agent drew his liand quickly before
his eyes and went ont as If to look fer the
train. The strangers jeweled fingers
stroked the gray locks, while the tears of
sympathy fell together. The weary heart
was unburdened. Soothed by a touch of
sympathy, the troubled soul yielded TO the
longing for rest, and she fell asleep. The
agent went noiselcssly about his dnties
that he might not wake her. As the fair
stranger watched, she saw a smile on the
care-worn face. The lips moved. She
bent down To hear.
'I'm doing it for Mary and Martha.
THEY'LL take care of me sometime"
She was dreaming of the days in the
little cottage, of the fond hopes that inspir-
ed her long before she learned. with a
broken heart, that some day she would
turn, homeless in the world. to go to John.
LIZ b. Cake, inthe Current.
The Commissioner of Agriculture has
drawn up and sent to the Governors Of all
the States and Territories a series Of rules
for cooperation between the United States
Department of Agriculture and the author
tiles Of the several States and Territories
for the suppression and extirpatien of con
tagious pleuro-pneumonia, sand. If they
receive the consent of the State authori-
ties, the bureau will make a systematic