The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1886-10-21
A LETTER AND 4 TELEGRAM.

old Mr.. Brown, in q hard, driving
voice, land I hain't good at letter
writin' but I:reckon this'n will cut!"
ats a pity you writ it SO hard,
father" said his young daughter,
trembling; It'll hurt her to the heart;
she didn't never mean to borry that
$500, and then cheat you out O. it,"
~She didn't, eh? Then why hain't
the money back in my pocket, safe
and sounde It's a year last Christ
mas since she pestered me bout it,
and L hain't seen hide nor hair ont
yet; if that amt a clear case o. cheat
in, Fanny, I'd like to know what You
call it,"
The girl stopped churning q moment,
and wiped a sureptltions tear from
her eyelid before she answered.:
"Call it nothing, father, but bad
luck; when Sister Mary borryed that
money to lift the mortgage, she ex-
pected to pay it back, but you know
Brother John he was took with the
rheumatics, and the overflow came,
and the crop was ruined and then she
couldn't pay; that's all, and God
"'Twasn't my fault" snapped her
father, fiercely, as he pounded on
the kitchen table to give vent to
his anger. II never put it in the
agreement to low for overhows, and
~rheumatics, and such like, and I never
would ha' lent her the $500 If it hadn't
been for your sniffin' and pesterin'.
And now We hear, gal, anutherd dime O.
my earnins shall they ever smell, and
I'll forgive"
The girl sprang up from the churn,
crying, mo, father, don't say it
don't say it, father, you'll be sorry
some day when it's too late; besides
your a church member, you know!"
you're right bout that" said Mr..
Brown, perversely; I'm a church
member and don't owe nary q person
a red cent, and the Bible says, an eve
for an eye, and a tooth for a TOOTH
and I'm going to have it,"
He pounded the table again with
his fists, after a fashion he had OF
wanting to pound something or some
body when he felt particularly agrees
sive. But the sound of his voice had
scarcely died away, when there came
a knock at the door, and one OF those
ominous yellow envelopes, marked
with the impress Of the Western
Union Telegraph Company, was hand
edin.- Mr.. Brown took it, and looked
it over in a helpless kind of fashion
before breaking the seal. How much
to pay" he asked the boy, and passed
over to him the change with trembling
hand; though it vas characteristic of
the man that even then, with
the knowledge that the telegram
must contain terrible news he was
careful to count the dimes as they
dropped back into his pocket. Oh,
those cruel kilograms! Do the com
pany ever remorsefully count the
breaking hearts that are left in the
wake OF the messengers? Nh. Brown
was a hard man, andlovedh his money!
bags Over well, but somewhere beneath
the rough outward crusts there was
al abiding affection for his children
that needed something like the stirring
OF the soil around the violet beds to
loosen the selfish bonds, and give his
love a human voice. And when he
read these words, "Mary died this
evening; come at once" a great,
sudden anguish filed his breast,
and silently handing the. dispatch to
Fanny, he walked from the kitchen
and shut himself up in his own room,
where years before death mad made
'sundry visits. He did not cry out or
fall, or make any sign that hewas
ief-stricken, but he was hurt to the
soul, and a great remorse made him
sick and faint. He had never put it
in the agreement about sickness, over
flows and bad crops. as he had just
said; neither had he "put in" that
Mary, in her. young blooming matron-
hood days, should die-his first born!
How could he bear it? and it was all
the harder because Of the cruel words
he had uttered while she lay. dead at
home. Did he. say he would never
forgive her-did he really-real-
ly say that? Fanny had tried to stop
him, and brought, it to his mind that
he was q church member" and a
Christian. As liza father ought to be
merely, q christian to his own child.
Why hadn't he given her the money?
Might have done SO five times over
and never missed it. And the old
maj groaned remorsefully, as with
these thoughts in his heart, his gaze
wandered over the great held where
the cotton would soon be a simmer
ing, fleecy.sea, bringing new treasures
to his boarded gains, and making no
hearts happy saveh his own. Thosefew,
poorly situated acres of Johns and
Mary's! Swampedby theoyerfiowlast
spring, stock drowned, and John,
wading waist deep, fighting with the
waters, laid up with the rhuematics.
Suppose he had given them a thou
sand do1larsl ., .au VI ~$s
oh, the sting of remembering evil.
when it is to late. to turn evil into
good. And then there was that un-
kind letter. Did his child read those
cruel words with the dying light in her
eyes, or would it be left for the strick-
en- husband to be treated to the short,
stern homily!
He went back to the kitchen,
where Fanny sat crying over
the telegram. "tLock up the
house." he said in a hurried way, for
fear that his voice would falter, we'll
go at once. I'll hitch up while yousget.
49, <. "A - = II. - 49,. - - AR-I-.G.1