The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-04-29
PART L-CoNTINUHD.

Nv" VIZ NNNtOA AA'O~A'
DIR. Bax was not blind to this better
mood of his companion, but he did not
appear TO openly observe it."
lis this your yearly eustom?" asked
William.
at is; and one of my best pleasures.
We must be off now
They had not far to 90. The doctor
drew rein again at a hovel, from the
small window-paneS Of which a single
Tush-light could be seen burning. He
knocked at the door.
who's there?" cried voice.
CDR. Santa Claus replied the doc
tor, in loud CHEEKY tone, with med
fcine"
The door was Immediately opened by
pooTly-dressed woman, and the doc
tor entered with some parcels in his
hand. William remained outside, and
presently DR.. BaX beckoned him in,
saying the pony would stand still. The
room was very scantiiy furnished. In
one corner, on an Old wooden bedstcad,
q man lay asleep, and by his side
child, also asleep. On the rail at the
foot of the bed. so fixed that the child's
eyes should fall upon it when she woke,
was a wooden soldier, placed there by
the doctor; and the parcels he had
taken from the dog-cart were on bare
Gcal table. The woman, who had been
irOning, and who had paused in her
work to admit her visitors, was re-
garding the gifts with tears in her eyes.
IL wanted YOU to look at our child"
said DR.. Bax to William. rs she not
q little beauiy?''
The mother turned down the cover
let with pride and affection to allow
William to see the pretty creature
Dr. Bax stopped and kissed the child,
and William was impelled TO do so like
wise.
Has your man complained much TO-
day?" asked Dr. Bax.
Yes, all day long; he's asleep now
from sheer WEAKNESS; it'd take deal
20 wake him. His back has been pain
ing him dreadfully, and all the feeling
has quite gone out of his legs He
don't know when am rubbing them,
poor dear! Before he went to sleep he
was wishing for Christmas dinner; it
would be the last, he said, he should
ever be able to eat. | didn't know
what to say. Heaven only knew where
\ Christmas dinner was to come from,
but | can give it to him now. God Will
bless you, doctor"
Come, William" said DR.. Bax,
hastily, I'VE must be moving again.
Goodnight Some time tomorrow
shall be here TO see how your man is"
On the road the doctor said:
'Unless man chooses to walk
hindfy through the world, he Can see
everywhere about him sacred and beau
tnul evidences of love. More among
the poor than among the rich, for,
from the very necessities of theft con-
ditiOn. ScEf-sacrificc-th hottest form
il which love can show itSef-is the
more demanded. The poor woman
whom we have Just left has not been
treated by her husband with tenderness
or consideration. While he was in
health, he squandered his money at the
public-hOuse, and never saved penny.
SIX months ago he met with an acct
dent to his back, which viii soon end
his DAYS. Since chat time lie has been
unable 10 move from his bed, and the
woman, without murmuring, has
worked INCREASINGLY for him and their
child. She viii be up half through this
night. 10 finish the washing anG iron
ing she obtains from the ncighbors:
and love viii uphold her through all.
When her man dies, after her first pas
sion OF grief at that lifting of heavy
load from her. she will devote herself
10 her child. whom she will work for
with patience and cheerfulness, CRATE
full for the burden love imposes upon
3icr."
DIR. BaX east a furtive glance at |
William, but the young man 5 lips were |
fast set; and the downward lines on his |
forehead showed that though the doc |
tors words had reached him, their |
meaning was lost upon him.
The first visit was the keynote to all |
that followed. They went to places of |
the existence of which William had |
hitherto been ignorant, anu saw scenes |
of domestic life which would have LETT |
IL deep impression upon him, had the |
eyes of his mind been open TO anything |
but the contemplation of his own mis-
cry. But lac was almost blind to them,
so dazcd was he with grief. 1t GER
fainly was not the result of special de-
sign-fOr William was not his compan-
ion by prcmeditatiOn, and he had his
route carefully marked down - that,
wherever DIR. BaX stopped, he elected |
from the cOmmoneSt and poorest of the
poor and common people he visited
sparks of human love which shone with
Il holy light among the ashes of mis-
Spent and wasted lives. Even from
those who had fallen very, very low,
and who, snstching the gifts he prof
fered, threw them aside out Of his reach,
and thanked him with assumed humil- |
ity-eyen from crime, and shame, and
sin, that laughed in his face and Knocked
his teHderneSS-eNen from cunning in
gratitude, which said. as it accepted
his charity: I'VE have taken what you
wished us to take; and now that you
have shown yourself, off you may co.
even from the worst of these he did not
depart without, with better cunning
than theirs, evoking from their gutter
natures some CLEANS of human good
ness which made them, if only for
few moments, ashamed of their shame
and degradation.
But if DR.. .BaX intended to convey
any lesson to his companion-and his
frequent anxious chances at Williams |
moody face evidenced q wish to do so
by admitting him as a witness to
these scenes, his design was a failure.
Their course, though devious, lay with
in narrow circuit, apd whenever they
went they heard the church-bells CHM
ing the hour. Quarter after quarter |
was proclaimed, and William became /;
more and more inattentive to the doc
tors eTrands, and more and more I'M
patient for the coming of the moment