Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-09-25
No Room for Old Mother.

~ AhOODA C
Going north, madam ?"
No, ma'am.n
Going south, then ?"
Il don't know, ma'am."
Why, there are only two ways to GO
Il didn't know. | was never ON the
cars. I'm waiting for the train to go 10
John"
John? There is no town called John.
| Where is it?"
"oh Johns my son. He's out in Kan
sas or a claim
II am going right to Kansas myself.
You intend 10 visit p
No, ma'am."
She said it with a sigh so heart burdened
the stranger was touched.
John sick?'
mo"
The evasive tone, the look OF pain in the
furrowed face, were noticed by the stylish
lady as the gray head bowed upon the toll
marked hand. She wanted to hear her
story to help her.
Excuse me-John in trouble?'
mo. no-Tm in trouble. Trouble my
old heart never thought 10 see"
1.-THE train does not come for some time.
Here, rest your head upon my cloak"
You are kind. If my own were. Sc, |
shouldn't be in trouble tonight.
What is your trouble? Maybe | can
help you"
TITS hard to tell it to strangers, but my
old heart is too full TO keep it back. When
/ was left q widow wi h the three children
| thought it vas more than | could bear,
but ii wasn't bad as this
The stranger waited till she recovered
her voice TO go on,
Il had onIy the cottage and my willing
hands. | 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 ago. Married 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 in silence.
81 went to them in the city. | went to
Mary's first. She lived in a great house
with servants to wait upon her; a house
many times larger than the little cottage
but l soon found there wasn't room enough
for me-"
The tears stood in the lines on her cheeks.
The ticket agent came out softly, stirred
the fire and went back. After a pause she
continued
q" went to NJ artha's-went with a pain
in nv heart | never felt before. l was will
ing to do anything so as not TO be a bur
den. But that wasn't it. | found they
were ashamed of my bent ole body n
my withered face-ashamed of my rough,
wrinkled hands-made so toiling for
them"
The tears came thick and fast now. The
strangers hand rested ~caressingly on the
gray head.
AT last they told me l must live at a
boarding-house 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 wrote right
back, a long, kind letter, for me to come
right to him. l always had a home while
he had a roof, he said. To come right
there and stay as lorg as | lived. That his
mother should never go out to strangers. So
I'm going to John. He's got only his
rough hands and his great warm heart
but there's room for his old mother-God
b,ess-him!'
The stranger brushed a tear from her fair
cheek and awaited the conclusion.
Some 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
Tor them are lOiueu anu Sull NueH lHe
eyes that watched over them through many
a weary night are closed forever when the
little old body, bent with the burden it
bore for them, is put away where it can
never shame them
The agent drew his hand quickly before
his eyes, and went to look out, as if for the
train. The strangers ieweled fingers
stroked the gray locks, while the tears of
sorrow and the tears of sympathy fell to-
gether. The weary heart was unbnrdened.
Soothed by a touch of sympathy the
troubled soul yielded to the longing for
rest, and she fell asleep. The agent went
noiselessly about his duties that he might
not wake her. As the fair stranger watched
she saw a smile on the careworn 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 which inspired
her, long before she learned, with a broken
heart, that some day she would turn, home
less in the world. to go to John.-Lu B.
Cake, IN the Current.