Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1888-02-15

-fs had DRAINED. They we're such
dreams ~, verify be,i-ve, never dis
Iurbed TIE rest % any child before.
Tier mot1er laughed a. them, vt was
Doubtful What can possibly - tfe
meaning o. o.. james, she once ssiI
% me. ''Ohi'' I answered gayly, too,
''the child must have come direct from
The fairies" One day. % Was tie last
day % the old year-Are you following
me, nv friendg"
"ludeed I am"
cit was the last day Of the old year,
Just as this day IS the last OF the year
now passIng from Us" continued Wild
ing. "Janey had been born on New
Years Day, and some children were to
come the next evening to keep her
birthday, she would be years Old.
After tea she began talking OF the
morrow's party, Skipping gayly about,
with happy chatter. Presently she
seemed TO tire, sat down on a foOtstool
and became silent Suddenly she
turned round and looked at me, Her
mother had left her seat TO search in a
cabinet at the end of the room, and
was standing with her back to U.S.
Papa, why did you say we should
be twelve tomorrow evening?'
''Why, so We shall re, Janey."
No." said she, shaking her little
head, ''it's only eleveni I've been
counting"
There are to be nine little guests,
you know, my dear; yourself will make
ten, and your mamma and L twelve"
but mamma will not be there"
''You quaint little reasoner. Where
else vii! mamma bsI''
~ spoke in a testing tone; Janey was
looking at me almost doubtIngly, as if
she did not understand my last ques-
ton; her blue eyes, a world of serious
depth in them, were fixed upon mine.
mot mamma" she repeated; ''she
won't be here. So it will be eleven;
you count, papa"
"I laughed, and let her have her
way. Mary came back with what she
had been getting from the csbiDet-iJ
was a picture album, L remember, and
don't think she had heard Janey's
logic. Robert Erringtonl before md
day the next day she was dead
"Who WASP" l cried, startled. The
child?"
NO, no; Mary, my dear wife. She
had an hours illness in the morning,
and then died." he added, in a tremu-
lOus whisper.
Good heavensl What was it?"
That croaKer. the old doctor, had
the cruelty to say We ought to have
been looking out for it; that he had
warned me-" rejoined Wilding, in a
voice so low could hardly catch It.
1T seemed Ike cruelty to me; / sup
poe he did not mean 1t so. She took
with her the best part of my life; all
that WAS worth having in it, except
Janey."
"For a few minutes there was a
silence, deep as that amid the pine
trees when the wind Is still. Then
WIlding went on.
Telling all this in words, though
it's rarely absent from my thoughts, IS
so painful to me that 1 must end it,
Listen yet:
Another birthday of Janey's came
round; or, rather, was coming, when
she would be 10 years old; three years
had elapsed since thst dreadful time.
There's not much to record OF their
passing; the world was half a blank TO
/ me, leaving little remembrance behind
II. The last day of the old year, in
the morning, Jsney was with me in the
study at her lessons. 1t was Il fair,
sunny day, and when the last lesson
I book was closed, l began talking
I brightly of the little treat L had planned
B for the morrow-fOr l did not infiict
any gloom upon the child. We were
/ 10 take short journey OF pleasure. and
painted to her in glowing colOrs the
[ features of the trip, saying in this
/ place we should see some magnificent
[ scenery, and In that place we should
dine-a sumptuOus dinner with jam
tarts and sweetmeats. Another little
girl was TO go with US. Janey, sitting
close TO me, had bent from her chair
sideways to lay her head upon my arm
while she listened, her pretty golden
curls falling over it. And We three, :"
wound up with, Lofty and Janey
and I, will be happier than all the tai
I Ties.n
But, papa" she suddenly said, lift
/ ing her head to face me, Il shall not
be there
[ Just the words she had said of her
mother three years before
What do you mean childl"
why, papa. l shall not be with you
on that New Years journey; it will be
| only you and Lofty"
"Janey, why do you say thisp Who
| told you you would notl"
Mamma" she promptly answered;
mamma came TO my room in the
night, and said that was going 10 be
with heT tomorrow. She woke me up,
I | think, for | opened nv eyes all in a
minute, and she was standing by TIE
/ bed, and then she said it.
The child repeated this as calmly
as she would repeat a story out of a
I book, without the slightest appearance
| OF discomfort. a wild terror filed my
heart; l could not control II, and 1
I caught her to me and stroked her golden
/ naIT.'
sJaney-Janey! Don't you know
what you are saying? If you go to be
with your mother you will leave me
/ all alone. AL alonep'
fancy burst into sobS. But yet she
/ did not seem to realize the situation
| swallowed my own emotion; 1 soothe
her with loving words-which brought
to my soul none of the comfort they
were meant to bring to hers. Alas,
alasl
And the result?" 1 breathed, hardly
daring 10 put the question.
Need you ask Itr" returned Wild
Ing, with a bitter smile. THAT same
morning, close upon the conversation
in the study. Janey was seized with a
dangerous disorder which was going
about Boston, and died the next day
her birthday"
I'm going to mamma in the strange
land, she stroye TO say to me IN dying.
81 know she will be there to meet me
Don't cry, papa-yes, yes, mamma
I'm coming" she added q minute
afterward, striving to rise from the
pillow and stretching out her hand:
apparently to somebody in the distance
and then fell back ifeless upon the pill
low
"Wllding bent his face on his hands
tears tricklin2 through his fingers
Thus there was long silence.
And that's my past history, Erring
ton" he said, looking up.
How long is II since?"
Two years ago Janey left me. I've
not much to tell OF them. The wealth,
bank broke and swallowed up all m.
money and Mary's In its ruins. Blu