Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1889-11-20
Fond and Foolish.

The fond and foolish womenl They
are all about us, and Pearl Rivers well
describes them in late number of the
New Orleans Picdylqe
The one who is left behind-ah, the
one who is left behindl 1t is almost
always a woman, What does she do?
If she loves the careless, happy-go-lucky
young fellow or the deliberate, saneti-
monious old fellow, she will gaze after
him through vista of tears as long as
there Is piece of him in sight and
then she will rush up stairs and grab
one of his old vests or coats or plunge
her head into an old hat that has been
left behind, too, and cry like the big
baby she is At breakfast her coffee
Will taste salty like tears, and at dinner
her soup will be tasteless. If she
sleeps at all for the first few nights, she
dreams that she sees her beloved afar off.
He is coming towards her with smile.of
love on his face. He comes nearer and
nearer. She stretches out her arms to
embrace him A dark cloud falls be-
tween. She calls, but he does not an
swer- She gropes around in the dark
ness, dut she cannot find him, and she
wakes, sobbing, to find herself sitting
up in bed with her arms outstretched
and the tears streaming down her face.
All, Is there a woman who loves much,
who has not dreamed such dreams when
parted from her beloved?
Careless Charlie or solemn Solomon
promised to write from the first stop
ping place. They forgot to do it, OF
course; but the one who is left behind
does not forget to look for the letter.
She starts and trembles at every sound
of the door-bell, and If IT rings unusu-
ally sharp and quick, she is sure it IL
the telegraph messenger bringing the
news of a railroad or steamboat disas-
ter, in which her beloved has been
mashed as flat as a founder, or blown
sky high. 1t was not telegraph mes
senger. She thanks God for that.
But it was not the expected let
ter either, and she plunges her head
into the old hat again for comfort.
In what strange ways we women COM
fort ourselves when parted from a be-
loved onei
L know a woman-a literary woman
who develops a sudden fondness for
needle and thread and thimble when
her husband leaves home. She over
hauls every article of his wardrobe. and
sews on buttons by the dozen, and tape
strings by the yard. half suspect the
sly man takes a short trip from home
once or twice year just to get his
clothes mended.
L know another wife who ALWAYS
mounts her husbands old slippers on a
pedestal of some kind, and says her
prayers to them night and morning IN
til he returns. L know a woman who
has a vest belonging to her sailor love,
who has gone on long cruise. She
keeps 1t hidden carefully away in the
bottom of her trunk I caught her
kissing and crying over 1t one day and
said: "Why didn't you ask him to
leave you a pair of his old boots?" She
turned her eyes on me with glare and
answered: "Do you suppose his heart
Is in his feet %
81 hope not" / replied, ''but it GER
tsinly Is not in the pocket of that old
vest"
NO." she answered, ''but it used to
cover his dear heart, and I'd rather
have it for keepsake than the diamond
locket Kate wears with her sweetheart s
picture In 1t.
"How tastes do differI'' I said to nv
self, thinking of the comfort Kate gets
out of the locket hidden away In her
bosom, and what comfort Mary finds in
the ring that her Harry left her to re-
member him by when he went to New
York on q business trip ten days ago,
and how fondly Jennie treasures q
pocket handkerchief that belongs to the
man she loves.
All, what fond and foolish creatures
We women arei-Pearl Rivers in New
Orleans PicGylse,