Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-05-16
LOSING HER HOLD.
A Summer Sermon and the Fruits
It Bore.

It Bore.
The schoolmaster and his WIFE afte,
morning meeting was over, took their way
as usual down Prout's Lane and across the
hill homeward The path was narrow; the
dominic walked first. He made remark
st long intervals TO his wife behind him, but
without looking back.
esquire wasn't out Reckon his lumbago's
worse?"
as likely"
1.-THE doctor had his little grandchild with
him. I suppose his daughter has come TO,
the summer
Il reckon she has.''
There was a long silence after that
broken only by the buzz of the bees in the
red clover and the ckk-k of the grasshop
pers through the hot grass The old man
stopped. as he always did on Sunday, to see
how much the corn in the lower field had
grown during the week and to gaze medi-
tatively at the pigs in their pen. But Mrs.
Holmes had no thought to-day for the pigs
or corn. She walked with her head bent on
her breast, almost forgetting to hold up the
skirt of her Sunday merino out of the grass.
There had been strange preacher that day
an old man with quick, sharp tone like
the call Of horn TO wandering sheep-very
~ different from Father Langley's prolonged,
drowsy hum. One or two of his sentences
rang in Ann Holmes ears.
while you live, livei You wrap your
selves In selfshness and fat content as in
grave-clothes before you are dead. The
world is full of your brothers, starving, cold,
ignorant. Go to themi You owe them
service to the last breath of your life"
II, ], . 10 4 4.
anxiously what she thought of the sermon
as they came out Of the church-yard.
Mrs. Perry shook her head contemptu-
ously.
"He's enc of these halt-cracked, sensa-
ton preachers. What has Amity town
ship to do with the starving poorl We keep
up our almshouse well. Let the big towns
see to their own paupers!'
Ann was comforted for the moment, but
she remained uneasy. That hint about the
grave clothes seemed a personal hit at her
self Could the man know =!
She hurried past the schoolnaster when
they reached their own gate, gong up the
spotless board walk, with beds Of geraniums
and roses on either side, to the side door.
She could not resist compliment glance at
those beds. Not weed; the brown earth
sifted fine and smooth. There was no such
garden in the village; no kitchen was so
eXquisiteiy neat, no parlor so speckess
and prim. Surely her conscience told her
she was a good Christian woman, fulfill
ing her duty, and had no cause for the
wrench and misery OF soul which she felt
just now.
She went up the stairs to her own cham
Der, laid off her bonnet carefully, and then
unlocked 8 drawer in the press. She did
not need to lift the white towels. She knew
perfectly well what was pinned up in
them The undertaking Of snowy linen,
the worked flannels, the fine wooden shrOud.
She had put in every stitch in them. Could
the man have knownl
Every matron in Arlity had her funeral
suit provided. 1t was a matter OF pride
to them, just as Mrs B., in Boston, would
delight in her old satsuma or her Corot
The Amity people gloried in their new GEM
etery. The Holmeses had their lot Ike the
rest; narrow one, for there were only
two 10 be barred In it Ann had her choicest
roses set out there. She had directed in
her will every detail Of the trimming on
her coffin
She thrust her hand under the shroud
now and pulled out a hitle bag of gold coin.
They were the savings Of years; pennies
scrimped out of clothes, milk, meat. They
were to pay for the handsome granite mon
ument Erected 70 the memory of Daniel
Holmes and Ann his wife,
''While you nye-lvel''
She dropped the bag as il some one spoke
at her back, locked the drawer and went
down stairs.
The ''piece' was spread as usual on Sun
day Moons; fiaky bread, clover-scented
OH rDin = he emit he
pie. was comforted by sense of spiritual
well being No woman made such crust in
Amity. No woman was more faithful at
meeting, at Sunday-school, at missionary
society In what had she come shortl her
starved soul demanded Of its Maker. Every
duty, great and small, had been well fin
ished.
Mrs. Holmes was fifty-five years of age,
but she used 10 speak Of herself as near her
grave. She twisted up her hair in a wisp.
and wore the scuttle bonnets proper 10 old
age. The work Of life, she held. was finished
for her and Daniel They had paid for the
farm, so that when one died the other was
sure of maintenance; the farm aud house
were in perfect order, the cemetery lot was
bought. The money for the monument was
a kind of frilling embroidery on this per-
fected life, the handsome flourish to the sig
nature which closed the deed.
As she sat pouring out the tea, thinking
these things over, her husband 'reckoned''
again that the squire's lumbago was bad,
and that the doctors daughter was at home.
Then he yawned drearily and fell asleep in
his chair in the sun.
How much Of his time he spent IN yawn-
Ing and sleepingl Yet thirty years ago
Daniel Holmes was an eager teacher, keep
Ing well abreast with the knowledge and
IDEAS Of his time, living IN the world Of
DOCKS, newspapers, music AID pictures
Sac, too, had been live woman then. But
they had come out Of town into this village.
ana set themselves to scrape together
money TO buy this farm. What was this
change that had come to them; Had they
been really spinning their grave clothes
out Of selishnessi
Ann wet to afternoon service: but she
did not hear word of Father Langley's
discourse. She was back in the town Ion g
forgotten voices sounded in her ears.
There was Dams brother. Jack POO. SeuaEi