Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1889-01-10
Chapter VII.
THANKSGIVING AGAIN

Seven years had pa sed and once more
the Thanksgiving tide was in Napoleon.
This year 1t had me cold and frosty.
Chill dri ing autumn storms had stripped
the pa nted glori IS from the trees, and
remorselesS frOsts had chased the hardy
ranks OF the asters and golden rods back
and back till SARGE a Ill som could be
found in the deepes. and most sequestered
spot. The great elm over the Pitkin
farm house had been stripped Of Its gold
en- glory, and now iOSe against & Q yellow
evening sky, with Its Infinite delicaces of
net W TX and tracpry, In their way lutte
as beautiful as the lull ponp OF summer
foliage. The air without was keen and
frosty, and the knott d Iwi 3 of the
branches knocked against the root and
ratified and licked against the upper win
| dow panes as the chill evening wind
| swept Thu Ough the y.
seven long years had passed since
James sailed. Years OF watching
| Of waiting OF cheerful patience
| at first AMI at last of resi- ned sOr-
row. tnce they heard from James, at lie
| hrst port where the ship topped. It was a
| letter dear to his IN ther's heart, manly,
resigned and Christian; expressing full
purpose to work with cd In whatever
calling he should lab r, and cheerful hopes
| OF the future. Then came q long. long
silence, an hen Iidings that the a,tern
Star had been wrecked n a reef in the IL
dian ocean The mother had gi en- back
| her treasure into the same belO ed hands
whence she had first received him. II
gave him to God. and God took him " she
said. Il shall have him again in God 8
time" This was how she settled the
whole matter with herself. Diana had
| 1, oil fha t,,t. % has hn
ing, but ut of the deep bapt SIN of sorrow
she had emerged with new and nobler
nature. The ain. tri ing laughing IN
dine had received soul and was a true
woman. She devoted herself to James s
mother wi IN an utter self-sacrifcing devo-
| Il n resolved as far as In her lay to be
both son and daughter to her. She read
and studied, and lifted herself as a teacher
| In the neighbOring academy, and persisted
in claiming The right of daughter to place
all the amount of her earnings in the fam
lily purse.
And this year there was special need.
With all his care, with all h 5 hard work
and that of his family, Deacon Silas never
had been able to raj Q money to annhilate
The debt up t. farm.
there seemed to be perfect fatality
about 1t. Let them all make what exer-
ons they might, just as they were h ping
for a SUN that should coed the interest,
and begin the work of settling the princi-
pal, would come some loss that would
throw them all back. One year their barn
wa, burned Just they had hou, ed their
hay; another, a valuable horse died. And
tEen there were fits OF sickness among the
children, and poor crops In the field. and
low prices in the market; in short, as Bah
said, The deacon's luck did seem to lie
sort o. ST! eaky, for dc what you might
there's suthin' to put him Lack. AS the
younger boys grew up the deacon had
ceased to hire help, an Bah had trans
fered his servi es to squire Jones' a rich
landholder in the neighbOrhood who
wanted some one to overlook his
place. The increased wages had enabled
him to give home to Maria Jane
and start In life to two or three
sturdy little american citizens who play
ed around his house door. evertheiess
Bah never lost sight of the ''deact n 8
folks In his multifarious cares, and
never MISE IN opportunity either OF
> doing them good turn OF OF picking w
, any stray item OF domestic news as 10
how matters were going Oh in that interi-
OF. He had pri ately preached the sub
ject to Miss Br skett, that arter all I,
was James that Dian, h alwa pro-
nounced all name as IL they ended in "
was SO on, AMI that she took Il SO hard,
his z In OF, that 1t did he { all. Seemed
. to make another gal OF her; he shouldn't
wonder II sh. d co e out and Jine the
church. And Diana not long after un
consciously fuldlled Biah predictions.
OF late Biah s cool o1ces had been in
special re Iusitlon. As the deacon had been
for nearly a month on a sick bed, witt
! one OF those lnterminable tacks Of
typhus fever which used to prevail in old
times when the doctor did everything he
could to make IL certain that man once
I brought down with sickness never shonld
rise again.