Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1889-07-12
LOSING HER HOLD.
RfBeccA HAnDr,G DAVIS IN THE coSeR

llll h'hi'N hih ~ P1s'''
dominic walked first He made remark
at long intervals to his wife behind MIN
but without looking back.
Squire wasn't ont. Reckon his lum
bago's worsel'
> likely"
The doctor had his little grandchild
with kim / suppose his daughter has
come for the summer
Il reckon she ha>.
There was long silence after that,
broken only by the buzz of the bees in the
red clover and the ck'k-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 med
itatively 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 a strange preacher
that day-an old man with quick, sharp
tone like the call of horn to wandering
sheep-very different from Father Lang
ley's prolonged, drowsy hum. One or two
of his sentences rang in Ann Holmes ear.
while you live, live. 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 them! You owe
them your services to the last breath of
your life"
Mrs. Holmes had asked the doctors wife
anxiously what she thought of the sermon
as they came out of the churchyard.
Mrs. Perry shook her head contemptu-
ously
Hes one of these half cracked, sensa-
ton preachers. What has Amity township
to do with the starving poor' 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 personal hit at her
self Could The man know
She hurried past the scboolmaster when
they reached their own gate, going up the
spotless board walk with beds of geraniums
and roses on either side, to the side door.
She could not resist complacent glance at
those beds. Not a weed; the brown earth
sifted fine and smooth. There was no such
garden in the village; no kitchen was so
exquisitcly neat, no parlor so specklcss and
prim Surely, her conscience told her, she
was good Christian woman, fulfilling 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
ber. laid Off her bonnet carefully, and then
unlocked a 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 Aannels, the fine WOODEN
shroul She had put in every stitch i'll
them Could the man ever have known
Every matron in Amity had her funeral
suit provided 1t was matter of pride tC
them, just as Mrs. b. in Boston would de
light in her old satsuma or her Corot. The
Amity people gloried in their new GENE
terry. The Holmeses had their lot like the
rest narrow one, for there were only two
to be buried in it. Ann had her choices
roses set out there. She had directed il
her will every detail of the trimming or
her coffin
She thrust her hand under the shrout
now and pulled out little bag of golt
coin. They were the savings of years;pen'
ME scrimped out of clothes, milk, meat
They We're to pay for the handsome granite
monument Erected to the memory o
Daniel Holmes and Ann his WIFE
="While you live-live"
She dropped the bag AS if some one
spoke at her back, locked the drawer anC
went down stairs.
The "piece" was spread as usual on sun
day Moons; faky bread, clover scented
honey, delicious pies. Ann, as she cut thu
pies, was comforted by a sense of spiritua
well being. No woman made such n crus
in Amity. No woman was more faithful
at meeting, at Sunday school, at mission
ary society. In what had she come short
her starved soul demanded Of As maker
Every duty, great and small, had been wei
finished.
Mrs. Holmes was only fifty five years o
age, but she used To speak of herself a
near her grave. She twisted up her hail
in a wisp, and wore the scuttle bonnet
proper to old age. The work of life, sh
said, was finished for her and Daniel. They
had paid for the farm, so that when on
died the other was sure of IA maintenance
the farm and house were in perfect order
the cemetery lot was bought. The money
for the monument was kind of frillini
embroidery on this perfected life, the hand
some flourish to thc signature which close'
the deed.
As she sat pouring out the tea, thinking
] these things over, hel husband ''reckoned
again that the squires lumbago was bad
and that the doctors daughter was "a
home Then he yawned drearily, and Eel
asleep in his chair in the sun
How much of his time he spent in yawn
ing and sleeping! Yet thirty years ag
ing well abreast with the knowledge an
ideas of his time, living in the world q
books, newspapers, music and pictures
She, too, had been n live woman then
But they had come ont of town into thi
village, and set themselves tn scrape To
gethcr money to buy this farm. What wa
this charge that had come to them' Ha
they really been spinning their gray
clothes out of selfishnessf
Ann went to afternoon service; 5ut sh
did not hear IA word of Father Langley
discourse. She was back in the town; long
forgotten voices sounded in her ears. Their
was Dams brother Jack, poor fellow! Sh
saw him plainly III the crowd. a gay, a
fectionatc lad, who might have turned on
well if he had been guided! But he ha
married feather headed girl, and Ann OF
of patience, had turned them both adrif
As they walked home that evening sh
. said to the sehoolmaster, Glow long is
n since we heard from John, Danieli'
y He did not reply at fret, and when h
did, il was with "a strained, annoyed voic,
Twenty six year
= Il wish and Abby could have hit II o
together am 'feard that it was not rlgf
to shove them off, with neither money nc
| religion for staff
Daniel made no reply, but Ann under