Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1890-01-10
ALFRED'S PIPE.

smoke. Throughout the many years OF
her welded life she had tried hard to
learn to like the odor of it, but had fail
ed. Her husband, however, supposed
that she was fond of it, Men are clumsy
about such things. They do not feel out
the truth as women do. They trust to
their senses and their reason, and there.
fore women cheat them.
1T is the dear mans only fault"
Charlotte Hubbell had said to herself
when she was young wife, land he
shall never know that l dislike it,
For more than forty years she had
lovingly deceived him. After supper
she would bring his slippers and his
pipe; and he, stupid lover, would puff
and toast his feet and say and feel:
"Here is peace that passeth under.
standing"
Then he would look up into the lightly
curling smoke and try to think how
miserable he should be if he had found
wife whose tastes were not thus suited
to his own. And he would lay her head
upon his shoulder and kiss her; and that
was all she wished 1t told her he was
happy in her love.
Once, in the street, she passed man
and family caught the odor of his freshly
lighted cigar. She rather liked it.
''If Alfred would smoke cigarsl" she
thought.
Slyly she laid away spare money until
she had enough. Then one day she called
the judgment of a friend into service, and
that evening she brought thCslippers ant
box of choice cigars.
Her husband took her in his arms as4d
blessed her for her thoughtfulness
always thinking of my pleasure" he
said. But, sweetheart, you should have
purchased something for yourself in.
stead The pipe is good enough for me-
Nothing but the best is good enough
for you," she said, honestly and proudly.
She had really forgotten that she had
bought the cigars for herself.
You precious womanl' he replied,
still holding her in his arms, and there
in sweet, deep silence they drank the
joy that blesses only such immortal
souls as merge thus, two in one
But, my darling" he at length contin.
ued, 81 am not going to smoke these
cigars. They are too choice, too eXpeu.
sive. cannot afford such luxu;'i,", We
will keep them for special n,'os,,oms,
when our friends come to sts IT. The
old pipe is good enough for me
He thought he had said it v"I! awk.
ward man. And she let him cUitlnue to
think so, tactful woman. But she knew
he liked the pipe better.
Alfred Hubbell was not the kind of
man to become wealthy. He had not
an extravagant habit, unless indulgence
of generous nature be extravaganza.
He was furrier with well established
trade, but he was honest and charitable,
and these two qualities are seldom
united with that other quality which
piles up fortunes. Yet he was content
and his wife was content, and after all
contentment is the only real wealth
"My pipe is the only luxury =. .ai,."
he said.
'His pipe is his only vice." sc;d sne.
When he had his smoke in the evening
he always laid his pipe upon the little
lampstand near his easy chair. The next
morning Mrs. Hubbell put it out of sight.
Sometimes it made her almost sick to
handle it, for, like all true lovers of the
pipe, he clung to one until it was SC
saturated with tobacco oil its odor was
unspeakable
The children of the neighborhood had
learned to love her and call her" "gran'ma.'
In the years long gone she had borne and
nursed two babes, but they had died
upon her breast. Let no man try to tell
what this must mean. The language OF
Imagination fails. Experience alone can
know the thrill of motherhood, the
purifying sorrow of its loss. She was
everybody's gran'ma now that she was
and ever must be nobody's.
When the financial panic swept like a
blight over the country the furriers were
among the first to feel its damnine
breath. When economy becomes neces.
sary to men accustomed to the luxuries
they buy more wine, they go oftener to
the theatre, they get fastey and costlier
horses; these are the diverSing influences
that keep their minds turned from their
troubles. But it is the women who sup
port the furriers, and women suffer lossea
in another way-a harder and braver
way. Man runs away from sorrow;
women faces it and bears it, He feea
and frightens it with laughter; she stays
and welcomes it with tears. He spends;
she saves.
Mr.. Hubbell now passed his evenings
down town. The presence of the men
he met inspired him with the courage he
felt he soon should need, for men are
brave only in groups. Pride is the brav-
cry of man.
When the sheriff put his paddock on
the Hubbell store the proprietor felt
better, more at ease. The worst had
come. The agony of expectation, at
least, was at an end. Then, too, he had
been providing against this situation,
and had engaged Professionally with a
wealthy eastern house to go to Hudson
Bay and spend the winter buying furs
for it. Gran'ma, too, had been prepared
for this. She had wept in secret over
the dread prospect, and bravely smiled
when he was near. It was their first
parting.
"And he SO old and feeble and accus-