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

/ pipe mufe vigorously Aflau ever Defore
since the night prior to the birth of their
/ first little one He tried to hide behind
! the bank of smoke that trouble might
not find him. Gran'ma slowly rocked
back and forth in her little low chair,
her hand in his upon her lap Both had
single thought. Neither spoke.
AT last he laid the pipe upon the stand,
and soon the hoGse was dark.
Gran'ma's kindly eyes were red with
weeping She sat alone. She had never
felt so much alone before
She arose TO put the house in order.
She put out her hand to take the pipe, the
old black pipe, from the stand where
he had laid it. Then she stopped and
brushed her eyes, and went about the
other work. More than once she started
to remove the pipe, but stopped and said;
mot yet"
Neighbors came in to. cheer her up.
All shifted the pipe and made her sad.
One of them said:
"What is that | smell?"
Gran'ma answered: at is Alfred's pipe.
1t is dreadful; but II can't take it away
not now"
Nor | wouldn't" said the woman
tenderly.
81 will after a while" said gran'ma,
the tears coming to her eyes again.
When week had gone by the pipe
still lay upon the stand. A neighbors
child came in
"Gran'ma, why don't you throw that
nasty old pipe outdoors?"
81 can't, my child.
II can, and the child reached for it,
Granma grasped the little arm so sud-
denly, almost roughly, that the child
began to cry
Don't touch it-don't ever touch it,"
said gran'ma, with something like Sc
verify, and then she knelt and pressed
the frightened child close to her breast
and smoothed it with her tender kisses.
Poor gran'ma's eyes were red most of
the time now. The passing days did not
seem to take her grief away with them.
The pipe was in its now accustomed
place, and gran'ma cautioned everybody
not to touch it. She talked so much
about it and was so earnest in her warn
ings that the people in the neighborhood
looked sorrowful and tapped their tenn
pies with their finger tips and shook
their heads. The children went still
further They told goblin stories about
the old black pipe, and one of them de-
clared that she had seen pair of fiery
eyes down in the bowl and heard a grudn
In few weeks nobody but the post
man made calls on gran'ma. One day
at last he also ceased to come Poor
gran'ma sat and watched and waited,
but he passed the house and went upon
his way. Then for hours the dry eyed
woman sat and gazed upon the dear old
pipe and felt that it was all of life for
her. Could she but have wept But
grief had dried the fountains of her
heart.
why did let him go from me? Why
did l let him go?' she moaned.
One night she thought she heard tap
upon the door. Her heart stood still
They've brought his body home" she
thought.
The blood rushed and bounded through
her head. She heard only its heavy
sound She swooned and sank from her
chair
When she regained her consciousness
she looked first to see that the pipe was
undisturbed, then hurried to the door.
All was dark and dreary. No one was
there. She went to bed, and nature
kindly sent her off to sleep.
Some time in the night she awoke
with great indefnable joy in her heart.
What was it, A presentiment of some
impending happiness2 She seemed 10
breathe it from the very air. 1t touched
her senses from afar and penetrated to
her very soul What could it be? It
seemed to come with greater and still
greater force. 1t was-yes, now she
knew-it was tobacco smoke. And then
her husband softly opened the chamber
door and she saw him standing there,
the old black pipe between his lips and
curls of smoke above his head.
"You did not get my telegram" he
asked when they had wept and laughed
together on each others breast.
"No When?"
"Why, yesterday"
1t was the messenger who brought the
gladstone news whom she had heard the
evening before. Washington Post.