The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-09-14

night, MT anu 0ArS- BAIT. 1 CANT IDAuk
you enough for all your kindness We
thought that a queer speech, for we didn't
consider we'd done him any kindness
That night Esther come into our room,
and throwin' her arms round my neck
kissed me again and again and cried:
Good night, darling ma love you, you
know l do, don't you" and goin' over to
her pa she Rugged and kissed him, too,
saying, Dear old dad, my dear dadp Then
she went out You know the rest, miss;
the next mornin' she was gone, and him
too. Gone, without one word to her poor
old pa and mel"
Old Dorothy clasped her hands tightly
and gazed out over the hills 70 the setting
sun. Annie patted tenderly the brown old
hands, the hands that had worked for a
lifetime, in storm and shine, but that now
might rest. The sun fell at last on the soft
white hair, the wrinkled, tired face, with
the mournful eyes; on the plain black dress
that had done service for many a day, and
on the clasped hand with the one ring that
told Of marriage vows and wifehood. Ev-
erything had pathetic air of bygone days
to Annie Weston as she sat and watched
this old woman, and IL was with increased
gentleness, if possible, that she said softly:
"Gone, Mrs. Barr? And did she never
come back to you? Oh, how dreary you
must have beenr'
"Dreary, childi Yes, it was dreary q
bit after she'd went away Me and John
would sit and look at each other, but we
never said a word. Night after night John
read his Bible and / sewed, and Esther's
chair stood in it's old place, but we never
spoke of her. Why, Miss Annie, can't
tell. Perhaps it was because we felt some's
if she was forever dead TO US, and John
and me, humble as we was, miss, had
never had no shame touch Us before. The
days went on, you know, as they must;
nothin' stops the time, and winter was
gone, the long lonesome winter, with its cold,
howlin' winds and blindin' SHOWS. John
was powerful uneasy all that winter, and
poorly like too. You may wonder why we
never hunted for her, but we didn't know
no place to go to, and We was afraid our
child would come back some day and
find the old home empty. As l was
saying, John was poorly, and many
a night lay awake listenin' TO his breath
in. and l wondered if God were goin' to
take him too. One night as / sat dozin'
off like by the fire there come a tappin' on
to the door, but there was no one there, and
we was glad, for it was wild night for any
one to be out in But we went back to our
chairs with heavy hearts. Where was our
girl on this cold winters night? Dead,
perhaps; and there. miss, couldn't stand
it no longer, and l said to John: 'To-mor-
row will be Esther's birthday, pa John
looked up at me with a start and said: To
morrow, did you say, Dorthy1 So tits, so
It's. Sixteen, Dorthy, sixteen. Only wee
girl, our little EstherI' That kind of broke
the ice, and we talked after that every day
Of her. Well, the summer come again, and
John was PRETTY smart. but it seemed sort
of to be my turn, for felt low and cheer
less There were good many strangers
here that summer John didn't want
them, somehow or other he couldn't
stand the sight Of them. thinkin' of
Esther. But, as / said, we needed the
money, it always come handy, though John
wasn't what you'd call poor man, and
the strangers wasn't TO blame. So they
staid here at the house, goin' of to their
business durin' the day mostly, though
some of them stacked their things up near
the house and painted all day long. 1t had
been year since Esther had went, and we
hadn't heard anything from her. Most
likely we didn't expect to, for mail trav
eled slow in those days, and we lived hun
dreds of miles from the east, where we
Kind thought he and Esther had gone.
But the summer had passed and winter
come again. Then the strangers left here
and went to their different homes / sup
pose. That was dreadful cold winter,
and John and me scarcely ever went out
side the door. The snow was piled in great
drifts around the house. and at night the
wind howled like so many demons. 1t
seemed most as if that winter was worse
than the first. l s'pose twas because as
the time went on we missed Esther more
and more Howsomever, the SHOWS at last
melted, the flowers peeped their heads on
the hills again, and the summer time was
come. Esther, miss, had been gone two
years. One mornin', Miss Annie
Call me Annie" broke in that young
person
Very well, Annie. One mornin', as |
was sayin', after l had finished my work
and John was off over TO the Ridge, / went
out into the yard and gathered from the
bed of fiowers-it was Esthers bed, child
all the posies bloomin' there. Then / went
out through the path you see, Annie, that
leads across the hills far over TO where you
See that old tree, and stopped under it. A
brook is near by-we'l II go there tomorrow,
and the birds sing there all the summer
through. kneelin' down dug up some Of
the earth and planted my posies on that
spot. That WAS the only grave that could
ever give my child, Annie, and il pleased
me most to think of its being there for
you see, we believed her dead, or worse than
that. Every day went down there and put
fresh flowers in the ground until the bed was
stripped clear of everything. But after the
flowers was gone l went there just the
same, Annie, and afternoons like this |
would set out here ana look down at that
old tree, and it sootned me wonderfully
But as the DAYS went on and the fall was
comm on John and me both grew uneasy
and fearful ike, rs If something was com
in, something that was painful Well,
one night, the lsst of fall. just before win
ter set in, perhaps twas the middle Of DC
tober, fearful rainstOrm come down the
mountains and across the Ridge. IL was a
terrible storm, too. such rs we don't often
see. The wind blew and the lightnin' WAS
that blindin' that IL made our heads reel
The rain come down IN sheets and the
thunder Just cracked every minute or 80.
Then, too, II was night. and that made 10
seem worse Inc rain was sClashIu' on
this back porch and ruuuin' of in little
rivers like. and John said that IL was prob
ably the last storm Of the season Bus !
didn't know, We q had Just such storms lat
er IN the year. though none 50 powerful bad
as this. About e o CLOCK, Just As John and
me was getting no r-r-t u orr rhzirs hv che
fire, for 1t was chilly then. there come
terrible crash q thunder anu then a gust
~ .zsrl IL. hI-.r 81 l-.cL H. de e.--.,