Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-13

When he had given his old mother what
she needed, and bidden her CHEEKY good
night while she child him. laughing, for re-
turning thus early to bed, he put on his
great coat and a large red and black checked
shawl that belonged to the widow. Taking
in his hand book covered in brown paper.
he opened softly the door carefully and
closed it also softly behind him. He walked
quickly across the small space that divided
the cottages and entered that OF the Nor
risons.
Here all was quiet except the tick Of q
clock that stood on the mantel shelf behind
the couch. Beside it, so that the light
should not fall on the face of the child,
there was an oil lamp in a tin stand, also
bottle with spoon and mug. The student
removed his wrappings and set the kettle on
the fire. A brown teapot stood upon the
| hob
"a drop of tea, "said he, SIS a most re-
freshing thing. Also, in case l should at
any time feel inclined for nap, as am
rather apt to do when it grows late, 1t Will
certainly keep me awake.
The student looked around the room.
| zone NAV as well he comfortable" said he,
and he fetched a wooden stool with two
supports, and placed it before his chair. He
did not, however, take the armchair that
stood at the head of the couch, with patch
work cushion, tumbled as though some one
| had lately risen from it.
"Perhaps 1 should 60 to sleep if sat
there" said the student. He left 1t In Its
place, and took a straight-backed chair
| opposite, at the foot
Several hours passed. The student con-
tinued to read, yet he watched for any
change in the wan face of the child, and
gave her every half hour the nourishment
that the doctor ordered. AS the night wore
on all extraordinary somnolenee came over
him, so that it became pain to move so much
| as finger. He laid aside the book. that he
could no longer read with comprehension,
and sitting rigid in his chair. fastened his
whole attention upon the clock.
s'The noise of the rain is extremely loud
tonight" said the student presently to him.
! self. And indeed there was, beside the tap
ping of the rain upon the states and the
| creak of the elm trees, q rush and How OF
water more than ordinary. But the student
| did not move his ewes from the clock, and
repeated continually: "At 10 minutes past
| three-15 minutes past three-half tea
spoonful in little water"
AS the hand pointed to the quarter he rose
laboriously, and, his feet falling somewhat
heavily from the wooden stool, splashed into
pool of water. "This will never do, !" said
| the student, as he administered the medicine.
Taking the oil lamp in his hand he looked
round the room. The level of the floor was
lower by two steps than the lane, and beneath
the door, which did not fit too closely, q
small stream of water poured and spread
over the room, ripping and frothing like a
little sea; already it reached nearly to his
ankles. He sat down the lamp again, for
should little Ehret arouse it would alright
her to be left in the dark, and wrapping the
red checked shawl carefully about his head
and shoulders, he stepped into the lane.
/ The rain fell in torrents; the night was
black. and the wind blew. He stopped, and
turning his back upon it. struck a match,
| that f1ickered but for an instant, yet enough
to show him his position and the cause of
the overflow; the remedy being, as he had
believed, WITHIN his compass. For hard on
the threshold was an iron CRATE that drained
the cutters, and also received the water
which, n bad weather, trickled down the
steep pathway, but tonight was swelled into
a torrent Moreover, the water and the
wind had so heaped together small twIgs and
that these, collecting above the opening, had
a
rier, so that the stream, ever seeking lower
level, unavoidabIy flowed beyond into the
cottage. Joshua bent down, and feeling with
his hands in the water sought to remove the
obstruction, Yet from the weakness of his
late distemper his knees trembled SO be-
meath him that he was compelled to kneel,
and in this position he cleared the
crate, sweeping the fragments of the storm
beyond the reach of the stream that was now
again able to flow in its proper channel. He
then arose, yet not without some pain and
effort, since his head appeared to him to be
floating far away, and his legs of vast length
and cumbrous to lift. This phenomenon in
some degree disturbed his balance, yet he
clung to the wall, and so slowly returned to
the quiet room. Standing for a moment
within the door, the position of the chair at
the bedpost struck him. Somehow, I
think" said he, "that she laid her head
down on the pillow beside little Ehret
there"
The room was puddled and damp, vet the
most part Of the water had escaped by SUM-
dry outlets in the ilI-built cottage, and by
good fortune the fire still burned
The head of the student was confused
and his mind seemed capable but OF repeat
ing monotonously the next hour for the food
or draught when the minute hand pointed
arose Immediately and fed the child, arrang-
ing the bedclothes and the pillows, for she
was weak and helpless and appeared almost
as one dead. He presently picked up his
book (that was the work of great heathen)
and his eyes dwelling on one sentence, the
words of it by moments imprinted them
selves on his brain, though he was without
anv sense of their import
"Let each one of usleave every other kind
of knowledge, and seek and follow one
thing only, if perajventure he may be able
to learn and may find someone who will
make him able to learn and discern between
good and evil, and so to choose always and
everywhere the better life as he has oppor-
tunity."
4 part of the words continued to haunt
him as the refrain of song wlH. Some
one who will make him able to
choose always and everywhere the better
life as he has opportunity" There was a
meaning here, but as yet he did not grasp
it. And it was the time for the medicine.
The student considered that the soft
weather must certainly have changed to
frost, for the room appeared to him exces-
sively cold and his limbs stiffening. When
a thing must be done, however, it is gener-
ally possible to do it. Also, he heard the
wheels of the carriage in the road above
when at last it was past 8 o'clock in the
morning, and at the sound he returned to
the next cottage.
"I think had better 20 to bed," said he.
"for it will save trouble"
VII.
The doctor came running up the stairs in
a youthful and at the same time business
like manner. The student lay turned away