Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1891-06-19
THE FIRST-BORN.

Preston FOUND Ills WHO III low arm
less rocking chair before the CRATE fire
of her bedroom. Their baby boy,
whose first weak rail against the mis-.
cries of existence had been heard but
two months before. lay fiat upon his
back in her lap. lie was swathed in
a long wooden night-gown, which
bulged rcstlcssly under the impatiencC
of his legs.
The mother was pinching his cheeks
and smothering him with kisses.
This caused him to give vent TO bub-
bling gasps of delight and to wave his
clinched fists convulsively. When she
saw her husband she lifted the baby.
supporting his body with one hand,
and his uncertain back with the other.
His big head, fallen forward, rolled
from side to side, while his bright
eyes stared at his father tixedly, and
without the smallest CLEAN of intelli-
gence. Preston smiled constrainedly
and put one foretingcr under the
rather damp chin.
As the child showed that he disap-
proved of the change of position, his
mother put him i'll her lap again, and
began the interrupted play. Preston
looked down upon it with an irritated
expression. When the nurse came in
with small tub partly filled with
warm water, he looked about awk-
wardly, as though he were out of
place. Then he sat down in deep
leather chair by the window. As he
watched the two women and the baby.
a feeling of isolation and sadness grew
upon him.
When the nurse had put the bath on
the rug near the fire, she pushed to
the mothers side a small table spread
with the articles of a baby's toilet.
While the child was bathing, the
mother kept up a steady flow of talk,
at times addressed to the father, al
ways intended for the son.
She took off the long wooden gown.
Then she lifted the child and laid him
gently in the bath. AT first touch of
the water he clutched wildly and
twisted his face into a crimson tanglc.
But the warmth and the safety guaran-
teed by the voice and fingers of the
mother treasured him. ~. was soon
splashing and kicking as widely as the
narrowness of his bath allowed.
His face redeemed and puckered as
he was lifted to the blanket on his
mothers lap, but the softness of the
tieecy towel consoled him. At last she
was done, and he lay straight and
glowing, His eyes closed languidly.
The talk of the mother ceased. There
was silence in the room, except her
monotonous and soothing "Sh-h-h !
sh-h-h!' as she rocked to and fro.
Tie husbands eyes turned away i'm
patiently as he saw the look in her
face. She was admiring, with look
of perfect love, the beauty of the
smooth round form in her lap. The
s&fi'7off the ciliitl was seft ard Cieficate.
Waves of color, first pure white, then
rosy pink, passed across it from head
to feet.
They put few clothes upon him so
quietly that he only smiled, and did
not awaken. The nurse left the room,
and there was no movement or sound
but the occasional slow rock, with the
faint "Sh-h-h!" which accompanied
it. The mother looked steadfastly at
her child. The husband watched her
sadly.
They had married two years before.
As both were strong-willed and posi-
tive, there had been much clashing in
the first twelvemonth of their life to-
gether. Each was finding out the
real character Of the other, so different
in many ways from the character
each had admired before marriage.
But in this undeceiving there had heen
no serious disillusion, and their love
had grown stronger. Through this
love happiness had gradually come.
Just as they were entering upon
this unexpected happiness, which
comes in married life if any at all, just
then the baby was born. Preston had
looked forward TO the event with un-
easiness and dissatisfaction. 1t had
seemed to him that third person
would be an interloper. And his
feeling was shared by his wife.