The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-07-06

suffered in the loss of child. She said
she sposef a father had some feelings,
but how could father know mothers
heart7
Evidently there was no answer to this
question Certainly Mr.. Marsh attempt
ed to give none.
Mrs. Marsh talked a great deal to her
husband and to the neighbors generally
about the fact that all her children had
been born without any constitutions.
She didn't know why it was, for all her.
folks were made of iron. She often in
quired how it was that child with no
constitution 'at all could be expected to
live. She told Reuben it was too much
to ask. She gave every one to under
stand that Reuben. seemed to believe
their children ought to live. butts knew
they couldn't.
AS the years went. by she made Mr..
Marsh keep those little graves; ;and their
headstones, and their lettering of s-Dor
! india, daughter of Reuben and Dorinda
Marsh" more and more ''trigged up"
When Mr.. Marsh was not at home nor
at the store it was well known that he
must be Ito the cemetry triggin' up
them graves"
| It was one mild day in winter that
rubber boots. He said he was going
down to the store and guessed he should
| just stop in at the graveyard before he
came home. The hill sloped to the
south there, and it was warm and sunny.
almost like a spring day.
The man had it in his mind that there
was just a chance that some snowdrops
might be blossomed, or at least buddcd.
But if he should find bloom he WAS
not SO crazy, he told himself, as to AXE
it to his wife. who would only consider
it as some kind of Glitter" He should
stop at the store, as he said, and he
should probably see Tom Ryder's for
lorn little girl shivering about, and he
should give the flower to her. Then her
small, pinched face would suddenly
tighten, and she would smile in that ra-
diant way that always went like knife
to Reuben Marsh's heart. He wondered
| if any of those Dorindies, if any had
lived, would have had such face and
such smile as that. If they '.took
! after their mother they surely would
not
Once after Mr.. Marsh had seen this
Transformation take place in the. face of
| Tom Ryder's daughter when she had re-
ceived kindness he had ventured to
speak about her to his wife, with a wild
hope in the bottom of his heart that they
might adopt Ryder's child, for Ryder
was only drunken wretch whose wife
had long since died of broken heart
and too much work.
Mrs. Marsh made it very plain indeed
to her husband that she had no opinion
whatever of that nasty Belle Ryder.
Mr.. Marsh had fallen into his ordinary
home mood of dull, cowed silence He
sat with his slippered feet ON their wood
en- cricket. and hung his head, pulling
his beard slowly and wondering what he
was living for.
He supposed men never hated their
wives. He supposed there was no man
in the world whose wife was such good
cook. who kept her husbands clothes so
well Inended and SO clean as D'rindy
did. but he said plainly to himself that
''he'd ruther be hogged than to be where
she was"
Often, as he sat there pulling his
beard and watching D'rindy as she made
everything painfully clean. he told him
self that he must have been even more
of fool than most young men to have
fallen in love with girl who could turn
out to be such woman as that He
also asked of his own soul how it would
be with him If it were possible for a
man to hate his wife.
/ When he walked slowly through the
mud of the main street he was conscious
that there was more than the ordinary
bitterness in his heart. He stamped
down his heavy feet with an air of bra
vado when he reached the store. He
took in large quantity of mud, and he
| fol CO l0r16 aT1d so T,IY y,
that the storekeeper winked at the man
! next to him, and said in q whisper that
4 Drindy must have been carryin' an un-
common high hand with Reuben that
day.
! But for all this extra swagger Mr..
Marsh was aware that he was greatly
depressed. 1t did not seem to exhilarate
him to have his heels on the stove. He
! did not understand himself today, and
j he left the store much earlier than was
his custom. One of the men actually
got up from his broken backed chair and
went to the window to watch the re-
| treating figure.
Something or others the matter of
Reub Marsh," he said pityingly. 81
never seen him miss his aim a-spittin' be-
fore, n he missed it every time today"
i The storekeeper was chopping off a
piece of tobacco. He nodded his head
He said he was sorry for Reub. He
s'posed he was goin mp to them graves
now. He hoped it want wicked, but he
did think 'twould be jest as well if there
was sixth grave in that row and
D'rindy was laying in it.. For his part
he'd like to help trig up D'rindy Ma-shs
grave, whether twas wicked or not.
Then they Rell to talking about. Tom
D x-do,. o,,d tho 1,o 4 I,<.x,,,