Arizona republican., 1891-12-08
JENNY.

f. was night The cabin, poor but ur,rm and cozy, was full of a half twi- ggbt. through which the objects of the interior were but dimly visible by the -Fmmer of the embers which flickered mn the hearth and reddened the dark ,.fters overhead. The fsherman's nets r,sre hanging on the wall. Some homely ,ots and pans twiukled on a rough shelf !, inc corner Beside a great bed with lone. falling curtains, a mattress was ovtepded on a couple of old benches on which five little children were asleep Ike cherubs in nest By the bedside, win her forehead pressed against the ,,upterpane, knelt the children's mother She was alone. Outside the cabin the back ocean, dashed with stormy snow- flakes. moaned and murmured, and her husband was at sea.
 From his boyhood he had been a fisher man. His life, as one may say, had been ,dailv fight with the great waters; for every day the children must be fed, and every day, rain, wind or tempest. out went his boat to fish. And while in his f,pr sailed boat heplied his solitary task al sea his wife at home patched the sails. mepded the nets, looked to the hooks or vq-rbel the little fire where the fish soup was boiling. As soon as the five children were asleep she fell upon her knees and prayed to heaven for her hus- hand in his struggle-wfth the waves and darkness. And truly such life as his WAS hard. The likeliest place for fish WAS mere speCk among the breakers, n5, more than twice as large as his own ,lb.n-a spot obscure, capricious, chang in, on the moving desert, and yet which hal to be discovered in the fog and tenn nest of winter night by sheer skill and knowledge of the tides and winds. And ,here-while the gliding waves ran past ike emerald serpents, and the gulf of darkness rolled and tossed, and the grainiug rigging groaned as if in terror -.hele, amid the icy seas, he thought of his own Jenny; and Jenny, in her cottage, thought of him with tears.
 She was thinking of him then and waying The seagull's harsh and mock mg cry distressed her, and the roaring of the pillows on the reef alarmed her soul But she was wrapped in thoughts -.h0ughts of their poverty. Their little children went barefooted winter and summer Wheat bread they never ate, only bread of barley. Heavens! the wind roarcl like the bellows of forge. and the seacoast echoed like an anvil She wept and trembled. Poor wives whose husbands are at seal How terri b.eto say, My dear ones-father, lover, brothers, sous-are in the tempestr But Jenny was still more unhappy. Her husband was alone-alone without as- s.,ance on this bitter night. Her chil- | drel were too little to assist him. Poor mother Now she says, "l wish they were grown up to help their father" Foolish dream! In years to come, when they are with their father in the tempest, sle will say, with tears, "l wish they were but children stillT
 Jenny took her lantern and her cloak. | "ltis time, she said to herself, ito see whether he is coming back, whether the sa Is calmer, and whether the light is burning on the signal mast" She went o1t There was nothing to be seen barely streak of white on the horizon t was raining, the dark, cold rain of early morning. No cabin window show ella gleam of light.
 Al at once, while peering round her, Der eyes perceived tumbledown old cabin which showed no sign of light or Ne The door was swinging in the VLd, the wOrmeaten walls seemed scarcely able to support the crazy roof, CD which the wind shook the yellow, l,ly tufts of rotten thatch.
 Stay she cried, Il am forgetting hsoyrwidow whom my husband found le other day alone and i'll. I must see lo| sue Is getting on"
 Sae knocked at the door and listened. Aoone ausweeed Jenny shivered in the oo.i sea wind
 She IS III. And her poor children! oae has only two of them; but she is very poor, and has no husband"
 Sae knocked again, and called out,
 hsy neigAbOr" But the cabin was sui. silent.
 'Heayen' she said, 'how sound she Isels that it requires SO much to wake
 Al the instant the door opened of 1sei She entered. Her lantern illu- -.-e4 Iae interior of the dark and silent s-Oh, and showed her the water falling IoA the ceiling as through the openings ~sae'e At the end of the room an sS'u form was lying--a woman ,"5cAed out motionless, with bare feet s-' Sgntless eyes. Her cold, white arm r.1s town among the straw of the pal
 She was dead. Once a strong and
 4pW mother, she was now only the
 .'@F winch remains of poor humanity
 s' w long struggle with the world.
 ~ Nya' 5 the bed on which the mother lay
 yu'ue children-a boy and a girl ~EtI E together in their cradle and were --'''nS Tn their dreams. Their mother, ,,I ,-,a she felt that she was dying, had
 ,' uer cloak across their feet and y,,l ,ppsa them in her dress, to keep them
 T I~ when she herself was cold.
 4'" sound they slept in their old, tot ,,5 ',"' cradle with their calm breath ,-t - gNet little faces! It seemed as if ,s.1 s,,-'aS could awake these sleeping or
 .'I -'IS Outside the rain beat down in
 ,. " and the sea gave forth a sound
 'n alarm bell, From the old crev- ,3, ,D',, through which blew the gale,
 D, ngp oI water fell on the dead face and
 ''"n 1t like tear.