The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1892-04-30

house where nc uSeu 10 couC iot ouA
ncr frolics, brought no pang with It's
nalf-told tale of the difference between
life in Green's Corners and life in the |
hurrying city. The meadow paths, !
with their winged or creeping citizens.
were Farmer Fry's happy estate, and
the yellow floored kitchen his inner
hearts home. 1t is for this reason that
! most want his swift appreciation OF
his wife's feeling to be felt and praised
Had the coming of Nephew Joshua's
letter been toretold to him, he would
have expected Serena to read 1t cheer
fully, and talk over with him the best
way of sending their thanks Tor the IN
vitatiop, and of telling how impossible
it was for either of then to leave the
farm. He knew now, from her half
excited manner, from the fact that she
had burned the letter as though 1t
brought subtle temptation to wrong,
perhaps from a stray sentence when
he had once read about the hidden de-
sires and discontents in the minds OF
farmers wives, that the invitation had
come to Serena like window opened
into another life, and that she had
faithfully tried and was still trying to
close it
There came with his thoughts no Bit
terness or INDIGESTION. Serena must go
to New York. The farm and he could
put up without her for a week or more.
he thought, If she had borne with them
for twenty-five years! So when he
spoke again. it was, though after
considerable pause, with the same
widespread, kindly smile:
81 hope you'll go. S'rena; it'll do you
good. an you amt no cause to throw
away sech chance"
Serena was astonished; she had ex-
pected her husband to do just what
said he would have expected her to do,
had not love quickened his naturally
leisurely brain. She had said: Get
thee behind me. Satan!" and here was
Joshua serenely inviting that dignitary
forward again. The window was wide
open now, and could not be closed
But Mrs. Frys mind and conscience
did not quickly settle themselves. Not
once or twice was the invitation almost
fully rejected by them during the next
few days, as their owner worked over
frying-pan or scwing-machine, or
talked with her many visitors. For
when it became noised abroad in
Green's Corner that Serena Fry was
thinking of going to New York ito
spend the winter, gossip sometimes
had it; and sometimes, to live). her sit
ting groom became the scene OF great
social activity, and Miss Lamson, the
dressmaker, who had been sewing al
Smithville, came home of her own &C
cord to fit out the traveller for her jour
ney.
So circumstances held the window
open-not Serena-and she let them
and Joshua and the neighbors decide
that she would go, rather than decide
| it herself 1t was Joshua who wrote
the letter tohis nephew that she woule
come, and who, with his own old hands
did the great part of her packing. Fol
Serena, usually the readiest and mos
skillful for work, now seemed dazed
and scarcely half happy at the pros
pect which had been opened before
her.
In the pale gray and green light o
early morning they drove to the rail
road crossing. Trains stopped a
Green's Corners only when an anti
ouated man, who lived in a closet
came out and frantically waved a fiai
ut them. He came out now. ant
LEANED on the flag handle, while Ser
ena tried to look back at the farm
house
Don't you be worried, Serena" sal,
Joshua, cheerfully. "I'll prosper al
right, unless get sick along of eatin
all them pies and fixin's. You mus
hev thought I'd hcv sight of com
pany. Well, good-by; take good car
of yerselfr"-for the fiagmau was wav
ing for all he was worth, and although
Serena privately hoped that the diabol
ical-looking engine would refuse t
stop, it stopped. In a moment NOR
Joshua and the fiagman and the farm
house were as the cinders which wer
ierked past the car window by an ur
seen hand.
So long was it since the wide worl
of travel had shown glimpse of itsel
to Mrs. Fry that the morning passe
swiftly, on account of the rapid
changing scenes through which tn
train fed along, and Serena was NOR
nearly like herself than she had bee
. since the invitation came. But moo
brought dismal rain, which drizzle
down the windows and put the couI
, try in drab mourning, and discourage
nearly every one, especially Seren'
| Not thinking that she had changed he
, place, she felt certain that it was rail
| ing thus dismally at the Corners. an
that Joshua would have to look aft
, the cows in the chilly wetness, and r.
, turn to an equally chilly kitchen an
stove. Presently the indefatigable new
, agent, who had been all the mornir
, firing alternate caramel packages an
books at the passengers. threw par
3 phlet into Serena's seat, and she i'd
!, picked it up and began to read the a