South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1892-09-16

[coNcLUDED.l

gray stubble on his chin then he
said slowly: 81 DIN know, maybe
it's so. / never thought about it
in just that way" Mrs. Bates
came around the corner OF the house
just then aud took down some
clothes from the line in the side
yard. Her husband watched her
mechanically as she folded and pla-
ced them in the basket.
'sYour wife is a marvel to me,
accomplishing al she does" Mrs,
Bradley said as she watched her,
"but she looks worn she will break
down some day suddenly, / fear. 1t
would make q wonderful difference
In this house to have her busy hands
and feet still forever, wouldn't it ?"
The deacon turned and looked at
Mrs. Bradley half wildly, as if such
thing had never before crossed his
mind. Then he got up. strobe over
to the limo just as his wife was about
to lift the heavy basket of clothes,
and taking it from her carried it
into the house. Sac followed,
amazed.
Not since the first years of their
married life had .sDan ~ offered to
do any of her work. What had
come over him ?
When Deacon Bates had any,
thing special on his mind he was
wont to betske himself to the orch
ard. lie went there now and sat
down on low gnatled limb, and
leaning his head against tree, tri-
ed to think over the tormenting
words Mrs. Bradley had just spo-
ken. They nettled him. He told
himself she ought to mind her own
business. But after all he had
himself TO blame. BY his own
confession his wife was a haI d-work-
ed woman. 1t was too humiliating !
He had prided himself upon being
kind to animals and considerate to-
wards help. Was it possible he had
been cruel to his own wife? 1t
must look SO, or a good woman
like MIRA. Bradley would not have
spoken as she did.
The deacon was a good man. He
was not going to spare himself now
that his eyes were getting wide
open. He went back over the years
when they first came to CHS farm,
when "Cynthy" was young and
bright. She used TO talk and laugh
then. VIVA, had changed her into
the silent woman she now was? eff
her busy hands and feet should be
still foreverl" What awful words !
He had no more calculated on any
change of that kind than that the
old eight day clock which had tick
ed on Tor forty years should sud-
denly leave it's place. And then,
that q ,eadful thought about farm
ers' wives becoming insane. He
hat read enough to know that mel
ancholy is one species of insanity.
What if chat state should be slowly
coming upon his wife, for certainly
she grew more silent and sad year
by year. 1t must be that she did
work too hard, for when he came to
reckon it up and tell over to Mrs.
Bradley, all the work she did sum-
mer and winter, it was more than
he had supposed. How could she
get any time for reading or going
outf And now that he thought Of
it she never went anywhere, except
to church, aud not always there
because often she was too tired
How different it used to be- Once
she frequently went to town with
him and they occasionally took
tea with a neighbor or drove in to
tho sewing society. But of late
years work had been 30 pressing
that there had been no time for GO
ing or inviting company. lie had
just gone on buying more land and
more COWS and employing more
men, so adding to hor labor, while
she had but the one helper they
used to have when the farm was
small. And as il this was not
enough he had encouraged her to
90 on taking summer boarders oc-
casionally, as she had herself sug.
gested long ago, one year whom the
crops had failed. And he pretend
ing to think that che did it all be-
cause she loved work so much.
That was all stun J lie had seen
her stand in the door aud look az
ter him, when he rode of to town
on pleasant afternoon, and no
had heard something like e sigh
just as he started. The dear pa
tient woman had not complained
or said sharp words he wished she
had, then maybe her pig-headed
husband might have seen things as
they we're. The truth was the love
Of money had taken possession Of
him, and he had sacrificed every
thing. He had not even limited to
his wife that she must spare her
self, and he had forgotten to speak
words Of praise. Ho hated him.
self For although he had been
mean and selfish and grasping, he
still loved the wife Of his youth.
What would all the money and land
no had scraped together be to him
when he had laid her in tho old bu
rying ground? The sturdy farmer,
as ne sat there thinking those sharp