Middletown transcript., 1892-06-02

o that he bore her. Rachels' feeling
are not thought worthy to be men
: toned in Holy Writ; but, if he
love was like Dora's, every day seem
9 ed seven years. And here, in nut
d shell, lies the difference between ,
q mans love and woman's.
J, Jacob had the sheep to mind, and
9 he did mind them uncommonly well
: Joe went to seek his fortune in new
scenes, and only thought of DORIS
when he had nothing else to do. The
! poet thought he had set a hard task
to men when he said,-
) Learn to labor and to wait;
but it is immeasurably harder to be
} idle and wait.
Till her lover went away, Dora
had never cared to ask herself
whether she were child or woman.
+ Sunshine had been plenty with her,
and she had easily sugared and gild-
ed the plain things that farm-life
offered to her.
Before the first year came to an
end, she felt that she should soon arr
rive at patriarchal age if she did
not do something to kill the time
which died so lard on her hands.
Teach school I guess not" said
her father, when she first broached
her plan to him. You amt starvin'
yet; and if you want some new fur
bellows. you just say so, and not come
at it slantin' ways like that.
"I don't want anything, father |;
but there is SO little for me to do at
home."
+" Nonsense In my time. gals was
always full of business. Cant you
make sheets and pillow.casss and get
ready to be married 2 Who knows
but somebody'll ask ye one Of these
days."
g I'd rather teach school, father"
WAL, waal, folks cant always
have their d rathers in this world. I
amt willin', and that's the end ont"
But this was not the end ont, and
Dora easily obtained q school. She
developed governing talent which
charmed the committeeman, and the
congenial labor in the company of
little children took her out Of herself
and infused new life into her hope de-
ferred.
Every week she walked to the post.
Office three miles ava J, to ask for q
letter, going in with a bright flush in
either cheek, and coming out pale
and dull-eyed after the stab of disap-
pointment. / wonder that people in
the county are so anxious to be post
masters if they only knew it. they |
are actors in more tragedies than any |
member of theatrical stock company. |
Much sealed happiness passes through
their hands; but they have to refuse
many Mariana in the Moated
Grange," weary women who reach q
hand out of their dull lives for
letter and draw it back empty.
1t was far into the second year be-
fore Joe's first letter came. It was
surely fanciful and foolish thing
tor a school.mistress to do, but Dora
carried it to her own little room and
put on the red dress before she read
Joe's letter.
Joe was working in the mines in
Colorado. His luck had not yet
come, in nuggets at least, but hard
work and sober living were slowly
giving him the advantage over the
other miners. He was never so we'll,
and he loved her better than all the
world. II
Dora lived on this letter for many
weeks, and she set +" Colorado " for q /
copy SO often to her scholars that they | I
will write that word better than any +,
'ther to their dying day. L
Letters cams oftener as years drew 8
m; sometimes joe was up in the ]
world, sometimes down /; once his |
'arefully -hoarded gold was stolen n
rom him, and he had to begin all S
'ver again; but this was nothing to a
ong illness in which q friend wrote ii
o Dora SO soon as Joe was out of n
anger. Then Dora envied the doves b
heir wings. '
New Years day was the hardest of n
II to bear. She could not help a
trong pressure Of excitement when tc
be put on the red dress. which grew
lore and more old-fashioned, and h
'atched the sun go down on the road "
hich Joe must travel when he should
ome home. The next morning she hi
tied her shoulders sadly to the bur. q
en- of another year. W
One young farmer after another
und bis way to the old farmhouse te
, Sunday evenings, and Dora push wi
them down an inclined plane of tr
scouragement 10 gently that they tu
arcely know whether they had
cant to court her or not. It was d,
1t the least Of her trials to meet the w
treaties of her mother and the gu
ugh arguments Of her father when th
10 or two more persistent suitors
IL L 1