Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1892-03-04
SERENA'S VISIT.
How She Accepted the Invitation
from Fer Nephew.

How She Accepted the Invitation
from Fer Nephew.
Mrs Serena Fry sat idly in the cal
icc-cushioned chair in the kitchen.
This fact, innocent at distant acquain-
tance, becomes startling to anyone
knowing well Mrs Fry. a robust, in
dustrious farmers wife, her years,
growing fast to be numerous, sat light
ly upon her, and did not turn her for a
moment from her daily work, always
cheerily and faithfully and increasingly
performed So long (ahi only the old
/ kitchen. with its yellow almanac hang
/ ing behind the stove and its fading,
! dull yellow floor knew how long) had
! she on every afternoon gone about
the same round of duties, from the
/ time when Joshua left the dinner
/ table to the hour when he re-
| turned from the field, that it was much
more easy to go on with them than it
could have been to pause. Yet there
she sat Idly in the old rocker, the stove
half polished, and the brush on the
hearth, while the sun was giving his
| last wink above the red barn on the
hill Besides, her usually CHEEKY face
was clouded-not with anger or sor-
row, but with deep perplexity.
Serena" she said, of sudden, rising
with her accustomed briszness, you
ought to be clean ashamed of yourself
II ever Satan got into anybody, it's
you The idea of your sittin' idle, with
the work only half done, thinkin'
about goin' to New York; 1t would be
bad enough eff everything YVES done up.
Holidays amt for lazy folks, that's
certain" And even as she spoke, the
stove began to smile out in its usual
polished manner.
When the last bit of work had been
accomplished, and the old Bible, with
Joshua's spectacles on it. was awaiting
evening prayers from the lamp stand,
Mrs Fry sat down, and said:
II had letter to-day, Joshua"
You don't say." said he, stopping in
the act of putting on his spectacles.
"From John?"
NO" said his wife: 'from Nephew
Joshua, in New York
You don't sayl'' said Joshua again.
"Do you want to read it aloud.
S'rena?"
81 would, butt burnt it up. There
want nothin' secret in it, and knew
right afterwards what thing Il was 20
do before you'd seen it: but someway
it didn't seem as if twas right to keep
it."
''Not right, S'renap Has Joshua been
doin' anytime"
mo, indeed" said his wife, hastily.
''Twas real nice letter. / noticed
particular that he signed his name
Joshua S. Fry as If to kind o remind
himself that he was named after you.
1t amt worth speakin' of, but it was
printed j. Sylvester on the enUelope. :"
81 amt mite surprised" said
Joshua, with a kindly smile. "It's @
sight handsomer name. But what did
he say?"
"He wanted me to come to New
York" sand Mrs. Frye; and for her life
she could not have said a word more.
Her husband waited moment in
silence, and then he spoke again: ITO
stay, S'rena?"
Joshua Fry, how you talkl He
amt quite Il fool To make n visit. &"
Serena let these short sentences shoot
out from her lips as though they were
| loaded. "He said he an Susie had
been wantin' me for a long time. an
he thought could be spared from the
farm now as well as any time, sccin'
he remembered the hayiD' must be
over; an secin' I'd never been TO New
York, he did hope I'd come. An he
sent me O. railroad pass
did you burn that up, too?" asked
| Joshua; but rs he spoke he noticed IL
for the first time lying by the Bible.
and he leaned forward to read il. Once
and again did he examine the innocent
document, and still turned IL over in
his hand when his eyes were looking,
as it were, far away.
For fve-and-twcnty years q said
only the old kitchen knew how long,
but | bribed IL to tell mel had Joshua
and Serena Fry lived together and
worked together without separation or
holiday. Their welded love was Of
the old fashioned sort. and dwclt not
In many words, as il began not with q
wedding tour. but thrived in faithful
common toll They were not only un-
complaining, but happy.
AS Joshua sat thinking these things,
the sudden invitation of his br others
boy, who had before this shown his
/ kindly remembrance OF the old farm
| house where he used to come for sum-
mer frolics, brought no pang with It's
half-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 citizcna
were Farmer Fry's happy estate, and
the yellow foored kitchen his inner
hearts home. II is for this reason that
I most want his swift appreciation Of
his wife's feeling TO be felt and praised
Had the coming Of Nephew Joshua's
letter been foretold to him, he would
have expected Serena to read IL cheer
fully, and talk over with him the best
way of sending their thanks for the in
vitation, and of telling how impossible
1t was for either OF them 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 II stray sentence which
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 indecision. Serena must go
TO New York. The farm and he could
put up without her for week or more,
he thought, II she had borne with them
for twenty-five years! So when he
spoke again, 1t was, though after a
considerable pause, with the same
widespread, kindly smile:
IL hope you'll 20, S'rcna; itll do you
good, an you amt no cause TO throw
away scch u chance"
Serena was astonished; she had cx-
Auected her hpsllgud % DO inst what !