The Forrest City times., 1893-10-20

poets will be perpetuated.) All right, !" he said, cheerfully; 'I will come down into the kitchen and sit; it is cool this
 morning, and the fire will be agree able.' But 1 shall make so much
 noise,' I said; ''I cannot help it; it will be unpleasant for you ''Oh, l shall
 not mind it in the least" he replied; 'T am not one of those men whose train of 1 thought is interrupted by trifes. I have work that will keep me until
 about ten, and then can read to you | for an hour or two"
 l went about my kitchen, washing the dishes and preparing the vegetables 1 for dinner, with glow at my heart. l was touched by my husbands kindness l The book was entitled Reconciliation
 of Science and Religion" and was writ ten by light in the scientific world | who had been his instructor, and it was especially interesting to him from per- sonal reasons; but his thoughtfulness l in selecting this work. which he bad
 read long before, was very gratifying to me because l appreciated his motive.
 have noticed so many strictures upon
 the views of Darwin, Huxley and Her. bert Spencer. from sources that 1 be- lieve are pure, and more than once our
 minister has made allusions to scien- l lists which have quite worried me, so that Augustus understands that am quite anxious lest his faith should be 1 undermined. He scoffs at what he con-
 siders my weak fears, but he has often
 referred me to this book, and l knew that he wanted to reassure me.
 had buttered my tins and put my in-
 gredients into my mixing bowl when promptly at ten he came down the back stairs, volume in hand, and took
 his position near the kitchen table.
 He did look so noble sitting there in
 the new dressing gown l had finished
 the week before, and it brought back
 old times so forcibly that the flood of
 memories almost made me lose the
 opening sentences. I stirred away at
 my mixture as softly as possible, but
 every stroke of the spoon against the | bowl jared on my nerves. It is al-
 ways quite difficult for me to take in
 readily the meaning of works of this sort, and l frequently have to go over
 one sentence several times l asked Augustus to re-read once or twice, but ! it annoyed him, so only listened more 1 intently, and said nothing if did not
 understand I had just put my dough
 on the molding board when Mrs. Eos ter came into the kitchen; she is my
 neXt-door neighbor and never uses any ceremony. Augustus does not approve 1 of her, because he thinks she is such a
 gossip; and so she is, but she is kind hearted and an excellent neighbor, and well, l suppose l am not as adverse to
 hearing a little gossip as l ought to
 be, having such high-toued husband l but 1 wished she was in Guinea just 1 then, She and Augustus both looked sheepish when they saw each other,
 and she set down the cup of
 starch which she had borrowed,
 and, saying that she could not
 stay minute, turned again to | the door followed, for I thought
 ought to be civil. She stopped to tell
 me that the head of the family that
 had moved in opposite was a detective,
 and that there was a case of scarlet fever on the next block. Augustus had
 resigned look when I returned, but | he magnanimously said nothing. In | five minutes more the grocer's boy came for orders, but that did not de- tain us long. It seemed as though my rolling-pin had never made so much
 noise, and my head began to throb with
 the effort to listen, and it became still
 worse when l began the lively process
 of baking and rolling out at the same time; every now and then Augustus would glance up, as much as to say: There's a fine passage for you" and | would smile in vacant sort of way to show him that l appreciated it. At one
 place he stopped and enlarged upon the subject in way which was very inter-
 esting, but l knew I ought to look in
 the oven, and hated to interrupt him, so I waited till he turned to his volume
 and then found two tins of cakes
 burned black. I was so thankful he
 did not notice it-he is such an econo-
 mist; but it is very true that he is mot
 a man whose train of thought is inter- rupted by trifles."
 After the cakes were rolled out and
 had nothing to do but watch the oven
 managed to grasp the thought little
 better; but just as I was removing the
 cakes from tin and my attention was
 momentarily diverted he turned to me with the exclamation: ''There! isn't that well put?" 'Yes. indeedr' I said
 with emphasis: and the lie troubled my conscience for two days thereafter.
 Our little three-year-old Isabel, who had been playing in the sunshine on the front porch, now came in, wheel ing her doll-carriage. You must be very quiet if you stay here," whis-