The Press., 1893-11-16

Aol lSdhoeS VEIL, tHc WOiudu cOulu uhTuly calm her own nervous mood. Mrs. Shaw remembered a dreadful thing she once did. It always made her nervous when- ever she thought of it, although 1t was so long ago. She had always been afraid that Mir. Shaw would find out about it some way, though she could not see how. It was once when it had been resolved among the church ladies that all the wo- men should be asked to give twenty cents apiece to help pay for large new lamp to be hung up by the pulpit, so that the minister could see better to read.
 Mrs. Shaw had listened to the resolu- tion, and had gone home thinking despair ingly of how she was to get even such 8 sum as twenty cents. Her husband was considered good man by his fellow-citi- zens, but Mrs. Shaw would not have felt equal to asking him for that twenty cents. In the midst of the quiet of that Sunday afternoon, a desperate thought came to Mrs, Shaw, a thought that shocked her at first. But it would keep coming. MT. Shaw, in those days, was very particular about his shirts He did not think his wife could do them up well enough, so he was wont to have a neighboring washer woman wash and iron the shirts at her own home, and he paid her twenty-fiv cents every week. Supposing-only SUD- posing-that the next day, Monday, after MT. Shaw went down town, his wife l chnn1d fo1z ,L; 4l l. pected to have washed and should wash and iron them herself-oh, so very, 0ery carefully, to be sure they looked as well as if the washer-woman had done them! and then supposing, when MT. Shaw handed his wife the twenty-five cents to pay the washer-woman, Mrs. Shaw should not say, "I washed those shirts myself, this week." but should take the money as usual, and should give it straight to the church lady who was treasurer for that lamp, and should leave MT. Shaw to think that the washer-woman did the shirts.
 Mrs. Shaw was startled. when she first thought of this plan. She put the idea away from her.
 | "It would be deceiving him u' she whis- pered to herself.
 But the thought came back again and again. She could not bear to be the only woman in the church who could not give twenty cents toward that lamp. She knew how much the minister, dear old man, with his failing sight, needed the lamp Sunday evenings. And she could not ask MT. Shaw for the money.
 l And so, in addition to her usual wash ing that Monday, Mrs. Shaw, instead of sending the three shirts away, washed and ironed and worried over them in guilty trepidation, till at last she thought cer- tainly MT. Shaw never could know from their looks who did those shirts She hid the glossy white garments till Wednesday, when MT. Shaw gave her the quarter of a dollar to hand to the wash-woman. Mrs Shaw took the money, and that night MT. Shaw found the three nicely ironed shirts in his drawer, as usual. That night, too, at prayer meeting, his wife stealthily gave the quarter to the lady treasurer for the lamp. Mrs. Shaw lived through the rest of the week in constant alarm lest her husband should say something about her misdeed, but he never discovered it's Yet the memory of this incident had ever since haunted her.
 "lt was deceiving," she owned to her self, and she prayed to be forgiven.
 She remembered this past dreadful deed now, as she went about her work after Margaret had gone.
 "The Lord forgive me-" said Mrs. Shaw humbly, Dear Lord, thou knowest how it was." And then she added under her breath, "rm so glad thought of those dried peaches!"
 But the dried peaches were Mrs. Shaw's last gift. Before the missionary barrel was ready to be sent away, she was taken with her last illness.
 Several weeks after the funeral, Mar garet and one of the ladies of the church were together, finishing the packing of the mission barrel. Margaret took up one brown paper parcel, and held it 0 moment in her hand, before putting the bundle into the barrel.
 "What is that ?" asked Mrs. Thayer, pausing as she noticed how Margaret looked at the bundle.
 T Its Mrs. Shaw's dried peaches" an swered Margaret softly, the tears coming into her eyes as she remembered the flus- | f,,f ln,> hot ba Mrs. Shaw's face at the time of the gift, "she gave them to me for the barrel, the week before she was taken sick. It was all she could give, she said, and she was so glad she thought of these peaches to give"
 . Mrs. Thayer wiped her eyes. "That missionary's wife won't know where she gets them," Mrs. Thayer said, "but presume Mrs. Shaw is glad this minute about the peaches. She was a real good woman, Mrs, Shaw was. Inev- , CT had anybody bring me so many flowers as Mrs. Shaw did. You know I live up over a grocery store, and haven't any , garden, and so, every Wednesday night | prayer-meeGlng, Sned DrlnS ne uoWn U 3 little bunch of pinks, maybe, or sweet peas, or something sweet. You don't know how much I thought of them. And one Wednesday night I wasn't there, and, the next time I saw her, she said You weren't out to prayer-meeting last Wednesday, and I gave your flowers to f some body else.' Yes, Mrs Shaw always a liked to give.
 "Seems as though she was always f thinking what good she could do! re S member once she sent root of a rose up by me to some folks was going to call on l. And times when MT. Shaw wasn't using ! t.Loid tnlr.a 4La4 ,ld h,,1.c..r