The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-09-04

0hOt anL
He had no relish for the simple sup
per that night. The food half choked
him.. He noticed, he knew not why,
that his wife's cough seemed worse
than common, though i'm truth 1t had
growing worse for weeks un-
perceived by him. But the poor woman
looked more cheerful tonight than
her wont.
She was not patching or m~ending
this evening, but vas nursing the
feeble baby in idleness. Her thin
we're family flushed. The
little white heads were happy and
excited over something unusual.
"Dess what, poppy p" piped the
mead that was two sizes larger than
the baby.
"I'm to git all the fine washin' an
from the hotel" said Mrs.
Tarsney, with almost a happy smile.
II can make most q dollar a day out
OF it,"
Poor soul! Happy at tho prospect
OF added toll
AN me an John are TO begin
pickin' grapes at the nursery day after
tomorrow" said Jim, ten years old.
wen git half a CEN u pound"
~ made six cents herdin' Mis- Bar
lows ducks this afternoon" chimed in
Lyddy, the eight-year-old girl.
For u long time these poor souls had
worked, saved and denied themselves
that they might return to the old
had been gnawing at Mrs. Tarsney's
heart for many a long, long day. She
had uttered little complaint, but had
toiled on, wearing her life out over
the wash-tub in the hope of one day
returning to the dear old home COM
munity. Sometimes she said hope
fully
MAYBE my health will be better
when we get back home"
The younger children knew only by
hearsay about the old home, but they
were all strong in the belief that it
was the happiest place on earth.
They we're all of one accord, hungry
to go. No self-denial tending to bring
the happy time nearer was too great
for them to make. Every dollar,
nickel, penny that could possibly be
spared was sacredly boarded to that
end.
The sum required to take them all
was a very great n in their eyes.
Mrs. Tarsney, with pathetic pride, felt
that they must not go looking like beg
gars. New clothes must be provided
Tor all, n no matter how cheap, new
clothes for the entire flock would cost
what was to them another large sum.
In the battered old pewter sugar
bowl in the little cupboard besides the
chimney was one hundred and forty.
two dollars and ~seventy-nine cents, the
savings of many long days of toll and
privation. Out of the hoard the hus-
band and father, too, must be we'll
clothed and provided with q railway
ticket. He had added but little to
the fund, possibly five dollars in all
but then he was the husband and
father. Mrs. Tarsney was afraid of
banks, and so the slowly growing
hoard was kept in the old pewter
sugar-bowl.
ut won't be SO very long, now" the
poor woman said, hopefully, and then
a paroxysm of coughing shook her.
My dollar a day will count up pretty
fast, and Johnny and Jimmy will make
a good deal, while grapes last
Lyman Tarsney lay awake all night
long, torn by doubts and INDIGESTION.
He believed he loved his little flock.
He would have done right by them
long ago, he told himself, if only
something had turned up to give him
a chance to do so. The something for
which he had so patiently waited had
been a long time in turning up. But
now, he thought, the opportunity had
come ; he had his chance at last.
Just as the first faint gray was
creeping up in the east, Lyman Tars-
ney rose from beside his sleeping wife
and stole the battered old pewter
sugar-bowl and it's contents, every
penny of which represented so much
Of patient self-denial, of toll and priva-
tion.
AS he skunk through the room, Mrs.
Tarsncy, disturbed by some slight
noise that he made, stirred uneasilv
and coughed in her sleep, and the
wretched man paused suddenly, as if a
reproachful voice had called to him.
But the poor m did not waken,
and he crept out of the house with
the precious hoard in his clutch.
lie started to stink rapidly away,
and then stopped, he knew not why.
The gray OF the early morning hung
over the sleeping earth, ana dfmmed
the stars, fading slowly before the
coming day. Soft sounds OF the pass
ing night we're borne to his ears with
seemingly unaccustomed clearness.
1t would be train time in q few min
utes. Tarsney took two or three
slouch1ng steps toward the gate, and
then stopped again. The patient wife
and mother, the little flock of white
heads-how terribly they would be
cast down when they discovered the
loss Their grief
But was he not acting for the best,
doing tho best for them? he asked
himself. 1t would not be for long,
n then he would come back with a
muchg greater sum of money than he had
taken away. He would make it all
up to them then, and they would all
back to the old home State.
Still he did not go on. He turned
and crept cautiously to the window.
lett open for the admission to the
breeze. The Don was wrapped in
He could hear the reg lar breathing
of it's sleeping inmates. Mrs. Tars,
ney caughed again feebly in her sleep.
Disturbed by the sound, one of the
little white heads in the trundle-bed
beneath the window stirred
.uneasily and murmured, Poppy =!
Lyman Tarsney clutched the win
dowsill, and then there came the long
drawn, for-Otf whistle of the East
bound train admonishing him that he
had but just time to reach the station. |
He turned and slouched quickly to
the rickety, half-hingeless gate, thon
paused with his hand on it's top. The
little white heads murmured "Poppym
seemed still sounding in his ears.
Ne stood there for q little while,
then his hand dropped from the top OF
the gate and he looked up at the far,
far-off, fading stars in the craving
.ky-looked up helplessly, dumbly
Tor u little time he knew himself for
what he was.
He saw his utter worthlessness.
The cruel, criminal neglect Of years