The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1894-10-06

| - IN w. o.
s'You SHALL HAVE IT, OF COURSE
the guarded limits OF the forts, sep
aration that. in too many cases, proved
but the entrance upon that which on
earth, at least, is final. There were
music and dancing, play acting and
feasting, therefore, through the win
ter at Ransom, and frequent exchange
of jovial hospitality with the big
hearted townsfolk over and away at
the transcontinental road, but there
wasn't a day when somebody, from
Tintop down, wasn't sure to drop in
and have chat or game of checkers,
or in the evening hand at whist,
with Morgan, who sat up in an easy
chair and was made as comfort BILE
as willing hearts and hands could
devise, and Mrs. Vinton not only taught
Lot and Billy as she taught her own,
but time and again sent them home in
garments newly fashioned, but with
pardonable mendacity represented to
be something she had that didn't fit
her daughter or that her little Jim had
| outgrown. Comics clear eyes saw
through the stratagem. and her soft
red lips quivered as she kissed the fair
round cheek of the loving woman who
so we'll knew how to bless and comfort,
yet rob the act of every hint Of charity
| And strangely, too, Comics scant sup
| ply of co1nmissary was eked out by
many dainty sent to Morgan's door
from somewhere along the line. No
one ever gave dinner or luncheon, or
supper party, that long winter, with
out a remembrance of some kind for
those motherless kids, often times in
GLIDING some comforting beverage for
| old Morgan himself. Eventhe sutler,
whom the men damned for a skinhint,
found means to ''chip in unknown to
Morgan, who didn't atall like him. and
the surreptitious dozens of stone bot
! ties of stout, glass dittoes OF Bass and
Bndweiser, that had been Struggled in
by the back gate during the last year
of Mrs. Morgan's illness, never found
their way on the bill. He had sent
connie at Christmas a dress of soft
black cashmere over which the child's
womanly eyes had glistened, and
(which, impulsively, she had taken to
her fathers room, opening it before
him and saying: Isn't it lovely?
Wasn't it just lovely Of him?' And
theu she was brought to sudden real
ization of this rancor towards the
trader by the flush that overspread
lMcrgan's face and the heavy frown be-
tween his eyes,
connie, child, you shall have it, Of
course: you need it; but we can't take
presents from Curran. He must put it
on the bill,' he said.
But neither on Comics slender back
nor Curran's bulky bill did those dress
goods ever appear. She sent him a
lnisspelled, grateful little note, saying
! how it touched them all THAT he should
have so kindly remen1 bered her, but
papa was so ''inf1exible' in his views
about accepting ''presants' from friends
they might never be able to repay,
and honest Curran honest at least IN
his desire to do kindness to the tall
slip of girl with the big brown
eyes and auburn hair that made him
think, he sometimes said, of colleen
he'd lost longyears before-honest Cur
ran mistook her meaning entirely,
thought her words Morgan's, and,
mindful of some caustic comments, the
| big lieutenant had made anent suffers
checks he sought to collect at the pay
table several years before, had all his
Irish aroused and was made fighting
mad. ''Ill sind him a resated bill, be-
dad, and cut his acquaintance intlre-
lee,'' said Curran that night, in relat-
ing the incident to some of the boys IN
the club-room, whereupon that ne'er-do-
we'll scapegrace Briggs promptly be-
sought him to take like cognizance OF
the first thing he, Lieut.. Briggs, might
say. as he despaired otherwise OF ever
squaring his account.
But the incident bore its weight OF
woe to Connie, despite the merrlment
it gave the boys. Acting under the
advice of his colonel and his friends,
Morgan was diligently turning over to
the adiutant fifty dollars a month OF
his scanty pay in order that critics and
creditors alike might know he was do
ing all poor devil Of a broken-down
lieutenant could do to pay his debts
without absolutely starving his house
hold. The balance went to Con-
ME. and with this she was expected to
feed, clothe and comfort the family,
paw the cook, laundress and striker.
Morgan had no life-insurance, and IN
those days could get none. Curran was
one of his heaviest creditors, and Cur
ran had been perfectly willing not only
to wait, but to open his storehouse or
purse-strings still wider for the strug-
Cling fellows benefit. Only SO many
dollars month could be parcelled out
for the butcher and baker, the grocer
and the commissary. and Connie kept
her books, and, aided by her lady
friends, kept her accounts. But over
and above all these necessary expenses
| were certain dainties and luxur1es
which Curran had authorized black
| NANNY to draw for at the store when
ever the supply was getting low, and
Morgan, insisting now on auditing tho
accounts, could find no such items on
the bills rendered, and the truth came
o,,+ HrrroY, went off east to buy goods