The aegis & intelligencer., 1895-04-26
hisCeilanenrls.
THE OLD CLOCK.

Love in a cottage is very sweet at
first, but when chinks come in the cot
tage wall and the winter wind rises
and blows through then there must be
bought plaster to fill in the chinks,
for love, like many another sweet,
when exposed too much to the air,
sourS.
When Mamie Kent was a pretty,
single girl, people shook their heads
and warned her against listening to
the suit of Harry Dean. He was only
a poor teamster and had nothing but
his weekly wages. She lived at home
with her mother, helping her to do the
plain sewing which the neighborhood
required and occasionally hiring out
to help the farmers wives at harvest
time.
So the two young folks were equally
poor and equally without expecta
tions, but when did love ever hesitate
at circumstances like these? All his
old, subtle arguments are known.
They were used in this case
1.-The cottage that is large enough
for two is large enough for three.
The added advantage of the mans
wages will more than offset the addi-
tional expense of his keep. The re
sponsibility of wife and home will
make man frugal and thrifty"
All these arguments were used to
Justify and further the suit of Harry
Dean. 1t is so easy for love to con-
vince love that love should be indulg-
ed. So the old arguments were sue
cessful, as usual, and the young peo-
Pile were married.
Who can tell of the bliss of those
first few months, while love grew and
ripened between the two hearts;
when even the stinting and saving
were pleasure, and sacrifice was
pleasant because dictated by love
Harry worked hard, because now he
had such real purpose in working.
By dint of doing overtime he made
some extra money, which all went to
swell the little hoard which they were
laying by for a rainy day, and they
were happy hours which the old
kitchen clock ticked away as it stood
on the white floor and beamed over
the household.
Mamie communed much with the
old timepiece about noon and supper
time. She would look at its smiling
face and then listen till she heard
step on the walk and the CHEEKY voice
of Harry at the door.
Even Ill6 ITsb SIlcl GIdt lSIl Ol1 GhO
household was made sweet to Mamie
by the consciousness that there was
loved one sharing it with her.
1t was just six weeks before her lit
tie one came that Nannie's mother
died and left void in the home that
the advent of the little stranger only
partly filled.
The baby was a boy, and they nam
ed it Harry for its proud father
There were some things the little one
didn't have which it might have had
had not so much of the parents saw
ing gone to pay the grandmother
| doctors bills and funeral expenses.
But he thrived and grew vigorous
and hardy. He was past a year old
and had begun to toddle about when
the darkest days they had ever
known came to the Dean household.
Love in his arguments had proved
an arrant fallacist. He omitted SO
many contingencies which might arise
| when the object he urged was culmi-
| mated. He had failed to tell Mamie
how Harry might fall sick and lose
work and leave her with three mouths
to feed. 1t was at the most discourag-
| ing time, too-near the closing down
| of winter. 1t seemed very hard that
typhoid should take Harry just then,
Just when his strong arm and the result
of his labor were so much needed, when
the family treasury was so greatly de-
pleted, when the stoves needed coal
and the baby woolens. No wonder
that Nannie's heart grew heavy when
she saw the task that was set for her
hands to do. But she took up the
struggle bravely, as only woman
| 1rrha Crraaf lnUp has naHn hnr
heroic. There was the baby to tend,
Harry to nurse and the living to make.
Through many days she sat sewing
by her husbands bed, while the baby
played on the floor, and at night,
when the little one was asleep, she
ioined the double duties of gaining
overtime on her stitches and watching
the invald's feverish slumbers. Now
and then neighbor dropped in to re-
lieye her, but more often her vigils
were kept alone.
The winter was turning into spring
when Harry grew able to get out
again. The long weeks of work and
anxiety had told upon the strength
and energies of Mamie, and her weak
ness, apparent in the weary voice and
slow step, made her husband impa-
tient to assume his old place in the
household.
"I'll have to be doing something
pretty soon, Mamie" he said one day,
Ito take the burden off of your shoul-
ders, or, first thing we know, you'll be
down"
Mamie smiled, but she knew that
her work was not over yet, for i'll spite
of her best efforts during Harry's ill
ness they were in debt, and now that
he was up again work was hard to
find.
One day, as his wife was sitting de-
spondentiy in the little kitchen, he
sprung across the threshold with a
glad cry.
Mamie. Mamie, I've got chance
to pay off our debts and have a little
sum left over to help us on, if you'll
consent to something
Her faca hrirhtaned and she re-