Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1895-03-21

band great man, and to help him to
become one!" said she, with a sup
pressed passion which quite startled
Roderick. Then, laughing again, as If
half ashamed Of her own earnestness,
Suppose since we cannot buy books,
you were to set to work and write
OneY
''You little Solonm cried Roderick,
and said no more. But there was n
CLEAN in his eye, hope in his heart
Something in his wife's words had
stirred in him that ambition which
every man has, or ought to have, else
he Is no true man at all-the wish to
do something, to be something, to cease
drirring aimlessly down the stream Of
life, In the passing pleasures of the
day, but to take firm root somewhere,
strike root downward and bear fruit
upward. And the woman that hinders
him from doing this is no true wife,
but d mere parasite that smothers and
impedes the growth Of the tree. Ay
even though she may garland him as
gorgeously as the lianas do the trees In
Western forests, with what she calls
love, but which Is in truth the merest
selfishness.
She was born mistress Of a house
hold, this young Mrs. Jardlne; none
the less so because Of something in
her beyond it all, which made her often
stop moment in her daily labors to
look ut "the blue hills far away" to
listen to the singing of the burn in the
glen, or the birds in the garden, and
perhaps carol a ditty herself there,
when she was gathering flowers or
pulling fruit out in the open air, for
they had no piano, and she would not
hear Of buying one till the book was
done and they had plenty Of money.
"My darling, you are in one thing
unlike al women-at least all that l
ever knew. You invariably prefer
what you have instead Of what you
have not. Suppose, now, just for n
change, you were to begin worrying
my life out because can not give you
half dozen servants and carriage
and pair, or take you out into society?
My wife, do you mind being poor?"
''Do you? When you are a Jardine-
we are both Jardlnes, for that matter
and you are to be great author, or Il
great man, some dayY
"Eyidently my wife does not believe
the two synonymous, said Roderick,
laughing and cOloring
mot quite, because the author may
lail; whereas the man who does his
woC6-any work-as conscientlously as
you are doing it, must always be, in
one sense, great man. Also the one
Is the worlds property, the other is
miner
She put her arms round his neck; he
eaned against her, for he was, in
truth, a good deal tired. His book had
been bothering him, and he was not
used to being bothered, not accustomed
10 the endless labor, the perpetual
struggle between impulse and perse-
gerance, moods of Grant fancy and
deliberate, mechanical, matter-of- fact
toll which all professional authors I'M
lerstand but too we'll
TITS done at last" said he, almost
with Il shout, as, one late autumn
morning, with the scent Of clematis
and jasmine coming in at the open
window, he finished his book, writing,
in his best and neatest hand, "The
ERa" on the final page. "And yet am
half sorry! | have killed them all, or
married them-made them quite com
Portable, anyhow-and now l rather
miss them. They had grown such
companions; had they not, dear?"
silence smiled; but yet, as she ten
DERBY tied up the MS, carefully count
ing the pages, to be sure that none
were missing, tear fell on the last
one, 1t was so dear to her. this first
work Of her husbands, done in their
FIRST year of married life, and full of so
many associations. She was sure, even
IL 1t came to the twentieth edition,
she should never cease to remember
and cherish it, every line.
twentieth editions do not come ev.
cry day, even to celebrated authors, u
said Roderick, sapiently. 81 should be
glad to sell even the first five, and gel
the money"
Money! am afraid had forgotten
fhc money" said Silence-as, indeed
she had, But for good many days
after, when, the excitement of work
over, reaction came, and Rodericl
booked more pale and ill than she ha(
ever seen him, she began to coun
over her little store, as if by counting
she could double it, and to long, day
by day, for the letter which was t.
bring the hope of that desplsed neces
sity--pounds, shillings and pence.
The last and hardest came one da!
when they had been rather brighte
than usual. Silence had persuaded
her husband to walk down with he
10 the obnoxious cotton mill, in whicl
she had become much interested-hav
ing instituted, or rather carried o.
anew, school for the mill girls, whic
had been the favorite work of Mis-
Jardine. "You will let me do it, JUS
because she did it?" was the entreat
which Roderick could not resist. S
every Sunday, while he took the Ion
$500, A. ,,,I,foI, ,I,