Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1895-03-23

bother with anything that did not Goa
Germ him.
How far he believed this or how far
a mans dislike to scenes or a natural
desire to have his wife's affection cen
tered in himself had to do with his re-
solve he could not have told. He be-
stirred himself, and with infinite trou-
bic and by some outlay he secured an
admission for the child to a deaf and
dumb institution.
1t was this fact he had come to tell
Jean. He rather wished Thrift would
help him to lead up to it by a scene.
Thrift gave him no help. He lay smil-
ing impenetrably.
Jean was not quick at reading signs.
"Jean," he said at last helplesslv,
well be merritt Tuesday"
cay" assented Jean cheerfully. Her
eyes fell naturally on Thrift and she
smiled at the boy.
"And Thrift" John added, with a
suspiciously clear note of Interrogation
in his voice.
Gay, Thrift" she repeated.
cay, Thrift" said John. Then find
ing this even did not progress mattecs IS
he said desperately, with a snatch Of
humor: ''Ye ken I'm no merging
Thrift?'
The old clock licked through the
room The peats spluttered on the 10 W
hearth, in front of which on a curious
~ woven rug Thrift lay.
There was absolute silence for bit.
Then jeans voice broke it.
"Then, John Forbes, ye're no merry
ing me-"
Again there was silence.
John said in quiet voice:
81 haze made a the arrangements for
him, Jean. He will gang to schulz ia
they'll teach him to read and write, and
understand talk of kind"
''Will they teach him to talk like ither
fowk?"
Her tone was eXpressionlesS.
INA, they Gamma dae that"
"Then why should the bairn be both
cred wi learning that'I niver dae him
or onyone else ony guide? Tell me
that, John Forbes"
''It will give him employment, Jean,
and besides Here John Forbes,
with a mans tactIessness, undid every
bit of good his arguments might have
effected. He added: ''Fowk tell me
ye just max an idol O. him, and that
We haze nae ither idea but him. A man
could ma be eXpeck'd to stan that, and
ither people kenning it,
Jean had been passing through a
crisis and she was but a woman.
"And if fowk care to gossip over my
affairs, John Forbes, and you care to
heed them,' she retOrted vehemently.
''If Thrift disna gang wi me nae poo'rs
will tax me to your hOoose."
John was annoyed by her tone.
''And supposing l say l Wilma haze
Thrift?"
They sat on in strained silence.
John was too angry to move or
speak Jean had no wish, either, to
break the silence.
"Ye ken this is the second time your
obstinacy has come in the wye" said
John, finally.
81 mind" said Jean, briefly. "But I
didna mean We to TAX it as ye did yOn
time" she added.
Il didna KEN replied John.
1t struck neither of them that there
was any pathos in the sentence-a
pathos of ten years mistaken silence!
"Are ye sure We mean it noo?' he
asked, getting up.
''I certainly dae," said Jean, firmly.
''Then guid-by, jean"
'Guid-by."
The instant the door was shut Jean
almost strangled Thrift with kisses.
Unfortunately the practical things
could not be settled so summarily
Jean had given up her house, and she
found it was let to the new dress
maker. She was not accustomed to
complications in her life. Alternatives
seemed to crop up and they worried
her. At the same time Thrift was her
one object. Everything was directed
to his aim. After some few weeks she
got a tumble-down little cottage about
q half mile from the straggly village.
1t proved too far, or the "hang" of the
new dresSmakers skirts proved too
much for Jeans old customers. Work
and pay became scant. The little dress
maker bore up proudly and bravely.
She stinted and starved herself. but
Thrift grew and fiourished. There
loomed before her always a fear of the
charity" where her boy might be
taught-and no one knew at what ex-
pense of unkindness.
If the worst came to the worst she
would ask John Forbes to get him in,
and she would become a servant One
wintry evening the child was fretful
and ailing. A knock came to the door
and John Forbes entered. He did not
seem to notice the extreme poverty of
the cottage, nor the miserable attempt
at the fire. This fact brought rush Of