Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1895-01-18
XI-Continuod.

ROderick. Then, laughing again, us If
talf ashamed of her own earnestness,
Suppose since we cannot buy books,
eou were t set to work and write
sne?"
You little Solon!" cried Roderick,
and said nc more. But there was Il
CLEAN in his eye, a 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
tie is no true man at all-the wish to
do something, to be something, to cease
drifting %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 wonlan that binders
him from doing this is no true wife,
but a mere parasite that smothcrs and
lmpedes he growth OF the tree. Ay,
even though she may garland him as
g%orgeously as the lianas do the trees in
Western forests, with what she calls
love, but which is in truth the mcrest
selfiShness.
She was n born mistress of a house
hold, this young Mrs. Jardine: none
the less so because of Il something in
her beyond it all, which made her often
stop n homer in her daily labors to
took at 1.-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 vas
done and they had plenty of money.
"Afy darling, you are in one thing
unlike all wOmen-at least, all that 1
ever knew. You invariably prefer
what you have instead of what you
have not. Suppose, now, just for n
change, you We're to begin worrying
my life out because l can not give you
half n dozen servants and a carriage
and pair, or take you out into society?
My wife, do you mind being poor?"
ID you? When you are a Jardine-
we are both Jardines, for that matter
and you are to be a great author, OF q
great man, some day?"
Evidently my wife does not believe
the two synonymous" said Rodcrick,
laughing and coloring.
Not quite, because the author may
fail; whereas the man who does his
work-any work-as conscientiously as
you are doing 1t, must always be, in
one sense, n great Also the one
is the worlds property, the other is
mine!!"
Shn nIIf hnf 11snlS wound hfC pNNa1-s hn
leaned against her, for he was, in
truth, a good deal tired. His book had
been bothering him, and lie was not
used to being bothered, not accustomed
to the endless labor, the perpetual
struggle between impulse and perse-
verance, moods of Grant fancy and
deliberate, mechanical, m~atter-of-fact
toll, which all professional authors un-
derstand but too well.
"Its done at last" said he, almost
with q 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, 1.-The
End" on the final page. "And yet 1 am
half sorry! l 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, a 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 SC
many associations. She was sure, eve
IL 1t came to the twentieth edition
she should lever cease to remember
and cherish it, every line.
twentieth editions do not come CIV
cry day, wen to celebrated authors
said Rodericll, sapiently. 81 should bt
glad to sell even the first five, and gel
the money!"
"Money-I nm afraid l had forgotten
the money!" said %Silence-as, indeed
she had. But for Il good many day.
after, when, the excitement Of worl
over, a reaction came, and Rodericl
looked more pale and i'll than she hat
ever seen him, she began to coun
over her little store. as if by countin.
she could double it, and to long, da.
by day, for the letter which was Il
bring the hope of that despised neccs
.sity-pounds. shillings and pence.
The last and hardest came one da,
when they had been rather brighte
than usual. Silence had persuade,
her husband to walk down with he
to the obnoxious cotton mill, in whicl
she had become much interested-hav
ing instituted, or rather carried OF
anew, q school for the mill girls, whicl
had been the favorite work of Mis-
Jardine. "You will let me do 1t, jus
because she did it?" was the entreat,
which Roderick could not resist. s.
every Sunday, while he took the Ion
stretch across the country which sh
had insisted upon after the labors o
the week. che had gone down to o
-r HN.rN