Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1895-05-03
THE OLD CLOCK.

LILLE ULU CLUCA.
Love in 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 pretty, SIN
gle girl, people shook their heads and
warned her against listening to the suit
of Harry Dean. He was only poor
teamster and had nothing but his week.
~ wages. She lived at home with her
mother, helping her do the plain sewing
which the neighborhood required and
occasionally hiring out to help the farm
ers' wives at harvest time.
So the two young folks were equally
poor and equally without expectations,
but when did love ever hesitate at cir
cumstances like these? All his old, SUBJ
tie arguments are known. They were
used in this case.
''The cottage that is large enough for
two is large enough for three. The add
ed advantage of the mans wages will
more than offset the additional expense
of his keep The responsibility of a wife
and home will make man frugal and
thrifty
All these arguments were used to JUS
tify and further the suit of Harry Dean.
1t is so easy for love to convince love
that love should be INDUCED. So the
old arguments were successful, as usual,
and the young people were married.
Who can tell of the bliss of those first
few months, while love grew and rip
ened between the two hearts; when even
the stinting and saving were pleasure,
and sacrifice was pleasant because die
tated by love? Harry worked hard, be-
cause 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 rainy day, and they
were happy hours which the old kitchen
clock licked 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 it's smiling
face and then listen till she heard a step
on the walk and the CHEEKY voice Of
Harry at the door.
Even the first grief that fell on the
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 little
and left void in the home that the adj
vent of the little stranger only partly
filled.
The baby was boy, and they named
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 savings gone to
pay the grandmother doctors bills and
funeral expenses. But he thriyed and
grew vigorous and hardy. He was past
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 eliminated.
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 discouraging time, too
near the closing down of winter. It
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 depleted, 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 can whose great love has
made her 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
joined the double duties of gaining
overtime on her stitches and watching
the invalid's feverish slumbers. Now
and then a neighbor dropped in to re-
lieve 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 weakness, apparent in
the weary voice and slow step, made
her husband impatient to assume his old
place in the household.
''I'll have to be doing something pretty
soon, Nannie,' he said one day, ''to
take the burden off of your shoulders,
OR, first thing we know, you'll be
down"
Mamie smiled, but she knew that her
work was not over yet, for in spite of
her best efforts during Harry's illness
they were in debt, and now that he was
up again work was hard to find.
One day, as his wife was sitting de-
spondently in the little kitchen, he
sprung across the threshold with glad
Cry.
mamie, Mamie, I've got a chance
to pay off our debts and have a little
sum left over to help us On, if you'll
consent to something"
Her face frightened, and she replied:
"What is it wouldn't consent to do to
be able 10 do that, Harry? Tell me,
what is your plan?"
"You know there is a wealthy wom
an from the city visiting the DOCTORS
wife?''
Eyes"
"Well, she heard that we had an old
fashioned clock, and she wants to buy
it, She'll give us $35 for it. Think of
it, $35v
''Sell the old clock, HarryP' exclaim-
ed his wife.
Eyes" he replied. "Why not? We
can get a new one some day that'll sit
on the mantel and not take up SO much
room in the kitchen. -
"But I couldn't do it, Harry,
couldn t do it. It was mothers, and her
moth er's before her, and it would be
like parting with one Of the family
Don't ask me to consent TO that, Harry.
Surely there will be some other way
opened for u.s.