The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1896-02-12

bitterness of poverty now And Frank
nobody exactly knew how--hadret-
regarded in the world until the hum
BILE situation Of bank clerk at sal
ary pitifully small, was all the dread
winter left to him.
And when they brought him home
one night with his arm fractured from
fall on the icy pavement. Mamie
felt that her cup of bitterness was in
deed full.
AZ don't mind the pain for myself" :"
Frank had said, "but to lie still for
nobody knows how long, and my wife
and the little ones with not cent
ahead The rent must be paid, and
the grocer's bill, and the children
must wear clothes-God help us! 1
don't know what the end of all this is
to be y"
But Mamie knew-and towards twi-
light, when Frank had fallen into q
troubled slumber, and little Annie sat
watching beside his pillow she put on
her bonnet and stole unseen to an en-
ployment bureau.
When she returned, il was with q
bundle under her arm-sewing which
she had obtained.
"Oh, Mamie, have we come to
this?" her husband asked, sadly, rs
she sat down by his bedside to COM
mence her task.
"We cannot starve, dear-and there
is just dollar and half in your
pursel"
81 know it-but--"
He stopped abruptly and turned his
face to the wall with groan.
Little Rose came to her mother,
with pleading eyes, at this moment.
"SIamma, can Harry and | have
Uncle Jared's Bible to look at the
funny pictures!"
Mamie rose, reached down the
dusty book from its obscure resting
place aud placed it on chair, where
the children could turn over the
leaves at their leisure.
"Be careful not to tear it dear, 4"
she said, thinking sadly how all
the other gay wedding gifts had
vanished, and how this alone remained
relic of the days of prosperity.
Uncle Jared was dead long ngo, and
his money had gone to a hospital.
She was thinking of all the sorrow
full change ten years had wrought, as
she stitched away.
Mamma" cried Rose, from the
chair, here are two leaves stuck to-
gether!"
Mamie leaned over to see. The
child was right. Two leaves in the Book
of Psalms we're pasted together by the
edges on all their sides. She took up
the scissors to separate them, with
vague, Indifferent sensation of curl
osity. To her astonishment, two thin
slips of paper dropped out.
"What are these?" said inquisitive
Rose, stopping to pick them up.
And Mamie, scrutinizing them
more clesely, saw that they were bank
notes for five hundred dollars each!
She sat moment in sort of be-
wilderment-and then like a ldden
inspiration, came back to her the
stories she had always heard of Uncle
Jared's strange eccentricities. This
was one of them-the bridal gift he
had intended to bestow upon her, had
been hidden away in this strange cas-
ket. And now, like special Provi-
dence. it came to supply her utmost
needs!
She leaned over and placed her hand
upon her sleeping husbands brow-he
awoke with a start.
81 have been asleep" he said, look
ing confusedly at her with that strange
mingling of reality and fancy which
sometimes follow us out OF slumber.
81 have been dreaming that we were
rich |"
"We are rich, Frank" she said in q
voice that trembled. And she told
her tale.
"a thousand dollarsl We are rich
indeed!" he exclaimed. "It will sup-
port us until my arm gets all we'll
again"
1T will do that, and havo a little
to begin the world anew with. said
Mamie, with tears in her eyes. Poor,
dear Uncle Jared-if he could only
| aae how verv happy he has made uf