Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-11-26

Maxim curious mottled patches on the
oaken kitchen floor,
And we were eatin' breakfast was hun
cry as bear
And thinkin' of my corn crop in the
meadow over there.
But Jennie wasn't eatin'; just sat there
sort o. still
A playin' with teaspoon in the way that
women WILL
And now and then saw her lookin' shyly
up at me
In a kind o. wistful fashion, when she
thought didn't See
You sec only noticed in a kind o. general
way,
For was thinkin' busy of the work I'd
do that day. -- @ "a
And so finished breakfast and was gettin'
up to so H
When Jennie asked me softly: Can we
have the carpet, Joe?"
guess 1 answered roughly. for you see I'd
paid bill, H
A big one-'twas for grass scotland an
other at the mill: F..a#. q
eve can't be buyin' carpets and such
things all the while,
And a-throwin' round our money" says i,
ito keep in style. -
You women with your notions would keep
an Aston poor"
And 1 slammed the chair I'd sat in as /
started for the door.
Ny wife she looked up at me in a kind o.
mute surprise,
Her mouth a sort O. tremblin' and grieved
look in her eyes; EHt
But not a word she answered, only looked
so kind O. queer
You see she'd been a-wantin' that new car
pet for year.
hadn't somehow seemed to have the cash
that | could spare:
So she'd fixed and fixed the old one and had
darned it here and there.
1t did look rather shabby, but viewed
such things with scorn
And wouldn't own to nothing as started
for the corn. ..
didn't feel just easy, and it seemed some
how to me
That the music from the robins in the sugar
maple tree,
AS it came a fioatin' down'ards, had a
kind o plaintive strain,
With little notes o. sadness like they have
before a rain.
And then 1 tried to whistle; but I felt bit
AS harnessed up old Billy and started for
the corn.
The corn was rank and thrifty; it stood
even on the ground;
Not a piece I knew could beat it in all the
country TOunO.
And I started up old Billy and commenced
to cultivate,
A-thinkin' how I'd rush things and work
both hard and late.
I'd lots O. work awaitin', and what I'd
planned to do
Would call for 1G hours a day the whole
long season through.
L liked that all the better, for I'd grown
into way
To think O. naught but workin' the whole
endurin day.
Some claims there were upon the place; for
me this made a strife;
I was bound to pay the mortgage if it took
the dear sweet life.
And the workin' and the plannin' and the
savin' came to be
Such a mighty powerful habit that it most
ly blinded me
To the better way O. Twin. to the sweeter
joys of home,
To the beauties and the glories that ever
wait to come
If we will only let them; but didn't know
1t then;
thought my vision perfect-'tis the way,
1 guess, with men.
But as I worked that mornin' back and
forth in each long row,
I did lot of thinkin', and don't know why
twas so,
But somehow, every minute, in way to
bring surprise,
I'd see the face of Jennie with the grieved
look in her eyes.
And then my thoughts crept backward
through the years so swiftly flown:
They'd been, knew, as worthless had
travelled them alone,
For in all the work and plannin' that I'd
ever tried to do,
She always had stood by me, always just
so sweet and true
In sunshine and in shadow, in health and
sickness too
Always, always standin' by me, always
sweet and always true.