The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1897-02-25

~ ODtuiuR MS mOTuiuA
NSF mail and giving in
SHsH structions to his
HMf clerks with surly
1ORss" c%urtness. Presently
~ he picked up a large
square envelope and paused, with the
paper-knife poised, ready to be in.
serted under the flap. A Whit of vio-
lets had greeted him as he took the
letter in his hand.
"Humph!" he snorted, as he looked
at the address and tho red seal on the
back, and wondered whom the unusual
letter could be from. Square envel-
opes had no place in business cores
pondence, and business letters are
more likely to smell of birthstone than
of violets. After the first surprise he
inserted the paper knife and gave a
savage rip. As the knife passed
through, it brought out the end of a
little blue ribbon, and a moment later
the surly lumber merchant had a
valentine in his hand. He felt dazed
as he looked at the tlimsy lace paper
and the little pink and white Cupids
that smiled out at him. Turning it
over he saw, written on the back in a
childish hand:
with love to papa, from Mile"
A valentine from his little daughter,
the first he had ever received! He
read the simple verse that was printed
on it:
II your heart he pure and free,
pray you give your heart TO mo.
with love will give you mine,
Let rue be your valentine.
As he handled it gently with his
rough, hard fingers, a glow pervaded
him, as if something for which he had
been longing all his life had come at
last. Just then he heard a litter be-
hind him, and, turning quickly, saw
that the typewriter girl had been
watching. With a muttered oath he
threw the valentine to the back of his
desk, and a feeling almost of nausea
overcame him. The success with which
he had been satisfying mis- pride and
starving his heart became odious to
him in an instant, and tho emptiness
of his life came back with stinRing
force What did IL matter t1aS' he had
fought his way from the lumber.oamps
in the backwoods of Maine to the
position OF foremost Lumber dealer in
New York? he had allowed himself
to be married for his money !; he was
a stranger IN his own house !; he was
hardly acquainted with his only daugh.
ter, because, forsooth, his wife kept
them apart for fear the child should
acquire the Scotch burr he inherited
from his parents, and for which he
was freely ridiculed. She must acquire
a pure English accent, and to this end
had been sent away to q fashionable
boarding.school, after a preliminary
course of study with an imported gov
erness. Faugh! 1t made him sick to
think of it. Only work would give
him ven a ieeting relief. He must
bestir himself, instead of dreaming.
She had sent him the valentine simply
because other girls were sending them,
not because she meant It'll The heart.
sick, lonely man reused himself from
his unpleasant reverie and resumed
the work of the day. He punished
the tittering typewriter by giving her
enough work to keep her fingers
rafting the keys until after hours.
Then he went into the yard to see how
things vera going on. Everything
was wrong.
"Here |" he growlcd to his foreman,
'don't You know enough to pile them
planks wi'the heart side down? You're
piling them sap down, an they'll check
rot. How many times have l told
you how to do it? Can't l ever learn
you to do it right?"
One after another, the workmen
were scolded. and they, good men,
credited it all to the 'old mans stylish
wife,"
"Ho's been havin' another row at
home" they said, IAN is takin' it out
of u.s."