Middletown transcript., 1897-02-20

Ie tute elaborate searches for unknow
k articles, and if his wife asked him wha
he was looking for or begged to bel
: him he invariably turned deaf ear
% He found numberless things requirin,
g his immediate attention within sight o
i the kitchen door. 1t was not that h
o wanted to be near at hand to answer |
!, spoken to; he wanted to be spoke to anC
y not answer. He also developed rigiC
: independence in his toilet. He eouiG
: look after himself, he guessed; he didn'l
want any meddling with his things
, Que rainy day he was busy for some
time ups airs, aud his wife found later
} on that he had been turning out the
contents of his bureau drawers and re.
, arranging them after an original scon-
i ception of his own. By this time she
would have worn sackcIoth and ashes,
if sackcloth and ashes had had anything
to do With the case. He even refused
assistance with his collars, going so
far as to trim off the frayed edges of an
old one TO wear to town met ting, much
to her modification, and on Sunday,
while diving to church, as she saw his
checked necktie sliding around to his
ear and ventured to replace it, he de-
liberately put up his left hand and
showed it around again. Then she knew
that he was very mad.
OF course, it wore off in time; but a
touch of new independence remained,
and another result less palpable per-
haps, shading off, as it were, of the
undisturbed self-impoltLuce which had
hitherto marked his demeanor. A man
cannot be confined four or five hours in
closet on broiling day in July, from
circumstances over which he has no
control, and preserve intact his sense
Of conscious superiority over all mani
mate things. Even a stout wooden
button of his own fashioning may be
sufficient agent to enlarge his views.
The instruments that shape our end s
are not always such as we would choose
ourselves. It is a curious fact, y ct,
true, that t-nothing had ever done lsra g
Tucker more good than being shut upl
in that closet,
In the first sharp days of fall Mrs.
Tucker fell sick, and when she recov-
cred the doctor told her husband that
her heart was weak. "You must see
to it now that she doesn't overdo," he
said. ''Make her sit down more, and
not stoop over or reach up, or get tired
OUT"
He was young doctor and very able. |
Isreal went to the door to see him drive |
out OF the yard in his mud-splashed |
buggy. He did not go back to the room
where his wife was. He looked out of |
the end window. Little was to be seen
from the window, and that lite he did
not see, but he stood there some time.
It was trial to the able-bodied wo-
man, whose life had been spent in tax
ing steps for others, to give up her ac-
tive ways and let many things go un-
done. Isreal did his best to follow the
DOCTORS institutions. He did more;
he began in feeble, rudimentary fash
ion to take care of her. At first IL seemed
to Mrs. Tucker more bother than use.
She expressed herselfquite openly about
it. She had never been scold, but she
had had her own way in that kitchen.
His fingers were all thumbs. When he
broke the handle off the sugar bowl
trying to make her cup of tea she felt
that the whole household was going TO
wrack and ruin, and told him SO.
By-and-by 1t began o give her GER
ia in pleasure to see Isreal stepping
about the house, bringing her'shawl or
placing a footstool for her. He had
never done those things before, even
when courting; he had suppo sed that
she knew enough to take care of her
self.
One day she sat in her room while
Isreal, on his knees beside her, strug-
gled over her shoes with the buttons
hook. His sleek, gray head and busy,
work-hardened hands were pleasant in
her eyes. She suddenly threw her arms
around his neck and kissed him. And l
suppose she had not done it like that
since she was young.
Our Nsw-England emotions are like
our bottled cider; they have tang of
their own, but the cork comes out 1
hard, and not always without an ex-
plosion. Il
''Oh, Isr'el," said she, "you're SO
good. l don't like to make you do so {
much for me all the time.n I,
Israel looked up. He was>not smil-
ing; but in his sober face there was a
Iook as of one who was slowly rising to
,he occasion. II
"You might as we'll get used to it," {
be said. "Doctor said to sea to you
Iome, an Pm going to do it,
"But don't want you should wait
IN me so much-I don't need it.''
81 amt said yet didn't like it,
answered Israel.