The Newtown bee., 1897-06-25
,ssAnd a good idea it is, Motherv says

AUu Il SOOA llACd AZ los Hl ObtASt Gays
he. Only We'll have to begin right
away to get a start of the little shaver?
''And you'll give up seafarin', Father,
and stay home with Jerry and me-?
''There isn't ship stout enough to
carry me away from you. The boy'll be
wantin' pleasure-boat, maybe. Wen
do our sailing in thatn
''Well, it went on that way, till the
day the baby was three weeks old. Mis-
Parsons had been putin it to sleep, and,
lust aa she was handin' it to Granny to
lay down, the old woman gave scream.
what makes him so whiteT says
she.
IAN awful look came into Mis- Par
sons face. She snatched the boy back,
but he Just doubled up limp in her hands.
The long and short of it was, the child
was dead. The doctor called it heart
disease, and that was all anybody ever
knew.
"Well, poor Mis- Parsons lay at deaths
door for days, and, perhaps, twas as
well for the Cap'n that he had all he
could do watchin' her, and couldn't
fully sense what had happened.
when, at last she did begin to mend,
it was so slow that one could hardly see
the betterment from day TO day. But,
one afternoon, she woke up out of a
long sleep, and one could see that there'd
been change.
To ha kT1HTn hoI lnUn1Ty
dream. | can't tell it to you; but I've
had things showed to me. Father, you
know the house we meant to build, and
the books ana the piano, and how we
were goin' to study ourselves, and all
that?
" Don't, Huldy-don't dear wife =
said the Cap'n choking.
" But l must, Father = says she. we
weren't allowin' to do any of those
things for our own selves, or for show,
we're weY
mo, Huldy--noI'
" 1T was all for Jerry's sake, so that
he could come up to a different sort of
life that we'd had ourselves? And it
wasn't to be just tor him alone, because
that might "a made him selfish and
graspin,' but fer his friends--some of
them, maybe, that hadn't much. of their
own-so they could be happy and safe
there, and perhaps kept from wander
in?
"'Yes, Hubby
"'Wen then'-Granny said she never
saw mortal eyes shine as. Mis- Parsons g
did then-'is there any reason why we
should give it it all up just because Jerry
isn't right here with us? He's our son,
Father The Lord gave but the Lord
hasn't taken away-David was mistaken
about that! Jerry's just being saved for
US till we can grow up to him! And, be-
cause he's being looked after where he ia
isn't any reason why we shouldn't be
DOM for him down here. Don't you see
what mean FatherT
"'You shall do just what you want
to, dear wife ? said the Cap'n, and then
broke down, crying like baby. Gran
nv said she was thankful enough to see
that, for she knew the dry grief that
had been burning his heart out was
broke at last.
"After that, Mis- Parsons got well
fast, and as soon as she was able the two
i, went to Portland toEsee one of the big
architects there. Mis- Parsons just told
him everything, and how they wanted
the house to be just homyvs-the kind that
a boy would love to bring his mates to
and the Cap'n told him never to mind
the cost; and SO the planning Of it was
left to him. He said to Squire Durham,
when he was down here one day, lookin'
after the builder a little, that he put
more study on that house than anything
else he'd ever done.
ssThey moved the old building off, be.
cause Mis- Parsons wanted the new one
TO stand on the same spot where Jerry
was born. It was a long while going up
and they do say that the Cap'n and his
wife watched every stick and stone that
went into It, outside and in.
"When it was finally done. they sent
Ito town again for house-furnisher, Eand
he came down and looked 1t all over, and
advised with them what was best to buy.
Mis- Parsons wouldn't have any shama
or gingerbread work, but all plain and
rich and the real thing
ssThere was college professor and an
artist staying &C the point that summer,
Mis- Parsons had always been timid and
retiring like, but now she didn't seem q
mite shy Of anybody. So she went and
talked with them, and those two men