Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1898-10-20

derStand my simple language, but she
did comprehend my sorrow and weart-
ness and bitter disappointment, and
after had taken a glass of milk she
allowed me TO go right up to my own
airy chamber. where everything was
sacredly familiar. How deliciously soft
and clean the bed seemed, and l cried
myself TO sleep like tired, homesick
baby.
1.-The first thing l heard In the morn
ing was not the chirping of the robins,
as 10 the olden dine, but the loud bawl-
| lug of that steer calf under my win
dow. ] covered my head with the bed
clothes, and was the poor, weak baby
over again. When awoke later in the
day good DR.. Miller was sitting by my
! bedside. lie helped me dress, and took
me home to breakfast, where the talk
| ing, as well as the cooking, was all
United States, bur somehow l wasn't
hungry, and 1onged 20 ask what had
become Of Martha.
81 soon found out Her father was
going to Holyoke the very next day to
hear her valedictory, and he took me
along with him. 1t was a long drive,
but we took 1t slow and easy, and l
had my fill of fresh air, and recovered
my appetite. We were little late to
the exhibition, and found the chapel
already crowded, but the good doctor
finally succeeded in getting a seat well
up In front, and there, right before us,
was Amherst Jim, just as slim and
white as ever. He fingered his watch
chain and petted his mustache and
made his diamond glisten and devour-
ed the platform with his eyes, just as
lie used to in the old red schoolhouse
when Martha was going to speak her
piece. Now he was full-fedged ply
stefan, and DR.. Miller's partner We
had long time to wait. The essays
were lengthy and learned, and Martha's
was the very last. The other graduates
wore white, but she was all in black,
with Grape collar. / looked question
ingly into her fathers face. He put
his arm around me, and whispered:
She wears mourning for your mother
and for you
"For my mother and for me-ohl the
pain of it, oh, the joy Of III and wheth-
er it was the pain or the joy, or the
crowded room, or the way Jim looked
at Martha, l cannot tell, but somehow
everything slipped away into nothing
ness.
"When l came back to consciousness
the folks were all gone, all but DR..
,J l,f 1or1uhtAr nnH Mart hQ
was holding me as handy as she is hold
ing that blessed baby now, and l was
just as quiet and submissive.
81 don't know much of anything but
submission for a long time after that.
| didn't know l was helpless in bed In
the Miller mansion, with Jim for night
watch, mixing the medicine to suit him
self, and always telling Martha l was
slowly improving, and l could not see
the noseless hand that was stretching
Il pontoon bridge over the last river,
but when my hand was wet with the
cold surf, l reached 1t feebly toward
Marthas, and she took 1t firmly, just
| as she did when l was going away to
| the war, and she said: Bonnie, oh Ben
niei you are too young to die; if only
you will live, my mother shall be your
mother and then she laid her warm
cheek down on that cold hand and 1t
thrilled me back to life again, and the
good old doctor whispered, While
there's life, there's hope and after
that he was the night watch, and
Martha was the day watch, and Jim
| dropped out, and Martha's mother was
my mother.
"Martha's children are my children;
her grandchildren are all mine, too, and
poor Jim never had any. I have out
lived him by quarter of century,
and Pm good for twenty years
more, but l want you youngsters dis
tlnctly to understand this is my last
war story-positively the last"
Two chubby arms were wound
around grandpas neck, and reprov
ing little kiss was dropped upon the
veterans forehead. Little Matte well
remembered that he had said those
very words, positively the last" on
his very last birthday, and so her CRATE
full caress must needs be a little re-
proving, for had he not often counseled
her, Tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the TRUTH" and did not
grandma sometimes say, Consistency
is jewelF'
Possibly the tender rebuke was quite
lost upon grandpa, but the others all
appreciated it, and truly, little child
shall lead them.-New York Ledger.
| ----
The Proper Care of Umbrellas.
Judge Dustin, ~ speaking of his stay
in England, said: Umbrellas are car