Omaha daily bee., 1899-06-02
BACK TO THE OLD HOME.
Sentiments that VIII Touch Many ~
NiddIe-Agcd Heart.

Men must work and women must weep"
One day he packed his little trunk boarded
the cars and went away to a neighboring
city to learn trade, relates Forest and
Stream. His mcthers tears were his amulet
of safety and his remembrance of her love
and kindly care were his guide in the right
path in after years, and he could not well
wander far before his thoughts were back
to her and to duty. In succeeding years he
returned to his nome on Thanksgiving day,
and the associations became more valued
to him with each visit but time brought
changes. A sister is sleeping the long sic p;
age has its claims, and summons answered
leaves him with but one parent; brother
goes to the far west another marries; then
a sister finds a new protector; the home
stead Is sold and no more can they call it
home" Many long years elapsed, until
one bright autumn day a man, impelled by a
longing nursed by time and remembrance,
drops the bars at the pasture entrance and
recalls the time when leaping over them
was easy. AS he passes under the walnut
trees he, in the absence of other friends
tells his pointer that yonder building shelf
cred him in the years gone by. AS though
his dumb companion could understand, he
talked on Of the past. Who knows but
what the dog did understand? Do those soft
eyes speak not, is the placing of those
The changes about the place were slight.
The pump is new, and as the gun rests
against the wall, the hunter drinks deeply
and knows that the purity of the water is
unchanged. A tap on the kitchen door is
answered by a white haired woman. After
explaining that formerly he need not knock
and that he had free access to ALL the good
New England woman said: so you are
one of the - boys" She took him over
the house, into the sleeping room where he
quarreled with his brother one cold winter
night and was bundled out of bed and on
to the chilly floor in defeat. He went into
the sitting-room where winter evenings he
had popped corn and eaten apples and nuts,
while his mother knit the blue woolen seeks
for her boys and his father read the weekly
agricultural paper. The nails where hung
the Christmas stockings a generation ago
were still in place. and he fancied that the
array of little coppert toed boots were still
behind the stove. The barn was the same,
the same horse stalls, COW stanchions and
haymows The kindly old gentleman said
to his good wife: Mother, it seems like as
II our boy had come home at last" Tears
weled from the dear woman's eyes as she
thought Of her boy sleeping somewhere in
soldiers unmarked grave under the southern
skies.
With one last look back at his old home
he entered the pines BEYOND the orchard,
and coming to the cemetery the names of
old schoolmates are seen upon the marble
slabs. He passes the sepulchers of granite
where repose whole families, and recalled
the evening that he groaned in the shade
OF the hedge while his accomplice recited
to the timid children, "Hark, from the
tombs a doleful sound" He strolls by
chain enclosed plots where granite posts
support the chains and bell-like pendants
are supported as ornaments. He inverts
the bells and finds that the wasps and hor-
nets build their mud houses as Of yore. He
finds the resting place of one to whom more
than to others his thoughts have reverted.
She was his favorite among the schoolgirls;
hers were the little feet that he had often
bound the skates on; her 1.-THE form was be-
side him at the straw rides and at the post
office when the mail came in. Upon no
other double sled than his would she coast,
Her love and loyalty were always remem-
bered, and as he placed his gathering of
wild flowers above her that day his tears
went with them. Let the birds sing above
and the pine needles cover her, her voice
is still heard and her smile seen, though his
home is in a far distant city.