The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1899-01-25


mantol and took down his pipe and
blew the dust FROM it. A little CLINT
of eagerness crept into his eyes---it
was so much like shaking hands with
an old friend again.
'Wherc are you going to?
"Jest for little smoke, Clarissy--
Jest for little smoke"
'Land of goodness--a two O'Clock in
| the afternoonl Jonas Kemp, you aren't
losing your faculties, / hopel"
Jonas peered mp at the old clock
| above him and then at the afternoon
sun riding across the heavens. He
looked dazed The pipo slipped
through his fingers unnoticed and lay
| in two pieces on the bare floor.
az guess / got mixed up, Clarissy
I thought twas after supper" he ex-
planned with mn npulogetic attempt at
| laughing. 81 gunsa III go ont aud
wait a spell, till It's"
Eutnt supper timo Jonas did not
appear. Hall-past five, six, half-past
siv-still no Jonas. AZ quarter oi
seven Clnrissa was frightened. Dim
forebodingl tnggcd at her hcart-strings
till they yibrnied dismnlly.
"l'll go hunt Jonas up" she said
briskly, shutting her ears 80 the sound.
"It's just as likely as not hos fallen
sound asleep somewhere. He's get
ting real old, Jonns u.s..
She went through the porch aud
carriage house aud then with quick
ened steps up to the barn. lt was a
] irt "a. I. f,ts
/ Clarissa. aud the stones hurt her feet.
"For the land of goodness sakel'
she erie shrilly at the barn door.
/ The flowers in the wiudows-row on
row of them danced dizziiy before
her eyes. In Clarissa Kemp's and
Clarissa Collins life she had never
been SO astonished.
One Of the windows was raised n
little, and the b. eeze crept in and set
all the bright flowers noddiug, friend
! ly-wlse, Mt her.
Row ON row, shelf on shelr--for the
land of goodness sakel But how coy
aud homelike they lookedl How
pleasant the weathcred old barn
| lookedl
Then Clarissn went in. As long as
she liyed-and the Collinses came of
long-lived race she never forgot
the things she saw that afternoon in
Jonas kemp's barn. The strip of car
pet by one Of the windows. the broken
chairs set about Alwildy's mothers
spinning wheel, the light of the sun
through the geranium leaves and, dim
ly, ON the haymows behind aud on all
the cobwebs aud cobwebs-and Jonas
there, asleep. Clarissa saw them ALL
She snw them over and over again till
she died
"Jonasw she called softly, after n
minute or two. Jonas, it's supper
time onasl'
She went up to him and prodded bis
shoulder with her thimbled finger
Clarissa nearly always wore her
thimble, to have it ''haudy."
"Jonasl'
She tilted his droopiug old face
toward her and the light. 1t was
twisted and white.
"Oh, he's got stroke-Jonas!--
Jonasl he's got a stroke!" Clarissa
cried wildly.
Jonas opened his eyes and looked
at her in an unacquainted, troubled
way.
"it's pleasant-out here, he mur-
INJURED thick y. "The plauts-dont
take 'em - awayw
''Jonas, dear Jonas, you must get
right up aud come into the house with
meme, Clarissy, Jonas. Don you
know Clarissy?"
81 know somebody Alwildy,"
murmured Jonas, trying to smile with
his twisted lips. One arm hung limp
beside him, and he touched it curious
ly with his other hand.
SIT doesn't belong to me-" he said.
After little while his mind grew
quite clear again, and then he pleaded
to stay with his flowers
Couldn't lay in bed ont here, Cla-
rissy?" he asked timidly. 'Jest till |
feel better? The plants IL miss me-
an like it out here-I like it out
here-like it ont here"
Again and again he mumbled it
wistfully.
The tune Clarissa's heart-strings
were wailing almost broke her heart.
She got help at a neighbours, and
they took Jonas home. He was doz-
ing all the way. 1t was almost day
later when Jonas fully awokc.
"Ain't it pleasant ont here = in
the barn, Clarissy?" he whispered,
happily. 81 like it out here-don'i
you?"
yes" Clarissa said brightly. 81
like it 'out here, Jonas"
The green-painted shelves had back
their old tenants and new tenants,
row upon row. The windows opposite
Jonas bed were full of geraniums and
gay purple and red iuchsias, and the
cactus was there that Alwida had
loved. Her mothers spinning wheel
stood on strip OF carpeting near
Jonas. How pleasant it looked 'out
there!' How the sunshine filtered
through the geranium leaves and made
dancing traceries on the wall. A sprie
of the sun leaves lay across Clarissa'