Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-09-14

Il can't stay, an won't faint In
human natur'," muttered Ann Friend.
always the same! Sunshine for 9th
ers, shadows for me!'
where's the slate, honey? Where's
the slater" piped quivering voice, as
Ann stepped into the dim kitchen and
began to hustle about energetically.
I'VE nun cross it off, honey; we nun
cross it Off. IT'S the 21st to-day. and
the boy comes home on the Goth, bless
the Lord"
Here, tits, mother-ln-law. Bide quiet
bit while sets the kettle on the hob"
Five days, five days." echoed the
old woman. I'VE mum be busy, honey.
and get the place set clean, and the
sheets aired; and I'm thinking, Ann,
If you was to put the things ready for
me might make the ginger cake he
used to set such store by, eh?'
Now, mother-in-.aw, I'll not have
you messing around and making your
self ill.," Ann spoke with decision.
What's good enough for us is good
enough for him."
But, Ann-'tis my son Joints
your own man, Ann.
AIMS face grew harder and harder
as she left the kitchen and went up
stairs to her bedroom.
Il can't stay, nor WON'T" said Ann
Friend, suddenly as she stood looking
out of the window. Nobody could eX-
pect Inc to stay. She won't care so
long as she's got him, and he won't
care so long as he's got his liberty and
a roof over his head"
Bending down she drew a box from
under the bed and began to pack into
it the contents Of the one chest Of draw
ers that stood in the room.
At the bottom of the last drawer she
came upon a little bundle Of baby's
clothes, and for moment the hard
ness Of her face softened while she un-
folded each tiny garment and exam
ined it carefully. Then the cloud re-
tied into bundle and returned to the
now empty drawer
"'Tis well she died." she thought to
herself. "'Tis well she can't be asham-
ed of her father. I'll leave them there;
he'll like maybe to see how tall she
grew"
Four years ago Ann Friend would
have told you that she was one of the
happiest women in the Whole village,
and the village itself would not have
have disputed the fact. Yet in two
short years the happiness fed, the hus-
band was disgraced man, and Ann,
whose good temper was proverbial,
knew herself to have changed into a
soured, hard woman.
The inhabitants of the little village
where Ann had been born and bred said
among themselves that Mrs. Friend
was a rare good woman and had borne
the disgrace of her husbands impris-
onment as few women would have
borne II.
They never knew the rage that took
possession of proud Ann Friend when
the shadow of disgrace fell upon her
home. They never knew the bitter con-
tempt that filed her heart when she
thought of the father of her child
working out his sentence in the neigh
boring prison.
"lf you are innocent, prove It," was
his wife's thought, but the thought was
never put into words, for Ann was one
of those strange characters whose
thoughts are worse than their actions.
The mother believed in her sons
word and counted the days for his re-
turn; the wife allowed her to believe
that she did likewise. Some Of the
neighbors believed also in Johns inno-
cence; the wife held her peace, and
they accounted her loyal.
Every day Ann determined to break
down her long reserve-to tell the cd
woman that she, Johns wife, would
rather die than be there in person to
welcome him home, yet each day saw
the momentous words uDspoken.
At last the morning of the 26th ar
rived. The explanatory letter was
written and pinned on the pincushion;
the box. corded and addressed, stood
IN the clubhouse on the handcart she
intended wheeling TO the nearest sta
ton; the old mother had been dressed
In her best Sunday gown and cap; the
coffee stood ready on the hob, and still
the silence Of two years had not been
broken.
II may as well see how prisons
agreed with him." thought Ann. as she
looked at the clock and saw it was just
about 7:30 and then felt irritated with
the consciousness that this thought had
been behind all her actions for the last
two hours.
With a sullen face Ann left the cot
tage and took a short cut through the
fields to where, standing on low, FIR
clad hill, she could look down upper
ceived on the roads below. There were
two roadside broad white road from
the distant town that held the prison,
and which wound It's way onward to
the next large town, and the curved,