The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1899-11-23

dttG idHusCdPe past neI "iuu""'
A they neared the city the train began
10 lie CROW ed. Presently lady stopped
beside her and asked if the seat was en-
gagged She did not understand the
tAiase, but obeying a sudden instinct for
con uanionship she moved her val>e.
You can sit here if you want to, she
saio 1.-The cars real full now"
Tie lady thanked her and took the seat.
She was evidently used to travelling; the
old woman looked at her wistfully; pres
emily she leaned over and touched her.
"lS-is Joston very big?' she asked
timidly.
The lady glanced at her companion with
quick smile that changed as she saw the
worried old face.
1T is pretty big" she replied gently.
Are you going tbere?'
The old woman smiled up at her eagerly.
YES she said, Il thought I'd go. You
see my boy, Tom,-he married, and
haven't seen him for four years. l ain
even seen the baby; they kept telling me
to come, an last night l made up my
mind to, an up an started. | hope it
wou' t be hard to find the place.
1t seemed as if her very character had
been left behind with the familiar hills
her face was full of hesitating appeal that
blotted out its strong accustomed lines.
as the mists sometimes blotted out the
mighty sweeps of her own mountains.
Wont Tom be at the depot to meet
you?' asked the lady Indignantly.
The old woman looked up with quick
suspicion. "Of course, he would if he d
a known she answered eagerly. "Tom
was allus the best boy. But | couidn'
seem to make up my mind till last night,
! IL, h..
picked bunch of daffodils for him,
used TO notice datfodils when he was just
| little fellow,-but they re real withered
now.'
The stranger tried to cheer her. "Your
flowers will freshen in water'' she said
and Tom will feel like a boy again when
he sees them. Suppose you tell ME the
address, and then | can put you on the
right cars. -
I'D take it real kind of you," answer
ed Tom mother gratefully.
She pulled piece of paper from her
glove and unfolded it carefully. The
stranger read it, and her f'ce cleared.
"That will be easy TO tind,' she said.
''It is right on the car line, and the con-
ductor will put you off very near the
house if you tell him the number There,
now, let me take your valise, and put you
on the car
The old woman rose confusedly: the
train had rolled into the depot, and the
sudden change of light and sound be-
wldered her; she elutched her flowers
and looked with desperate eyes across the
crowd. Then before she realized what
had happened, her friend had put her on
the car and said good by. She had never
seen street car before, and she chung to
the seat, her tired, frightened face set in
lines of rigid endurance.
Every moment she expected an acct
dent, and when the conductor helped her
eff, her first feeling was one OF almost in
credulous relief; then suddenly she saw
the number that she wanted, and darted
forward. She was painting with the
weight of the valse, but she did not know
it: she hurried up the high stone steps
and eagerly rang the bell
The bell echoed through the house, but
10 one came. She pulled it again, a ner-
vous terror stealing over her,-she must
make Tom heal. Presently window
opened in the next house, and girl S
pretty face smiled down at her.
Odd you want to see Mrs. Haswell?"
she called. They went away yester-
day.
The old woman looked up, her hand
dropped from he bell
''What did you say, deal?'' she falter-
ed II didn't understand. l want to
see Tom, 7 m his mother"
The girls pretty face softened with
quick pity. She left the window, and
ran down the steps and across to the old
woman.
I'm so solry,' she said gently.
Don't You understand? They've gone
away; don know when they'll be back,
they couldn't tell. Oh, don't look so.
Come III our house and rest. You must
come Yuu cam stay here, you know. "
She lifted the vallst and the old woman
followed hel; she did not seem to know
hat she was doing; she OBJ, yed as a little
child might have done.
The people were very good to her. She
wanted to 90 back that night, and they
had to tell her over and over that there
was no train before they could make her
understand, and even then she seem dazed
and bewildered. so they gave her quiet
room and lett her alone. For hours she
sat there in the dark trying to order her
dizzy thoughts, and gradually one idea
became clear, that no one must ever know.
l. was her fault,-all hers, BUT people
would Nos understand, and they would
blame Iom, and they must not blame
Tom.
She might stay in the city week, but
her whole soul rejected that she felt as if
she was smotheling, stitled, in this hot,
noisy place. And at home the apple
blossoms were shaking their perfume
down through the night, and the valley
trimming over with moonlight. She must
90 home-home. She leaned her tired
head on her band and thought. Gradually
the noise in the street below died away,
and strange Stiffness followed; then the
air grew chill, and the street lamps paled,
and finally morning, DIM sickly, imita-
ton of the mornings she had known and
loved crept back to the city.
She rose and Enlightened her hair and
dress; she was pale and tired, but quite
her old self again. The girl was delighted
at the change, and sat beside her at break
fast, coaxing her to eat, and finally went
to the depot with her and put her on the
train. Not until she reached home again
did the hospitable young girl know that
| the bed had not been touched, and fully
understood what the night had been to
their guest.
All through the day the old woman
sat looking out of the window. She
did not realize that she was tired; all
her resolution was bent 10 the carrying
out of her plan. When, late in the after
noon, the train began climbing up in the