Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1900-10-13

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and unshapeliness of her black-mit-
tened hands told of past toll, but the
kind old lady that one naturally wishes
20 pet and be gentle TO. There was an
air of suppresse0excitemen bout her.
and her black eyes shone with the
brightness of youth, a circumstances
that the old gentleman seemed to note
! approvingiy as he nodded and smiled
ut her from time to time.
III the recent Mr.. and Mrs Cullen
had not been too much occupied with
each other. in spite of their heroically
simulated indifference, they could rot
have heiped noticing how interested
the OLD couple had been in the view
! from the car window from the time
J the train had left the Twelfth street
! station, with what pure endowment
they had marked every haystack, corn
field, farmhouse and barn, and how
cordially they had returned the en-
thusiastic greetings of the friendly
children who sat on the roadside
fences; how they beamed on each other
/ at frequent intervals, and how the big,
brown hand of the old gentleman pat
ted the back of the old lady when she
turned to him from the contemplation
of some pretty bit of scenery, her
black eyes moist with happy emotion.
But Mr.. and Mrs. Cullen had not no.
ticed these things at ALL
| I'm going to go and take a smoke
myself. mother" said the old gentle
man almost directly after Buel had
gone out. 81 seen you gaping an you
J icrh ,Sf
I'm gone. L won't let you oversleep
yourself, you needn't be skeered."
81 hate to take time to Sleep" said
the old lady, "but 1 think if did take
a little nap I'd feel heap better for
it."
! The old gentleman gave her shout
der farewell pat and went away and
| the old lady composed herself to slum-
Der. In about two minutes she was
sleeping as peacefully as tired child.
| Mrs. Cullen had wearied of her maya
zine, watched her, and, seeing that her
pillow was slipping away from her,
rose from her seat and deity adjust
ed 1T. Then she went back and won
dered about the dear old thing,
whether she had any daughters who
had got married and how many cigars
Buel intended to smoke before he came
back to her. It was hard waiting for
him.
But after all the old gentleman was
back first, and Mrs. Cullen had leisure
to observe how gently he readjusted
the old lady's pillow for her and how
tenderly he smiled down on her a he
did it. Then he sat down, taking great
care not to disturb the sleeper, and
looken pensively out of the window.
A minute of two after that Buel came
back and took his seat by his wife's
side. unreproved-as to that,
How long you were, Buell." she SAID
Were you trying 20 punish me for
sending you away? II you were, you
succeeded. 1 suppose 1 oughtn't to
tell you that, though. But you know 1
told you not to be gone long, Buel.
You know 1 did" She said this very
pathetically, and. the young man ought
to have been more responsive than he
was, but he was looking thoughtfully
over at the little old lady across the
aisle.
'It didn't seem so very long 20 me, I"
he said at last, "No, don't think that
I meant that it didn't seem long to be
away from you, little girl, you know
better than that, and you know wheth-
er wanted to go at all. What meant
was that I got acquainted with that
old chap over there. What do you
think, Margie? They're on their we'd
ding tour.
do you know what the old boy said
TO me the very first thing? Well, he
said: Young man, want to congrat-
ulate you and L want to tell you that
there amt the least use or sense in
trying to hide it. 1t amt nothin' to
be ashamed of. We seen 1t, the old
lady an me, the mint you came into
the car"
Mrs. Cullen blushed rosily.
Then he went on to tell me how II
was that he and his wife, who had
been married for IS years-think of
that, Margiel Thirty-fve years!-how
it was that they were just having their
honeymoon. It seems that they are
from Kansas and they had intended
20 take this very trip, but his father
died and the money that he was to
have spent for it went to his mother.
Then there were bad years and the
children came and there was a long
wrestle with poverty, and so it went
on all the time, and through It all they
were always promising themselves
their honeymoon. Twice he had. the
money, but they decided to wait until
the next year, and before that there
was broken bank and a crop failure
and one thing and another, but it ha g
come to them at last. Look at themi''
The old lady was awake now, and
they were sitting side by side, the big
brown hand resting on the little black
mittened one. Mns. Cullen moved closer
to her husband and slipped her hand In
his.
Here's the point and moral of the
thing, Margie," continued Buel. "He
said: I'm takin' comfort in this, all
right, an it's better late than never.
but all the time I'm a-thinkin' what IL
would have been to us if il had been