River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1900-12-20

to fit by the midnight train to Can
ada whenever fancy dictated, they
were evolving into landowners and
had bought a house. 1T was a very
little house on the hillside, which
overlooked the village where Jean
ALBERT and Della and Henri worked
in the mills. but two acres of land
went with it. and already the little
Auberts were growing rosy and fat
legged. Hitherto the gates of Para
disc had been effectually closed to
them, and with woods and fields no
more than half a mile away and the
whole street on the other side lined
with green lawns to tempt their very
eyes, they had never till now kicked
up their heels on grass.
The year before the horse was
bought the two eldest children had
graduated into the wooden mill, and
Delia's deft fingers earned enough
money TO pay her board, clothe her
self tastefully and have little mar
gin left, which she laid by for furni-
ture for the room which they were
going to call parlor.
lily happiness. and that was the mort
gage; and just before Christmas this
shadow began to assume alarming
proportions. It had looked easy in
the spring, when they first moved
into the new home, to meet the pay
ment which was due in December.
Jean ALBERT was carpenter and ma
chinist in one of the factories, and a
steady and capable man, but the proc
ess of evolution is never without a
struggle. and. do the best he could.
the interest was all he could paw.
Even for that. what with the cold
coming suddenly on and his nestfuI
of young ones being uncommonly
hungry and hard on their clothes
after their summer out doors, the
family resources were strained to the
utmost. Della and Henri contributed
their savings, the parlor that was to
be was shut up. and they all came
down to pretty strict diet of pud-
ding and milk. It was poor out
look for Christmas, for ahead of them
doomed up more interest and other
payments, besides the continuous
outgo for their living.
II don't know but I've undertaken
too much" Jean Aubert said, soberly.
at costs more over here than it did
on the street. If we don't save more
this winter than we have since we
came, we shall have to move back"
and in the melancholy silence that
followed Mamma ALBERT gave up her
chickens and COW, Della saw her
dream of muslin curtains and an or
gan vanish in air, and the children
suffered that depression of spirits
which is always induced by verdict
adverse to Christmas.
Fortune has a way of experiment.
ing with full cups to see how much
more they can hold after they are
apparently brimming. The Auberts
thought they had all the mouths they
could feed and all the cares they
could compass consistent with the
ambition, which they were not vet
prepared to relinquish, of owning their
house, when the very next day after
the family council a knock came at
their humble door and Madame Au-
pert Optutu IL On an Oiu man. VINO
asked if Jean Aubert lived there.
II come to see him from Canada"
said he.
1t was three o'clock in the after
noon, but Madame ALBERT made the
visitor comfortable by the fire. He
was old and poorly dressed, and had
with him a shabby carpetbag.
"You know me?" he asked, as he
took off his coat and prepared to
make himself at home. No? All,
Jean remember. His father my old
neighbor-frien'-up in Chateau
grand
Madame ALBERT went about her
work, the little Auberts resumed
their play. the older children came
stamping in from school. The ques-
tions they all entertained In respect
full silence about the stranger who
sat doing by their fire-Who was he I?
Had he come to stay? What should
they do with him waited till Jean
should come.
That evening they all sat mp and
listened to the fine old story of the
Bow Who Went to Seek His Fortune
--or was it the Prodigal Son? 1t was
told in French, with many gestures
and much dramatic effset-and Pierre
Demarest, its hero and narrator, was
assisted by the smiles and tears and
enthusiastic applause of all the Au-
berts. from Jean ALBERT down.
In the seignory in Canada where
the Auberts lived the Demarests had
been their neighbors, Old Demarest
had been a father TO jeans father.
and Pierre Demarest had been his
dearest friend. But Pierre had chosen
TO wander. and while young Aubert
settled and married and became a
farmer on the land adjoining old De-
marest's, Pierre went west and dis
appeared. No word came from him,
and except in Aubert's stories 10 his
children of the friendship he and
Pierre had had together in the days