The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1901-12-27
The Burden of Forgiveness,

Inc burQen OF forgiveness.
Green Meadows pike. He carried bun
die knotted around with a faded hand
kerchief. 1t was just after November
sunset. and splendid light still shone
between the mountain gaps. A few rust
colored leaves wavercd down the crisp
air. A star f1ared out over bare and
swaying tree.
At the gate # the last house in Green
Meadows an elderly woman was stand
ing. She looked up the road at the sound
Of the limping footsteps. The man halt
ed and laughed uneasil;.
don't yo' know me, Sara Fox?"
She stared at him uncertainty, and
then en- with ,i. sudden recogntion:
'Wel], it's pretty note if 20 don't
kno,' yo'r own broth er, Sara Fox" He
laughed uneasily again.
What yo' been doin' with yo'self all
this time?' The voice was an accusing
one.
Il stayed here, an then I stayed there,
what 70 comm hack fo'?''
"Well, l thought I'd sort o settle down
now"
"Yo' better go back where 70 come
from. We done without 80 mighty we'll
this eighteen year."
He came step nearer. Flows
ADELAIDE gettin' along ="
"First-class. Her father left her the
house an the land, an she's worked like
man mornin' an night. She don't need
yo' a'-tall'
"Yo' think she'll give me bit O. some
thin, an nights lodgin'?"
He came still closer She saw how
much grayer his hair was than hers.
Sara, ADELAIDE was mighty naggin' at
times"
"Don't 20 20 excusin' yo'self to me,
Job Norris. Yo' were lazy, an she was
naggin'. But what was the matter with
the baby, I'd like to know?"
He tramped on down the pike. She
gate shook all its leafless stems with a
sort of thin, crying noise. The leaves
cracked out in the road. 1t seemed as it
there were ghosts about.
"Job!'
He stood still.
If ADELAIDE won't have anythin' to do
with you: come back here to me-"
"All right, Sara"
Here and there the lamps were lit in
gables showed solid land black against
the splendid west: on the other the east
lay like stretch Of crystal beyond them.
A woman came to front door and
called her children. A dog ran after
Job, shifting and barking. His legs
ached; he began to feel sorry for himself
Halfway down the only street and back
in an orchard rose the house he knew 50
well. Its panes glittered behind the
stripped apple trees. He opened the gate
and followed the beaten path to the back
door.
The lamp that was set in the kitchen
window threw a golden bar across the
briers outside and the apple boughs be-
yond. He drew behind the bfeers and
out Of the light A good many things
went through his brain as he waited
there, homeless, uncertain and yet with
the air of swaggerer. Several episodes
of his aimless life came upDermost at
that moment, and he wondered what his
them. The dusk was closing sDectrally
around him. He felt sorrier' than ever
for himself
a figure passed and repassed before the
kitchen window. 1t was that of a slim
girl. with her hair coiled on the top of
her head. She sang as she went back
and forth. and her voice had thrill like
child's. He could almost understand
the words out there in the dusk. The
uUOI OpcAcu anu d AUOl SOuuucu Oil Tue
wooden steps. The girl called out:
Don't yo' bother about them shutters
tonight, mother. I'm goin' to tend to
them as soon as I'm through
Shut the door. Marg'ret Ellen. Yo'll
catch cold.''
Mrs. Norris went carefully along the
side Of the house, closing the shutters one
after the other. She came to the kitch-
en- window. The girl was again singing.
A 1iy,orinu cfor cd hch:
the rose bushes. Don't be frightened,
ADELAIDE: it's me-
The bar of golden light lay between
them. They stared across at each other,
where's that woman you went away
with?'
"Lawd. there wasn't any woman, Adj
laide. had as much as cod do to take
care o myself
He had been debonair young fellow,
as he stood there staggering He
Strengthened M and tried to hold fast
that wrath Of his youth.
"What did yo' go away fog"
Il guess couldn't think of anything
else to do, ADELAIDE"
She mounted the steps and stopped
with her hand on the knob of the door.
She was a tall woman; her height gave
her a biblical aspect.
"This land is mine, an this house il
mine, an every stick Of furniture is mine.
Father left me some, an I worked TO- the
rest. I took the money yo' left behind
20 when yo' run away from me an the
baby an bought a tombstone for yo'r
folks up. there In the churchyard.
couldn't We used it on myself. "a as
soon flung it out on the pike"
,.c Aint ] 70 Eejn to give ME bite o
~ - tSs