The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1901-03-07
LEM
By Leigh North.

A CROSS the fields foated the trem-
IA bling voice: "Lemu-el! Lemu-el!
On, Lemu-el!" Floated softly, yet
far, with a half musical, wholly pathet-
ic cadence, and seemed to nestle and die
away at the foot of the low hills which
the village folk politely called "the
mountains"
A little old woman with a snowy cap,
q small shawl pinned over her Shout
ders and a dark dress, stood at the door
of a cottage. The smooth ~silvery hair
and the soft withered cheeks seemed
to suggest the charm of an earlier day;
perhaps she had even been very fair in
her long-ago youth. But the large
dark eyes had a strange, restless look,
and the hands twitched nervously.
A younger woman stepped up beside
her, from within. She vas taller, larger
and less comely, but the resemblance
between them bespoke near relation
ship.
"Yes, yes, mother" she said, sooth.
ingly, laying her hand on the others
shoulder. "Some other day he'll come,
L "ou1oA y "a lllL1 ally AuOlC Ao"s
"Some other day|" the older queried,
a faint color tinging her cheek.
"Yes, yes, some other day; come and
get your cup of tea," and she led her
mother to the table and seated her be.
side it.
"Mary, put a plate for Lemuel, he
might like a bit, too, and why do you
fo-~o{ CS oho .oIlal 1o1f fro&f,nr
With a patient sigh the daughter
obeyed. How many weeks, months and
years was it she had gone through her
useless task?
"He'll come Tomorrow" the old
woman murmured, half to herself.
eyes, tomorrow he will come, sure
ly," Mary answered cheerfully.
It was almost their brief
talk, repeated daily. For years the
mothers heart had yearned and waited
for the absent or the dead. But each
morning life renewed itself and hope
sprang up again in the clouded mind.
Each morning of all those long years.
To-day, tomorrow he will come!"
In the meantime the hamlet had
grown from a struggling settlement to
almost the proportions of a town. The
narrow, congested main street, where
butcher and baker had huddled togeth-
er. in confused proximity, had been
widened, and more pretentious stores
and offices had taken the place of the
smaller wooden structures of 20 years
since. Factories and mills had their
clustering shops, and workmen's dwell
ings and long fringes of outlying streets,
with more or less ornate villas and cot
tages, had succeeded to rural lanes or
short cuts across the common.
The street on which u cottage was
situated had been graded and curbed to
the foot of the hills which it was meant
to climb, but had faint-heartedly given
out, and though approached on the 9TH
err side by many more snowy residences
the cottage still held its own and looked
out across the fields as it had done
when first built on what then seemed
almost a prairie. It and the inclosed
plot on which it stood was a pattern of
neatness which brought nc shame and
even set a worthy example to its larger
nelghbors.
Trees and vines had grown about it,
but they were kept sharply trimmed.
All necessary repairs were promptly
attended to and each new coat of paint
reproduced, as nearly as might be, its
predecessor. No changes within or
without showed themselves, no added
Injuries or adornments crept into any
of the four rooms OF the little mother
grew restless and unhappy, and what
remained for poor Mary but to guard
her peace.
Nearly 20 years ago father, mother,
ZOE and daughter had occupied the
home. The father, somewhat taciturn
and cold, had unbent little to his chill
dren and frowned upon what he con-
sidered youthful %follies; when, in the
ease of the son, his eldest born, folly
sometimes deserved a stronger name
he reproved fiercely and perhaps unrea-
soaably. The boy, fred with the indie
~pendence of youth, resented and re-
belled. and quaErels ensued till it end