The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-01-04

died hoe that he had made for Betty
to dig around her pansy bed There
was the top Of the old buggy that they
had ridden home from church in for 50
many years. Up ia the barn shed was
the little old baby carriage that John
and Mary and Betsy had all been
trundled in. Silently and with an aeh-
ing heart be took farewell Of each ar
ticle. Slowed in the attic Of the barn
was a wooden sled that he had made
for the children TO slide on the crust.
aforementioned now how mas eyes had
warmed and softened with love
when he had taken It into the kitchen
to show her the night before Christ
mas. She had put her arms around
his neck and kissed him, saying. Joe,
you can make anything that you try
TO-" The caress and her appreciation
had more than repaid him. But now
that was all over. How hard they had
worked all those years. They used to
say as the weary days Of toll wore
away, that they would sometime en-
Joy a calm and peaceful old age. That
after the children were all gone. and
they had saved a thousand dollars
they would live the last twenty years
OF their lives in peace and comfort.
Joe gulped down a great sob as he
thought or It. He involuntarily start
cd for the house to put his old arm
around her and to beg her pardon and
forgiveness.
Betty had been looking through the
boxes of baby clothes in the attic
with much the same feeling. Her
tears had fallen on the broken toys
that the children had played with.
The dirty little doll that Betsy had
held in her hands the last night be-
fore she went back to the Land of
Eternal Youthfulness quite broke her
heart. She had not brought them
down from the attic for ever so many
years. She wished now that in their
old age she and Joe had looked more
at these things. Perhaps both their
heara would have been tenderer and
more gentle for the looking. She
heard him coming in through the shed
door and went down. determined to
kiss him once more before the neigh
bors came to buy the things.
AS she went down the stairs, her
glasses bleared with mist, her head
hit an old coffee pot hanging on a nail.
and it tumbled down ahead OF her. AS
Joe saw 1t his face hardened. She
took on her glasses and looked first at
the pot and then at his grim white
face. She did not kiss him. Neither
ever knew how near they had been to
happiness.
And now the auction was on. Half
the goods had been sold, and as arti-
Gle after article came up TO the barrel
where Mr.. Garfield was bidding them
on he stopped now and then to try
and touch their stern hearts. When
the little red wooden cradle had been
put up, and both Of them had insisted
on helping to bring II forward, he had
stopped to wipe his own eyes. Some
Of the more discriminating In the
crowd had read the misery on the
faces of the old people. and had seen
through their attempt to appear un-
Many were moist eyed
Someone handed up the worn-out,
new-fangled coffeepot. No one but
Joe and Betty knew the history OF It.
They watched with eager eyes to see
how much 1t would bring. The most
that anyone would give was four cents.
Settled misery showed through the
calm OF Betty's countenance. The |
bidding was a little dull, and Joe
shambfed forward with the old arm
chair that he had sat IN so long. It /
was the chair that Betty had brought /
put to the door for him on summer
evenings for forty years. II was the
chair that she had placed for him at /
he warm hearth when be came IN
rom the woods OF a winter evening.
chilled and tired. Il was the chair /
hat had been factor in almost every 1
scene OF their married life. Il waited /
or them the day, forty years before.
when he had brought her. a young and
'osy bride. to the farm that his ances-
ors had left to him. It was dear to
him, and be knew that it was dear
llso to her. for he had seen her sitting
n It, knitting. by the sunny south
window for more summers and winters
han his excited fancy could now
cunt.
AS Mr.. Garfield lifted the chair to
he attention Of the crowd he saw
'etty start forward with a white. eager
ace. Then she stopped. and the rich
lood mantled her face like the face
4 blushing schoolgirl. She hesi-
ated a minute and then pushed her
ray through the crowd
Don't sell pas chair" she cried.
! want to keep it,"
An unfeeling neighbor-for there
lere some IN Oxford county-laughed
nder his breath. what does she
rant Il for7" be asked.
Everyone heard It. Joe turned Is
ale as death and held bis breath. No
ne had ever dared to treat Betty that
ray before. Betty went pale. too.