The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1901-07-05

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 it. 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. Il 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 as 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 wite's
side. unreproved-as to that.
How long you were, Buell." she said.
Were you trying to punish me for
sending you away2 If you were, you
succeeded. I suppose / oughtn't to
tell you that, though. But you know I
told you not to be gone long, Buel.
You know l 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.
at didn't seem so very long to me"
ne 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 l wanted to go at all What meant
was that got acquainted with that
old chap over there. What do you
think, MargieP They're on their wed
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 1t
was that he and his wife, who had
been married for IS years-think of
that, Margie! Thirty-tive yearsl--how
it was that they were just having their
honeymoon. 1t seems that they are
from Kansas and they had intended
to 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 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 crop failure
and one thing and another, but it has
come to them at last. Look at theml"
The old lady was awake now, and
they were sitting side by side, the big
brown hand resting on the little black
mittened one. Mrs. 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 1t
would have been to us if it had been
when we was both young. To look
back on one spell of nothin but love-
maxim! / might have done il, too
twicet. That's why, though it amt
none of my business, an / hope you
don't mind my sayin' so, think you
are foolish an wastin' your time
right here in this car. You amt en-
joyin' that seegar one particle; if you
was you'd be smokin' it,
''What do you Thank about it,
Judging from the way the porter
giggled in the vestibule after he had |
passed the Cullens an hour later and |
what he said about the impossibility
Of "keepin' up de bluff" it may be in
ferred that Mrs. Cullen was convert
ID TO the old gentleman's view of thu
matter.-Chicago Daily Record.