Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-11-11
DAILY SHORT STORY
inns Reincarnation.


The worm turned on the morning of
Sarah Shaw's death. He sat upon
box hidden from the street by lilac
bush. His attitude was that of one
who mourns. but the expression of his
face was that of triumph, strenuously
subdued. \ hand was placed ON his
shoulder presently, but he did not look
up.
"Yes, Martha" he said.
won't you come in and have n bite
to eat, jim? Benjamin's here, and
we'd best arrange about-the funeral"
The worm stood mp and threw back
his shoulders.
Il made all the arrangements. Mar
tina. before you came"
His sister gaZed ut him, Il bewildered
expression in her eyes. her tongue tied
with sudden amazement. Brother Jim
had actually gone ahead and done
something on his own responsibility.
Jim Shaw, seeing her wonder, under
stood-and smiled.
Yes. Martha; 1 think I'll look after
my own affairs now" There was an
instant's hesitation, and he cleared his
box again. 'Forty-three years come
next Saturday Sally and me lived to-
gether without ever a hitch worth
mentioning. We fought our battles
against the world side by side. Mt least
as close as Il smart woman like her
and a dolt like me could. She was al
ways little ahead of me. Any one in
this village II tell you she was the
smartest of us two. She had what's
called executive ability. She went
ahead and done things. 1 didn't. It's
been town talk for forty years"
Don't you think folks exaggerated
some, Benz
Exaggerated? Land, no, Many the
time has she thrOwed her head back
and said to me: James Shaw, twas
the good Lords providence that you
married me. If you hadn't, l don't
know what would have become of YOU
1 s'pose she suffered considerable along
of my shiftlessness. Poor Sallyr'
TWAS only her way. Jim"
Il know it. amt layin' il up against
her. 'Twould have killed her long
ahead of her time if anything had hap
pened to make her believe she wasn't
holdin' up everything on her shoulders
To keep it from fallin' down and
smashin' me. But she knows now.
She's gone where there amt no mists."
Jim glanced ut the silent house. then
at the great red barn beyond the apple
orchard.
"Most all there is to life" he re-
sumed after an interval, lis thnkin'
you've done the things you've thought
of dOin'. Take the barn there. for
instance. One day Crimson he met
me on the road goin' to the creamery
and says to me, L hear you're goin' to
have new barn. Shaw Who was
tellin' you?' l asks him. My wife
says lie, with sort of smoker. She
was at the Social Hour meetin' yester
day, and she heard your wife say So
Then 1 reckon it's true, says l and
drove on.
"'Twan't no news TO me. Two days
before that I'd completed n little deal
in timber that had cost me in the engi-
neerin' of it more than six nights of
bad sleep. Sally didn't know nothin'
of it. I'd kept it from her. Land
knows, she had n big enough load to
carry without Dein' burdened with all
my business troubles. 1 had the price
pocket when L brought up the subject
that day. Sally says l, Il reckon
we've got to have new barn SO
I've heard you say these five years,
says she. and well I'm aware. Jim
Shaw, that We'll never get 1t till l go
ahead and do it myself
Il let on to be r'iled then. and l says,
We'll, why in tunllet don't you go on
and do it?' And she drew herself up,
like she always did when l spoke in
that aggravatin' way. and her eyes
snapped ana her lips set firm over her
teeth. L just will, you shiftless man.
says she. And she did. That barns
q monument to her executive ability,
Martha. She went and seen the car
penter, and he come and seen me, and
the barn was built. Land, she was
proud!'
One of the gnarled, knotty hands
reached down and plucked Il white clo-
yer blossom. The woman said moth
ing. but her gray eyes were trimming
with an ineffable tenderness.
"And twas the same way with most
everything we done, Martha. There
amt no harm in sayin' it now. 1
won't be here long. and I've got to
hump myself TO get the credit that's
due me. She had it all for more than
forty years. and l thank the blessed
Lord she meyer saw through the deceit
was practicin' on her. Im-Im
afraid I'm a sort of Il scribe and Phar-
isee, Martha. Long at the last / wor
ried considerable for fear I'd bust out
and spoil it all. 'Twan't no easy mat
ter holdin' in. Sometimes when my
liver was more obstreperous than COM
mon twas like pullih' teeth for me to
keep from tellin' her what a rickety
old foundation her reputation as the
ruler of our roost was built on"