The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-03
THE ADVERTISERS DAILY SHORT STORY

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 "If he loved US why did he leave us7
 asked the child. with that logic whici exists only in the unwarped minds o chiidren--of all ages.
 ksen harder to answer than that un orswerabie question were the sheer i blue eyes raised with questioning lool 10 her own: and Alice Newcomb. as ! seeking an answer to give the trustini her bosom, looked out of the window t the sunshine and the birds, and all tn
 .etty things and sought in vain for al | Why had he left them? The question | that had never left her mind by nigh or day for five years; the harrassing stinging. burning question which | soul. Her last thought each night, hel hrst at dawn, haunting her dreams bS night and her work oy, day, never for gotten, always unanswerable; Why hat The village had known no happle, home. had never contained within 1t, boundaries prettier or cosier nest thar the cottage where now sat the lonely woman with tho winsone child in her Tap. The. sunshine peeped through the honeysuckle and into the room where these two sat. just as John Newcomt nad known It would when with his owr hand he had planned and built the littls home, full of hopes and purposes for the future.
 Their married life had been of unusual and perfect content. Lovers for many years they had waited until Johns pros poets as partner in the firm of New comb & Miller. carpenters and builders gave them assurance of financial safety, and then they had married and settled fore Alice could believe it true. Three happy years had they spent in their homo. during which an added joy ha, come to them-the little authenticated girl whom they had named Madeline. She was . beautiful and an ideal child born of the love of perfect and q happy home and her coming had filled tt the brim the cup of happiness which life held to the lips of John and Alice New. comb. John Newcomb was d manly man as the men said who worked for and with him, he was ever inch a man. And with every inch of his many inches Tor he was more than six feet all. did he love his girl" Alice, and his baby, Madeline. To all that was rough and burly and hearty In him, did the dainty little girl appeal, with the unconscious strength of childhood. The first word and the first step and the first tooth were events never to be forgotten in John Newcomhs life. so tightly about his heart did the little Madeline weave the meshes of love. giant meshes woven by baby hand.
 The partnership prospered. the cottage was almost entirely paid for, and John s reputation for the practical part of his work. as well as the theoretical, for he had been known as an excellent draughts- man. grew apace. and was the source of some modest pride to John and of much wifely pride to Alice. The home coming of John at night was the joyful part of the day to all of them. and as the little one grew to more of the pretty ways and words, of babyhood and child hood. more and more did John look for ward to the r:stfal evening time at home.
 One night, 1t was soon after Madeline had reached her third year. and had had a "boofday party" something happened that had never happened before.
 John did not come home
 Never before had such thing occurred. He was superintend1g the work of a handsome school building in a neighbnr- Ing city. It was a contract the firm had been proud to get, and he had gone down to supervise the work in person. coming home each night As the hours went by Alice first became alarmed. but her per- feet faith in John and her confidence that nothing but the missing of his train could and like the innocent baby. she soon went to her rest.
 Poor Alice. It was the last peaceful and perfect day that had geen granted through. and yet, John had not come The love for her child and his had held her to lfS and sanity; the work of her hands. with some aid from her friends. had kept the little home
 And the sun shone in at the windows and the honeysuckle grew and blossomed above them. but she sat a saddened and a lonely woman. with the fair child in her arms.
 The fall of a heavy stone archway in the building where he had fingered alone that night. going over the work of his men, crash of stone and brick upon a man when none were by to see and tell of 1t, hours of lying unconscious in the darkness in the chill October night, had plotted from this mans mind all memory of the past. When in the early dawn consciousness returned his mind was as totally without memory as that of the newborn babe. The home that he had built. those dearest to him, the center of all his thoughts and hopes. the struggles
 Saturdays story. "A GAY CHAPLAIN