Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1903-11-28

villa; the boys send you and what you
I get from the place you can get along.
Bcsides'-and there was a touch of
1 sarcasm in her yOice-.I won't be any
/ expense to you now. John'll look after
me You can get Muiligans girl to clean
I up once week and do your washing and
/ mcndine, aud you know as much about
( cooking as most women do.
David made 10 attempt to interrupt
I her He had been reading his Bible
/ when she began. and now lie sat with it
between his two heavily veined hands
his fcrsfiageF still marking the place
0HIy onee did his expression change, and
that was when she said she would be of
no further expense to him. Then his
face quivered as If hot iron had been
pressed close 20 it. Only the week before
she had asked him to buy new ginghams
for aprons, and he had brought home
new pair Of boots for himself instead
10 be sure, there We're three good pairs
If boots ranged behind his bedroom door
bur they were winter boots, and he had
always maintained that it rested mans
+ feet TO change shoes often. with diff
eerent weights for different Gather and
work Besides, these boots were a
genuine bargain. lie knew good leather
when he saw IT,
That night Marcia bad made an apron
Of two -four sacks. and he recalled that
as her needle flew her lips set firmly.
She ceased speaking and sat looking at
him with tense expression he had never
seen on her face before How was he
going to take it? All her Puritanical
training rose in rebellion at thought Of
Il scene.
But there was no scene. David closed
his Bible laid his Sunday school leaflet
on ton Of ii, and rose steadily.
"All right, Marcia. It's just as you
say. ! can get along somehow"
H. e. l., 4 Il
passed out into the afternoon sunlight
Across the tender green grass he strobe,
along the winding edge Of the pond.
whore the pine needles lay thick, and
then up the hillside to the fiat rock which
overlooked the whole farm Here he sat
with unseeing eyes. A robin chirruped
and huttered near him. but he did not
hear it. The sunlight slanted into the
pond and was finally swallowed up in the
waters cool shadows. From the distant
harryard came the Rawlings of a calf
and closer Mt hand rose The answering
low Of its mother.
And still he sat thinking incoherentiy
Of the most homogeneous subjects. He
wondered if Benjamin. way out in Wy
oming. lad won out in the election for
sheriff. benjamin hadn't written for
months. He was n busy man-and he
took after his mother. What was that
Fred had written about selling the place
TO q hotel company for Il summer resort?
PShawi Fred. being in the real estate
business in Denver, thought everyone
wanted TO sell Summer boardcrs would
tramp down the hay in the meadows and
exhaust the fish in the pond. PeSideS
no one could cook that fish just as Mar
cia din. after he brought it sparkling
and dripping from the early morning fish
ing excursion What had Marcia said
about the Muligan girls? OF course it
WA T...1, Il,
and the buttons of her shoes who would
offer to come and Marcia was the neat
est of women. No. he wouldn't have
the Mu'Eeau girl He could do ii him
self. When Marcia had the pneumonia
the doctor and the neighhrrs who had
helped to Nurse her had praised his cook
ing After all. there wasn't much that
he hadn't helped Marcia to do about the
house.
There was no bitterness in his soul to-
wards his wife-only something twitched
in the place where he thought his heart
was: something like tightly wound
spring that constantly threatened to go
off with n snap. II would choke off his
breath. Of course. Rut what matteredI
Nothing had happened worth while since
the dam broke This fitted naturally into
his LIES scheme-that Marcia as well MS
everything else should slip away from
him.
Aud from her post in the dining room
window Marcia watched his motionlcss
figure outlined against the fading light
\ harsh sob rose in her thr0at. She
clasped and unclasped her fingers nery-
ouSly.
Little he cares. Nothing will rouse
him now God knows, I've done my
best TO make something of him, but I've
fallen short. somehow. If he can keep
warm and have enough to cat. it's all he
will ask. | am nothing to him, and new
or have been anything. but the cool! in
his Kitchen the"
She turned abruptly and fairly ran into
the front room, In the doorway she
halted, There, whore the evening shad-
owa fell tenderly, Nellie's coffin had rest
ed And that one memory strengthened
her decision The altar light of their
homes was ont forever.
In Ida's well-ordcred home. where ey-
elythinc was new, from the tinware
above the sink to the brass bed in the
second story back. Marcia made for her
self place. She was not the sort Of
nGgseG to have 4 place made for her.
lda. who shared her husbands social am
billions. would have dressed her mother
in purple and fine linen so far as their
income permitted She begged her to
Join the Womans club. and cOnfded 10
John that IF there was one woman in
We>tbampton who would make an ideal
president for the ladies' Aid society It
Was Marcia Crane Aud Marcia did at
tend the socicty's meetings. regularly. not
because She desired to become president.
hut because she could bring home half
wcru garments 10 repair for the heather
IN foreign lands ana the Indians nearer
home. There was nothing To mend for
lda'S family. From IT,. scraps left over
from her missionary work and the few
cast-ofT clothes that in time drifte4 into
their garnet She braided herself rug,
which made her feel more resigned L.
the blue and gray ART square Ida had
selected for her hoor covering From odd
lengths Of silk She knitted n portiere,
ana when John asked her il he should
have sume moro things sent up from the
store she explained her new furnishings
hy saying that SO much nevucsS around
confused her. She'd had TO make things
over all her life
In time She became accustomed to sit
ting still during an entire meal and let
ting the servant wait upon her She
even became resigned to having both a
hest and second best dress and wearing
the latter every afternoon But all this