The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1903-02-19

| 'eTAKIN' UP THE LIGHT, SHE RAISED 1T
ABOVE HER HEAD"
'.Now tell me all about the weddin',"
she begged. "Begin at the beginnin'
an tell me every little thing about it,
| Ann"
| Ann, looking at the clock ticking
loudly on the mantelpiece, drew aside
the curtain and peered from it to the
house across.
"They must be gone by now" she
complained. can 1 slept through their
goin'"
'"They are gone,' said Sally. II met
the carriages as l was comm up the
street. But they'll be back again, an
| you can see them then. Why want
you at the weddin', Ann?'
| "You don't suppose, now" asked
Ann, with some asperity, 'it was on
account of the want of an invitation,
do you? There it is on the mantelpiece
by the clock if you'd like to see it to
convince yourself.
mo That want why. 1t was this
rheumatic. When there's anything l
| want particularly to tend, it takes me
down. That was why l was took down
yesterday. .-~
But don't you think for second
that Lavinia I'll forget me. She amt that
sort. There amt a kinder hearted soul
in this here town than Lavinia. She'll
send me some Of every little thing she's
got on the table an piece of the we'd
din cake besides to dream on tonight.
"Lavinia's already sent me some Of
the flowers what belongs to her we'd
DIM" Ann continued. "There they are
on the little table in the corner. Get up
an smell 'em.
"You hardly know" she went on as
Sally obediently got up, buried her nose
in the roses for the space of fragrant
moment and sat down again, "what to
think of this here weddin' of Lavinia's.
It's nightly strange the way it come
about. You see, know it all from be-
ginnin' to end, from the very start, dat
in back to that first husband Of her'n,
what was, without any regeneration,
the meanest white man that ever put
foot on top of earth.
Eyes, it's jest as l say-the meanest
white man what ever put foot on top Of
a finger on him an say, This mans
burglar or a thief or a cutthroat or an
all round desperado.' No. He might "a
been better man if you could. An out
an out desperate amt often under
hand an mean, like this husband Of
Lavinia 'S-mean clean to the bone-One
of them men what's afraid to tackle q
good sized man Of his own sex, but
what III delight in breakin' the heart of
a woman by inches in wringin' it an
wrfngin' it till she's nothin' but a bun
die of sobs an means an tears.
''Well, it was them tears he made La
vinia shed what brought the wrinkles
under her eyes. He want worth no
tears. No man is: not a tear nor a sigh
nor sob. But what woman will believe |
that? Lavinia wouldn't for one. She'd |
let every little, mean, trifin' thing he !
said to her set her palpitatin' with mis- |
cry, same s if it had been said by some
body worth troublin' about, somebody |
It's the way with women. Well, in the |
course of time he died. an was glad" |
"LoOkin' at the wrinkles under Law |
MAS eyes cut by the tears he had made |
her shed. | want much inclined to |
grieve for her husband. But Lavinia! |
A softer hearted woman never lived in |
this town than Lavinia. She followed
him to the grave, sobbin' fit to kill, ex-
act1y s if he'd been the best husband
in the world. the best the Lord had
ever made, instead of one he'd acci-
1entally spilled in the maxim.
Anyway Lavinia, as 1 say, followed
him to the grave sheddin' big tears an
remblin', all over black from the
crown of her head to the soles Of her
little feet. didn't go to the funeral /
lidn't have it in my heart to pretend to
yrief didn't feel. But when she come
back went over to her house an says
o her: Cheer up, Lavinia. Dry them
ears of your'n an don't cry no more.
The cherries IL be ripe for your pickin'
ret, If know anything about it,
81 was right. The better days did
ome, an soon too. Once forgettin' the
,hastliness of death, the horror Of it
n faint nothin' but that makes these
vidders take on so for awhile-Lavinia
'egun to feel the happiness Of bein'
rec. There was nobody about to say,
Do this or DO that or Come here or
Go there a-sneerin' at her when she
aughed an snarlin' at her when she
ried. An 'twa'n't long before, with
hem letters dropped off away from
Ter for good, she sprung up in the
lessed light of freedom an COM
aenced to bloom like any flower. An
retty! Lavinia got to be pretty as o
lecture, exceptin' for them wrinkles
ndsr her eyes.