The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1903-11-20
AGATHA Glars Thanksgiving ;
BY HOPE DARING.


CO WO weeks from tomorrow is
Thanksgiving. Let US go to Orley
u to spend it." Go to Otley! Why,
Agatha. you must be crazy" Agatha
Clair pushed back her unfinished cup of
coffee. decided frown on ser smooth
white forehead Indeed, Eugene" there
vas note of irritation in her voice, Il
fail to see why woman should be pro
nounced crazy because she expresses a
desire to visit her home, after an abb
sence of year and half" "Home!
he echoed the word little reprOachfully,
his eyes wandering around the neat din
ing room. This is home. agatha. The
first real one we have either of us had
for years"
The color deepened on the wife's
cheeks. Her husbands words were true,
her girlhoOd's home, with an uncle in a
distant city, had not been happy one.
This uncle had been too proud to let his
sisters child earn her bread, and as there
had been more pride than love or money
in the home Agatha had realized the
bitterness Of the bread of dependence.
The coy farmhouse, shared with the
quiet man who had won her love, had
seemed a haven of peace. Used all her
life to the hustle Of city and to home
crowded with gay young life, Agatha be
gan, after a time, to long for change.
Just now a letter from her cousins, tell
ing of concerts, lectures and parties,
made the uneventful winter stretching
before her look very dreary.
She sat toying with her spoon until
her husband had finished his breakfast.
Then she looked up a coaXins light an
her soft gray eyes.
"Why can't we go, EugeneY'
Cant afford it," he replied a little
ungraciously, for her persistence annoyed
him. Besides the railroad fare, there'd
be a lot of new clothes wanted and
"Clothesw Agatha was angry now.
"Really. l didn't suppose you knew that
a woman ever had to have clothes. I've
seen nothing since | was your wife to
show any such knowledge on your part
I'm tired of this scrimping and saving
and stagnating."
There was a pause. Husband and
wife confronted each other, both with
flushed faces and hurried breath.
And I'm" he began holly. Then
moved by some memory, he stopped. \
moment later he cried out, "Oh, Agatha
| never dreamed that you felt that way
1t cost so much for us TO start and thu
crops have been poor. thought you un
derstood." and breaking off abruptly, h'
strobe out through the kitchen on his
way to the barn.
AS the heroine of a nineteenth centur.
story. Agatha should have sat down an'
burst into tears. But there was little o
the heroic about her. She was only al
ordinary woman whose temper wa
aroused. although not to such an exten
that she could entirely forget the unuSua
chord of pain in her husbands voice
However. she went about her work set
ting down her pretty china with an III
necessary amount of energy and sayin
70 herself, Il think il downright mea
in Eugene. l wonder how l shall eve
endure this long, lonesome winter. n
place to go and no one to see" The ma
fer was not referred to again. But ther
was cloud between husband and VIII
the first since their wedding day.
Tyhe third day after the scene at tn
breakfast table neighbor, Mrs. Ferri
called and asked Agatha to accompan
her to a meeting of the Sewing Soeiet