Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1904-10-27
SHORT STORY FOR
EVENING HOURS
TIE LIGHT IN The WINDOW

iNs NNhNA AhN" Aiis0hN NN'hN'
aside. unwilling to breast the full force
Of such storm. Not so with Daniel
Newton--"S Shutting Dan," his fellow
workmen called him. lie was no fay.
orite among them, silent, brooding. sui.
len fellow, they though him-but he
lived life of which they understood
very little. 1t had been consecrated
II years to one object, and there was In
IL an element Of chivalrous self.seCri.
flee of which he was utterly uncon.
scious himself. He passed a store,
where some of his comrades were
laughing, then the forge, with its doors
invitingly open, and the bright red
light streaming out Of II cheerfully,
into the murky gathering night. For a
minute he was tempted just to go In
and warm himself little in that glow,
but he shook his shaggy head, and
turned away.
she will be waiting" he said, as he
drew up the collar of his coarse coat
little lamb, she'll be waiting" And
then, as II the thought had given him
new life. he plodded on again valiantly.
On through sleet and snow, till he
came at last in front of low cottage,
standing in the midst Of a square lot,
A light strcamed forth from its front
window over the white pathway. II
had shone there for him every winter
nightfall for many year, and he
never saw that beacon ray without
blessing his little lamb" over and
over again. How warm she had kept
his heart! And yet among the hard
things in his life people who took the
trouble to speak of him at all, always
reckoned that crippled child"
When his wife died, and left him her
hour-old baby to bring up as best he
could, they commiserated him, and
wondered what he was to do. And
when 1t was found that the child would
never be able to walk, they thought his
burden was heavier than he could bear.
But he knew-only he could not have
told them or reasoned about it-what
had been his sweet compensation. At
first. to be sure, II was a hard blow
when he found that the little one he
loved was never to be quite like others
that she would never come toddling
down the patch to meet him, clinging
to his hard hands with rosy little fin.
gers-but this very grief about her
made his love all the more tender. She
was the one idea of his life. The only
absorbing feeling he had ever known
was for her. He had liked her mother
well enough. but II had been an ordin.
airy, commonplace regard, until she
died and left this tender, blue.eyed
blossom. which he was afraid to touch.
The child consecrated the mothers
memory and he cared for her dead
more than he ever cared for her living.
But little Eunice filed his heart full,
and sat on her throne queen regent for.
ever. He had her nursed carefully, and
he cheerfully gave up every hour OF
his life to the task Of being father and
mother to her, both in one. When she
was old enough to sit In little
wheeled chair, in which she could
trundle herself about the room. his
delight knew no bounds. In summer
she was always at the open door to
meet him and in winter her CHEEKY
lamp burned always at the cottage win.
dow.
When she was IL years old, she her.
self proposed TO keep house for him.
There were three rooms in their little
cottage. all on the same floor, besides
the unfinished garnet overhead. From
room to room of these three she could
trundle herself around. She contrlved
to do a good many household tasks;
and, with neighbor hired to come and
help each day, she managed nicely, and
was the .proudest Of little housewives.
or late. however, she had been grow.
Ing weaker. and her father had insisted
that she should not be left alone at all
So the neighbor who helped her stayed
all day now, but went home at night
when Dan came; for he was not ready
to give up the pleasure Of having his
darling quite to himself in the long
evenings.
Now. as he entered the yard, his
steps grew quicker. All that was shut
fling and uncertain passed out of his
manner, and he walked with the strong
firm tread of one sure of his welcome
Drawing near, he saw her face at the
window which the light illuminated-a
face of almost ideal beatty. Not the
features so much, for when you anal.
yzed them they were far from regular
and bore curious likeness TO his own;
but the great blue eyes were full OF
light, the color came and went on her
cheeks in faint, pink nushes, and the
skin was transparent as the most deli.
cate crystal. Around this wistful, low.
ing. waiting face iloated a mass of soft,
golden hair, like the halos you see
sometimes in old pictures around the
brows of saints. When she saw him,