Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-11-17

AOhS t1AS, III" sAS Se14u III d Noi
voice:
KLAUS, this would be just the even
ing to read aloud the journal
He started up out of a deep revery.
What journal, my child"
That little packet of papers that
we found the other day, in rummaging
about in Aunt Rosamond's writing,
DESK
He nodded Yes, We will do it" he
said, 1T will be bit of family history,
perhaps about my parents. was just
thinking how little know of them.
and it makes me sad. Mother Anna
Maria makes her account so short
and scanty, as if she did not like to
talk about it, and whenever she
mentions her only brother her eyes
grow moist. Come, sit down on the
, sofa with me; l will get the papers 4"
He rose, went to an old-fashioned
desk, and took little packet of
papers from the middle drawer. The
young wife had meanwhile taken up a
bit of dainty needlework, and now
+ they sat, side by side, on the sofa, be-
fore the lamp, and he unfolded the
sheets.
What pretty old handwriting" he
| said. See. Marie!"
She nodded. "One can make quite
a picture of the writer from that
small, delicate, and good as loving as
the first words sound"
Yes he replied, she was good
and kind. l remember her so distinct
ly yet She used to give me sugar,
plums and colored pictures, and at
Christmas she used to come as Knecht
Ruprecht, and l should certainly have
been frightened if l had not recog-
nized Aunt Rosamond by her voice
and limp"
"Ah, but please read, Klaus,
begged the young wife impatiently;
and he began obediently:
My dear Anna Maria has driven
away again with iL,le klaus"
That is you!" interrupted the
young wife, laughing.
He nodded; his fine eyes cleaned
softly. But now be STILL he said ,
for Aunt Rosamond surely never
thought such a disturber of the peace
would ever put her nose in here"
you bad man. Give me a kiss for
that"
THAT, too" he sighed comically
There, but be quiet now!" And he
began again:
MY dear Anna Maria has driven
away again with little Klaus. 1t has
become very quiet at Butte. not a
sound in the great house; even
Brockelmann is no longer heard, for
since last winter she has taken to
wearing felt slippers. All the rooms
downstairs are shut up, and it is
melancholy. Anna Maria consoles me,
to be sure, by saying that there will
be life enough here again when the
child has grown large but, dear me,
by that time | shall have long been
lying in the garden yonder! Oh, /
wish might live to hear merry
voices ringing again through the
house at Butte, and see the rooms
downstairs occupied but | do not be-
l1eve it possible. Well, | must not
allow myself to be overpowered by the
loneliness and tediousness about me;
l sit at my desk and will try to
narrate the late events here. in regu-
lar order. So much has happened
here; the stories rush to nv mind all
confused, but l should like to recall
the past in proper order.
IF | only knew how to begin! [
have already cut three goose-quills to
pieces! | look out of the window,
the trees are clad in the first green.
the sky is blue, only dark line of
cloud rising over the barn yonder 1t
is warm and sultry, as before an ap.
preaching thunderstorm, and now an.
other spring day rises before my eyes,
| and now | know.
1T was a ninth of May. lust as
| damp and sultry as today. Anna
Maria came in to me. My room was
| upstairs here then, on the same story,
the same big Powered furniture stood
here, and | was the same infirm. limp,
ing old creature, only fresher ano
brighter; l laughed more than any
one in the house in those days. |
can see Anna Maria before me so dis
| tinctly. as she stood there by the
spinet in her everyday gray dress,
with black taffeta apron over it,
and the bunch of keys at her belt.
Aunt Rosamond, will you look at
, the room which | have been getting
ready for the child?' she asked. and 1
rose, and limped along beside her
down the hall as far as the large,
dark room. l never could bear the
room, and today, as ] entered it, it Cd.
pressed me like nightmare. To be
sure, 6azzling white pillows stood UP
beneath the green curtains of the
canopy, and spray of elder on the
toilet-table sent its fragrance through
the room; but neither this nor the
sulry air which came in at the window
could improve the damp, cold atmos-
phere, or convey any degree of com.